are e-books and chm files available for free download legal ?

I just needed some e-books on networking, so i googled it. I found pdfs and many chm files available for free download and also some HUGE torrents...

I want to know that are these books legal ..? ?
 

Anish

Spectre
Some books are given by the authors freely (rarely i suppose). But some most of the books in pdf format are pirated(scanned) and uploaded:-?
 
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