UK Police and FACT Continue IPTV Piracy Arrests, Raids and Warnings

A 42-year-old man was arrested in a recent UK crackdown on illegal IPTV suppliers, with a special mention for ‘illicit Firesticks’. Local police, in collaboration with anti-piracy group FACT, also sent cease and desist letters to thirty other suspects. While FACT warns that pirate operators risk criminal penalties, there appears to be no end in sight for the streaming piracy take-downs.

Those who follow mainstream tabloid media in the UK should be familiar with the risks of online streaming piracy by now.

There’s no country in the world where more ‘pirate box’ or IPTV resellers have been prosecuted. Meanwhile, the number of suspects who have received official warnings runs in the hundreds.

Local police, in collaboration with anti-piracy group FACT, carry out many of these enforcement actions. This practice dates back more than a decade and in recent years only seems to have intensified.

New Pirate Streaming Crackdown

FACT have announced yet another successful ‘crackdown’ where cease and desist letters were sent to thirty suppliers of illegal IPTV services across the UK. The warning urged them to stop immediately, or face criminal consequences.

The main goal of the two-week enforcement effort was to disrupt and dismantle online piracy. While most suspects received warnings, South Wales Police arrested a 42-year-old man who’s allegedly involved in the pirate IPTV business through sales of ‘illicit’ Firesticks.

The suspect remains under investigation and may eventually face criminal charges. To further combat illegal IPTV services, FACT has also issued takedown notices to various social media sites and online marketplaces.

The latest actions were “highly effective” according to FACT. They follow less than a month after ‘yet another‘ person was sent to prison for their involvement in the pirate streaming business, which shows that consequences can be severe.

‘Serious Consequences’

To emphasize that piracy doesn’t go unpunished, FACT CEO Kieron Sharp issued a stark warning via the press.

“Our cease-and-desist measures are not just warnings — they are the first step toward holding offenders accountable. Many who ignored these notices in the past are now facing arrest and criminal charges. We strongly advise anyone involved in these activities to stop immediately,” Sharp says.

“If you’re supplying or using illicit streaming devices or illegal IPTV subscriptions, take this as a clear warning: you are breaking the law and risk facing serious consequences.”

New sellers surface despite prosecution publicity

While reporting in UK media can be dramatic and overblown at times, there’s indeed a real threat, as is exemplified by the many convictions over the years. However, for reasons unknown, the numerous warning campaigns, dating back many years, have yet to solve the problem.

Even rumored ‘Illegal Streaming Detector Cars‘, and ‘home visits’ to as many as a thousand pirate streaming subscribers, don’t appear to have eliminated the problem.

One could argue that without the efforts from FACT and police, things would be even worse today. However, it’s notable that after sending hundreds of warnings, new pirate IPTV sellers continue to surface. It appears to be an endless whack-a-mole.

Finally, it’s worth noting that FACT repeatedly targets Amazon’s Firestick brand in their headlines. This reached the point where the term “dodgy Firestick” has entered the lexicon. While these devices can be exploited, there’s nothing inherently illicit about the hardware.

What is a “dodgy Firestick” and what are the punishments for using one?

A “dodgy” or “‘illegal” Firestick refers to the Firestick being “jail broken”, which means it has been modified by someone to get around controls put in place by the developer – in this case Amazon.  Typically, the modifications have been made to allow users to watch illegal sports streams – often to be able to watch football at 3pm on a Saturday despite the blackout being in force or to watch games without the need to subscribe to sports channels. It can also allow you add addiotional applications that are not normally available on a Firestick.  Using a “dodgy” or “‘illegal” Firestick can lead to you being in real trouble. A man from Liverpool was recently jailed after being caught selling them.

It is not against the law to jailbreak – or as it is also called sideloading – a Firestick but it is a crime to watch illegal content on it. So if you want to jailbreak a Firestick so you can add apps that aren’t available via the Amazon software and watch totally legal programmes, that is fine.

However it becomes illegal if you watch dodgy streams of sporting events or pirated material. So while it is not against the law to jailbreak a Firestick per-say, jailbreaking it to watch illegal content can be a crime.

FACT explain: “Streaming, downloading or sharing unauthorised TV content, film or sports content is a crime. Illegal streaming or downloading are extremely risky activities, which can leave you and your family at the mercy of malware, viruses, ransomware, scams and fraud.” FACT add that police can track you watching illegal content and you can be prosecuted and fined – and if you don’t have a TV licence that could be also be a fine of as much as £1,000. For those who are selling or distributing illegal Firesticks, they can face prison time.

Source:   TorrentFreak.com and The Star