I've been using nulled content with GoDaddy for a few years, without an issue. Hell, I'm an affiliate/partner, even! I have yet to test the waters by using retail content without a license, however. Worst case scenario, an onshore host forces you to shut your site down. You won't be slapped with fines or anything of the sort (unless of course, your site is somehow inflicting monetary loss to IPS). As for why people use nulled content.. try-before-buy, or maybe the simplest answer is: pricing. xenForo was a lifetime license when I nabbed it.. IPS requires yearly renewals for upgrades and that is simply ridiculous.