Funny how a lot of bounty hunters are happy to stay busy with NPCs when there are too few human criminals about, traders tend to busy plodding along to notice who is nearby any way. Some people smuggle by going in to USS and grabbing risk free loot (though not always, I got caught in a trap once). Yet "pirates" keep going on and on and on for human targets (completely ignoring NPC Type 6, 7 and 9s going by) - perhaps this speaks more about what the NPCs carry - something FD could look into maybe.
Virtual +1, you broke my rep button.
I recently bought a Vulture to go get some pirates in a local Res as a break from trading, managed to annoy the local drug dealers to the point they scan me & attack me ;o), lol dial a pirate, they deliver.
Miners = don't need player interaction, with at least 1 mining laser I guess they are not looking for pvp interaction.
Traders = don't need player interaction, maybe the odd hi or whats x selling for around here.
Bounty hunter (me personally) = I am happy in solo or Mobius in a res, I don't need pvp interaction.
Some other bounty hunters = likely do a bit of pve for cash but happy to chase a player over 5 systems & interdict for the pvp, fair play to you, maybe I will one day too.
Pirate = (from what I seem to read a lot on the forum & your point above)
needs a player to steal from, almost a prerequisite.
Why is piracy the only career (other than RP psyco PKer / (self redacted) same thing different description, but leave them out for now) that need human interaction?, if it is AI drop rubbish cargo I totally agree it needs looking at.
I have heard rubbish cargo mentioned many times, maybe (probably) FD need to inject some AI trade ships carrying rares around rares area's, rich metals leaving refinery's etc. I also think (on the basis of a lot of reading, I am no pirate) that pirates need bases in Anarchy systems where traders fear to tread & they get above average prices for stock due to shortages, somewhere (I hope) "pirate rep" will make them safe & welcome, but an unarmed trader will get robbed 9 times out of 10.
Hopefully with future crime updates safe systems will be reasonably safe, Anarchy's dangerous & the AI security make it work properly, I have every faith that FD will make the game resemble the DDF / Elite more in the future, I am pretty sure FD want to move in smaller increments with the crime system, anyone who remembers the "great gimbal debate" from beta will understand, from OP to big nerf, to settle somewhere in the middle, now its hardly ever even discussed so I guess they got it right.
The only other reason I can see for "needing" to pirate other players is the human interaction, I get that too, a couple of months back I decided I would take a look in open again, I was there from PB to mid Gamma. I had a type 6, 20 + * insurance with a full hold and decided to see what my solo route looked like in open (still messing around in Eravate next to where I started & I heard there were a lot of pirates there), I met a great one (RP pirate) within 30 mins in open, the hull damage I took was down to me chancing my luck, trying to lock 2 seekers on him wasn't exactly friendly of me, I left alive for 6 tons that he earned and deserved, I got away but he got me again (I was soooo close to getting away lol), on the rerun I decided to share as he asked again & didn't shoot as I did not deploy weapons.
I recorded it for posterity & will add him to my friends list if / when I go back to open, send him a "catch me if you can" message & if I beat him up a little next time in my Asp I will drop him a bit extra for the damage, I like "nice" pirates ;o)
TLDR
I think its going to be a while yet until FD have the crime system working as expected.
I want to have to look at my route, if they are all stops in safe systems then I expect to be reasonably safe, if I am lazy (or take a risk) and end up jumping through a few Anarchy's I should have a tough time, they should not be the same. I would prefer that they make murder / mass murder (not piracy/ the odd accident) really mean something, make the AI hunt you if you murdered in their system.
Yes we need more content & they are working on it but to me the previous is part of the core that is missing, I paid for the DLC as part of the beta, I really hope FD don't even look at the DLC until they implement different danger levels linked to the system, I think it would add a lot for everyone in all modes.
Sorry for the essay.