Before Pirates were deemed criminals they were free market merchant traders. England moved in and took over these peoples livelihoods and monopolized and commercialized the trading market. Those who lost their jobs / routes began to fight back against England and attack their ships and all they protect. So England made them criminals, they then used some of them to rat out others. So all the stories we were told about them were mostly fiction, they rose up against the world power who stole their jobs, big corporations do that to small businesses.