Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

As a rule, yes. Sometimes an illegal one gets through, but is pulled quickly too. As long as you do not download the movies you are fine. I try to be very ethical myself, but do not see a problem viewing free movies online.

People don't know what they're talking about. It's not necessarily illegal (in terms of copyright infringement) to watch, it's illegal to post the content as your own. Copyright includes the rights to manufacture, produce and distribute your work, not watch it. If Wal-mart decides to show the full version of a movie that is out in theaters without the owners' permission, the police are not going to arrest all the shoppers in the walmart at the time. Sites like ninja video and others that have been shut down by the government were not viewed as illegal for a while because they simply hosted or linked to the videos that were illegally taken, but recently the gov't is no longer buying that argument and are shutting them down because while they did not illegal take the videos, they are aiding in their distribution. Basically, it's illegal to download, copy or dubb an unreleased video you didn't pay for (to take ownership/possession of it/infringe on another's right to copy their work), not to watch it on someone else's site. They're the ones who infringed copyright. Now, ethically, one would say it's wrong to cheat and not pay to see a movie when you know you should and there could be other laws in place that may make it possible to fine someone who's watched a video, but it is not copyright and is mostly a matter of ethics.