I'm not convinced. Before smartphones and the like, people used Gnutella and ICQ. We live in a world of telephone numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers, top level domains, maybe your average Joe can't program a computer but he can definitely install Tor browser and a BitTorrent client.
I think the problem is that the produce the end user gets are delivered as a business case through a funnel, and people don't realize that the relationship is fundamentally adversarial. What just boggles my mind is how people just accept it without any sort of rebellion or self interest.
In the 2000s, using P2P was very common because the alternative was ripping CDs or spending $$$ on the iTunes Store for DRMed music. People were also not connected all the time so it made sense to download and store your music on an iPod or similar.
In the late 2000s Spotify arrived, it was much easier than piracy, and not as expensive as the iTunes Store, although still DRMed.
At the same time, Apple introduced the iPhone and people gradually stopped using computers so much and started using smartphones more. And on smartphones you couldn’t install whatever software you wanted.
Many younger people today in the west have no experience of piracy at all. They live on their phones in a fully corporatized environment.
Libgen is not particularly difficult to navigate, although its bare bones which makes it look intimidating. The real problem is some hosts are clearly trying to get me to download viruses.
