There are a number of torrent sites still active and when they go down, others will appear. That's how it's happened historically.
Usenet is still alive and well.
Pirate streaming sites are still out there.
Torrentfreaks is a great source for sites, etc.
There are a lot of ways for media to be pirated. Operating a vpn and torrent, while not part of most people's skillsets, the tech has advanced to the point where it's not difficult.
There was a tech barrier, but advancements in tech, make VPN as easy as, install WindScribe. Register an account. Click a button. VPN connect active. (Note: I'm not advocating WS, they are a random VPN provider I used as an example)