I think what is important to take away from that old statement is this:
If you play as a pirate, or if you knowingly enable pirates to operate by trading with them, doing jobs with them, etc, then you yourself are also a pirate even if you never kill someone, rob them or otherwise harm them.
If you usually play with pirates then you are also a pirate.
That being said, as many have pointed out, this is simplistic thinking when applied to large orgs and so the exact mechanics must be worked out.
The intent will likely not change though.
CR had said multiple times that he hates how in other games a pirate can just have an alt and it makes it super easy then to be a pirate. He wants piracy to be hard, and thus more fun and more rewarding.
Do also note that his in game name is "Dread Pirate Roberts" so he's not trying to STOP people from being pirates. Quite to the contrary, he wants to make piracy an engaging way to play the game with some semblance of immersion - e.g. don't just login to your alt, buy stuff and contact it to your pirate without consequence.
I'm not sure they really know how to do that yet, or if they do, they haven't shared it with us as far as I am aware.