Rashi Mehta
A recent major crackdown on online piracy, leading to a series of arrests in the UK. Prison sentences were imposed on the people found guilty of operating illegal streaming operations across the UK including London, South East England, West Midlands, North West, North East, North Wales and Scotland.
A series of arrests
A series of arrests have been imposed on the people involved in the operations including one arrest in Nottingham, a 42 year old man taken into custody after being suspected of being involved in the provision of illegal streams of Sky television content.
Yet another arrest in Stockton-on-Tees, a 52 year old man was arrested under the suspicion of being involved in a separate illegal streaming online operation. Additionally, Merseyside Police Cyber Crime Unit released that a 41 year old man from Liverpool had been charged a two year suspended sentence after being found guilty of charges of promoting and selling illegal Amazon Fire Sticks, giving users access to premium content and film including football matches.
Statement by FACT CEO
Kieron Sharp, CEO of Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) said, “These measures underscore the serious consequences of engaging in such illicit activities. We thank the police services involved for their invaluable assistance in this operation, particularly Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and the North East Regional Crime Unit for executing the warrants.”
“The rise in illegal IPTV operators using modified Firesticks to unlawfully access premium content is a growing concern. This not only infringes upon copyright laws but deprives content creators and distributors of their rightful earnings and disrupts the economic balance of the creative industry.” he added
“FACT and our partners are steadfast in our commitment to disrupt these criminal operations. This is just the start of our enforcement efforts, with more actions planned.” he further noted
Online piracy a major concern
In recent years online piracy has been increasing in the UK and across Europe with financial hardships and rise in subscription fees causing people to be involved in illegal operations. As per the reports, figures from the anti-piracy platform Muso and Kearney uncovered the increase in 12 percent since 2019 making it 141 billion visits to video piracy sites in 2023.
“Video content piracy is a systemic problem responsible for $75 billion per year in lost revenue for media companies – last year saw an average 1.5 pirate streams per month for every man, woman and child on the planet,” saidChristophe Firth, a partner at Kearney
“Beyond this direct financial revenue leakage, there are broader implications. For example, piracy innovations from smaller producers who struggle to monetise their IP and hinders job creation across the sector. Piracy can also call into question governments’ ability to deal with IP infringement, which can then deter foreign investment.” he added
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