I didn't say it was justified, just that I understand that potentially being homeless can and does motivate people to do things they otherwise wouldn't. Also, I'm not saying they're above the law or whatever. Also, that analogy is a bit different. Theft/robbery is guaranteed jail time. What they're doing isn't. Hence why Shueisha sent them a cease and desist instead of pressing charges.
For the most part, the only places being subjected to legal action / threats of legal action are places Editing series that are currently being simulpublished in English.
They could have made plenty of bank by removing / discontinuing series that are legally available to read internationally at the same time as Japan, while still offering scanslations of titles that don’t do that. MangaRock has a similar policy (kind of) and they currently get to still make money.
MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump vault specifically exist to counter piracy. They have gone the extra mile to provide consumers with official English translations day and date, so that those consumers will read the series from
them directly and not an illegal alternative.
Any site that still provides scanslations of simulpublished content isn’t just a poor manga distribution site trying to make some slightly shady cash anymore ; they have become a
direct competitor of Shuiesha, driving traffic away from Shuiesha’s new initiative. And yes, it’s a substantial amount of traffic. Leaked chapters of One Piece will still trend on Twitter sometimes with tens of thousands of Tweets several days before official release, and that’s just people being vocal about the fact that they’re pirating.
If you want to get that bread, maybe you should be smarter about it. And not do it in a way that specifically discourages people from using the new service of the company that you are stealing from.
