New Pirate Streaming Crackdown<\/h2>\n
FACT have announced yet another successful \u2018crackdown\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s allegedly involved in the pirate IPTV business through sales of \u2018illicit\u2019 Firesticks.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The latest actions were \u201chighly effective\u201d according to FACT. They follow less than a month after \u2018yet another<\/a>\u2018 person was sent to prison for their involvement in the pirate streaming business, which shows that consequences can be severe.<\/p>\n To emphasize that piracy doesn\u2019t go unpunished, FACT CEO Kieron Sharp issued a stark warning via the press.<\/p>\n \u201cOur cease-and-desist measures are not just warnings \u2014 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,\u201d Sharp says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n While reporting in UK media can be dramatic and overblown at times, there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Even rumored \u2018Illegal Streaming Detector Cars<\/a>\u2018, and \u2018home visits\u2019 to as many as a thousand pirate streaming subscribers, don\u2019t appear to have eliminated the problem.<\/p>\n One could argue that without the efforts from FACT and police, things would be even worse today. However, it\u2019s notable that after sending hundreds of warnings, new pirate IPTV sellers continue to surface. It appears to be an endless whack-a-mole.<\/p>\n Finally, it\u2019s worth noting that FACT repeatedly targets Amazon\u2019s Firestick brand in their headlines. This reached the point where the term \u201cdodgy Firestick\u201d has\u00a0entered the lexicon<\/a>. While these devices can be exploited, there\u2019s nothing inherently illicit about the hardware.<\/p>\n A “dodgy” or “\u2018illegal” 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Using a “dodgy” or “\u2018illegal” Firestick can lead to you being in real trouble. A man from Liverpool was recently jailed<\/a>\u00a0after being caught selling them.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t available via the Amazon software and watch totally legal programmes, that is fine.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n FACT<\/a> explain: \u201cStreaming, 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.\u201d FACT add that police can track you watching illegal content and you can be prosecuted and fined – and if you don\u2019t have a TV licence that could be also be a fine of as much as \u00a31,000. For those who are selling or distributing illegal Firesticks, they can face prison time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: \u00a0\u2018Serious Consequences\u2019<\/h2>\n
New sellers surface despite prosecution publicity<\/h2>\n
What is a “dodgy Firestick” and what are the punishments for using one?<\/h2>\n
![\"TorrentFreak\"](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/torrentfreak.png\")
<\/a> TorrentFreak.com<\/a> and The Star<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"