While the above would be logical, canon doesn't necessarily agree as we have the example of the Acamarian Gatherers (the Vengence Factor was specifically kicked off by them attacking a Federation outpost) and the Orion Syndicate (historically pirates and slavers, but perhaps more smugglers in the 24th?). The Miradorn ship from DS9's Vortex was also referred to as a "Theta-class raider" which sorta implies piracy.
The cases of what could be construed as 'space piracy' would likely come down to few isolated incidents in the 24th century regardless.
And I think canonical data supports that (aka, the UFP didn't have to deal with cases of space pirates in its own backyard -and if it had, it was rare to say the least... at best it may register as an 'odd blip' on the whole in the 24th century).
The Miradorn raider was seen in Ds9, which was near the Cardassian border... and Bajor was NOT part of UFP at the time... so, you're looking at mostly unaligned space when it comes to the Bajoran system and potentially significant area around it.
In case of Acamarian Gatherers... I'd say this would have been a prime example of a 'rare occurrence'.
In 2366 they expanded their operations to raid a Federation outpost and managed to steal a reactor.
Prior to this, there hadn't been any reported cases of attempts to attack UFP targets... which leads me to think if it may have been more of a subconscious cry for help... because, lets be fair, compared to UFP, the Acamarian Gatherers presented no real threat - and UFP CAN be taken advantaged off by opportunistic individuals who may want to prey on UFP's desire to help others (so it wouldn't be too difficult for them to use those methods to gain access to the facility and end up stealing a reactor - but UFP security measures can sometimes be a bit lax - I'd say areas of critical importance would have to be a bit better protected).
There is one thing that this discussion prompted me to think about.
Its not space piracy per say... but in TNG when Geordi was going to Risa for his vacation, he was kidnapped and brainwashed by Romulans.
In fact, even on DS9 we have heard maybe of one or two reports of people going missing on their way to Risa... but again, throughout the grand total of 14 years of combined TNG and DS9... having only a handful of cases is incredibly small... and for an area of space of 8000 Ly's the UFP controls in the late 24th century, that's quite a good record if you ask me.
We have seen examples of individuals going to vacations in what seemingly was UFP space, but then somehow the Romulans or Cardassians managed to snatch up those inviduals.
This leads me to think their shuttles were passing through (or close to) non-aligned space (giving the other party ability to snatch up those individuals).... or SF activity was negligible to non-existent there with no nearby sensor nets, so again, their ability to register such an occurrence would be impaired.
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