That hasn't happened in years, and was one of the reasons of the decline and the fall of virtually all the mercenary and BHG factions, save for the Asgard Warriors and the Shadow Stalkers Organization.
Most traders are hell of greedy. They want all the money they can get and the fastest possible. They don't care about escorts, and every time they are pirated they F1 out, insult, flame, etc.
I tend to punish severely to that kind of people, because they ruin the game experience.
Instead of violating the rules and bitching about being pirated, they could RP a bit more and hire 1-2 players for escorting duties.
That way, its much funnier... for both sides, and the game experience is enriched. Also gives everybody more to do. Even to pirates, who will have to team up, or find new ways to pirate successfully.
Trading is too damn easy nowadays. Last time I traded, I could read a book, or minimize the game and navigate the Inet while my ships went through the trade route.
The only time I had to look at the game was during selling and buying operations, and during the jumps. All the rest was done by the auto pilot.
I always thought that trading should be quite hard. A hell of a danger for a hell of a profit, after all...
Also, there should be other ways to get money, like mining, doing missions, fulfilling contracts with other players, etc...
As it is now, the only way to make good cash is by trading all the day straight up..
(If you find any mistake in my English, please let me know via a PM)
(Really, I speak terrible English, so please, tell me if I make mistakes. I'd like to improve it a bit )