If I download illegal material for my education and if the material is not in my reach in my country, is it still bad karma?

I've seen the arguments that copying it isn't wrong because it's not a physical product or that it harms no-one. This simply isn't true. If an author of an e-book spent 150 hours of their time creating a guide to learning English, they need to sell a substantial number of copies of their eBook to enable them to pay their bills. By downloading such an eBook illegally, it robs the author of the value of the sale. If the e-book was $5, then illegally downloading it is effectively stealing $5 from the author.

Perhaps providing good quality training for free from your own expertise could help to balance the bad karma accrued through such actions?

There're lots of free legit. contents on the internet. If it's software, there're lots of high quality free open source programs at GNU, Apache. If it's educational material, there're lots of free education sites like Khan Academy, Coursera, Udacity, etc. When all else fail, there're always wikipedia and youtube, which are also legit. and free..

Downloading someone else's hard work and using it for your benefit without compensating them to me is a form of stealing in my opinion. Some other Buddhists think its only 'copying' and hence not stealing. That's a discussion which is continuing on another thread.

For arguments sake, lets consider it stealing for now. We then realize that people are sometimes compelled to steal. Does a war prisoner who is starving commit negative kamma by 'stealing' an apple from his well fed prison guard?

Sometimes in samsara people end up in dangerous places and situations, where people have to break the precepts just to survive. In such instances someone who has come into contact with the dhamma has to accept that they are doing is unskillful, reflect on the dangers of that unskillful act, as well as the dangers of coming into existence which led one to such a situation. If we justify the wrong doing and say that it is right, we then fall into even graver negative situation of perpetuating wrong view. For the Buddha says that all that who have attained to the path leading to Nibbana do so with right view.

So understand why you are doing it, what compels you to do it. Are there alternatives? Can you prevent doing it in the future? Can you 'cover up' the wrong deed by doing good deeds? Say once you learn English and improve yourself, use that knowledge to help others. Perhaps later once you are able make a donation to the company or person from whose material you benefited from.

I also highly recommend the Sankha Sutta which explains how positive skillful kamma can negate past negative unskillful kamma.

Hope this helps.

Your desire is what makes the difference. If you learn for the sake of learning but not to make a living nothing is wrong in it. Stealing implies that you have taken something that belong to others. Knowledge is collective and therefore should be free for all. It is just that we live in capitalist era where people try to monopolies and tend to make profits disproportionate to their efforts. If you earn some bucks you can pay them later too. There is kamma involved if your intentions are bad. Do it if you have to but intentions should be to give it back to the guy at some point.

Legally, unlawful downloads would probably be more akin to trespassing than stealing, as nothing was taken, but the legal rights to control property was infringed upon.

Considering the precepts, however, the issue isn't really about theft but about "undertaking the training to avoid taking things not given". Thus, it's a little more broad than theft. Instead, one should avoid even the perception of theft. Think of it like in a store where the "free samples" box is behind the counter and not easy to reach. To follow the precept, one should ask first and take if allowed.