Streaming Piracy In 2026: 10 Signals We Can't Afford To Ignore
In this Forbes Technology Council article published on February 11, 2026, author Wayne Lonstein argues that streaming piracy is being driven less by traditional “steal content” motives and more by an access and experience problem. His core point is that when legitimate services are slow, fragmented, unreliable, expensive, or restricted at the exact moment people want to watch, many viewers rationalize piracy as a practical workaround rather than wrongdoing.
He frames the situation as a set of signals that indicate piracy is becoming normalized and easier to adopt. The article highlights several visible signals, including normalization of piracy as “access,” an experience gap where illegal services can feel simpler than legal ones, an automation arms race where pirates scale and adapt quickly, and a backlash effect when blackouts and restrictions push audiences toward illegal options.
The author also emphasizes that enforcement still matters, but he recommends prioritizing targeted enforcement while designing legal streaming experiences that are instant, affordable, and reliable during peak demand. In other words, reducing the incentive to pirate is as important as taking pirate services down.
Because the full article text was not accessible through the source link in this environment, I could not verify and summarize the remaining signals beyond what is visible in the published snippets.
