[didntcheck]

They're not offering it for free. They're offering it with the arrangement that you pay for it by rendering ads. The fact that you can get away with violating that arrangement is frankly a starkly amoral attitude

It's the exact same logic as stealing from a roadside honesty box (or a corner shop who can't easily detect petty theft) and then saying "tough! Their business model isn't my problem! I could take it for free so clearly I should be allowed to" when morally called out for it

[hightrix]

I disagree entirely that stealing from a corner store and not rendering ads are comparable. In one instance, I take an item that another person has paid for and expects to sell it at a profit. If I steal it, I am depriving the store owner of that item and the profit they would have made.

If I choose to view free content and not render ads, no one has lost anything. While yes, the site owner does not get the profit from "selling the ad", it is not theft in the same way if I were to walk into a store, look around, and not buy anything is not theft.