Yeah, hence why as soon as GitS:SAC got licensed all the groups who were subbing it at the time (as far as I know...I don't know much about subbing groups) suddenly stopped...then thankfully Laughing Man and other groups started doing it...
I still think its stupid how it costs £20 rrp (thats 20 POUNDS in case it doesn't come out on the forum....that works out at about $36 USD) or £15 off Play for 3 fucking episodes of most series (eg Bubblegum Crisis, Vampire Princess Miyu...plus loads of other ones that I still want to see). You could get an entire series of Family Guy for about the same price! How they expect people to support them when they're ripping people off like that I'll never know...
Its especially stupid with GitS:SAC because that isn't even available in this country...so to download it they consider you to be stealing, yet you can't legally buy it either...stupid country...I hear you can actually get an anime channel in America...stuffy gits! Closest we get is Pokemon and Card Captor Sakura (daft childrens shows) or Evangelion (which is shown at 4am on the Sci Fi channel!)...
</rant>
But yeah generally anything AonE do is pretty much legal as far as I know...