The authorities are only pushing torrenting underground making it hard for ordinary people to get access to it. Soon the people who are more informed will be the only one to have access to torrents. I foresee that this will create a black market for pirated movies, music, books, etc. for sale on the internet when it was supposed to be free for everyone. Some people will catch up but most will not and would rather pay for pirated stuff.
Im not sure ordinary people have ever used the torrent network. There is still a large portion of the older population that uses physical dvds from services like redbox. The younger generation knows to just google stuff, including torrent downloads.
Really though, anymore, I normally only just use torrents for stuff I can't get from the standard content providers. I pay for netflix(which sux now-a-days), amazon prime, and hulu. And on occasion will have an nbc/abc whatever network app to watch shows.
Yes, I get stuck watching comercials but it is just easier most times to go this route. Though more and more content gets added to these "legit" sites, The fact that I have to download anything at all proves that the networks still don't quite get it.
My pattern is to binge watch a season. Just did that for mr robot, but the stupid fuckers only put season 1 online, so torrents make up the difference, and my information comes from a different source. Fail for them, win for me.
It has always been my hope that the networks would embrace the torrent technology, but then again, the networks are made of old people that still probably only use redbox.