POLICE have launched a fresh crackdown on illegal streaming services of popular premium Sky channels following a raid in Wolverhampton.
A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of selling illegal streaming packages in bulk.
Officers from the police intellectual property crime unit (PIPCU) at City of London Police searched his home during the early hours of October 15.
The man was detained on suspicion of copyright and money laundering offences and has since been released under investigation.
Further search warrants were carried out at four business addresses in Wolverhampton and Coventry, with the support of West Midlands Police.
Officers got hold of a server used to host the illegal operation at one of the addresses leading to the service being shut down.
“Illegal streaming is a huge issue for the entertainment and creative industries, and while it may seem like a low-risk, high-reward crime, the proceeds are used to fund other serious forms of criminal activity,” said Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, from PIPCU at City of London Police.
“At the same time, it can expose end users to the risks of data theft, fraud and malware.
“The message of this operation is clear: if you sell illegal streaming services, you will be caught and held to account for your actions.”
Police have carried out a number of raids in recent years to shut down illegal streaming operations.
In July, one of the biggest illegal streaming crackdowns by police and IP protection organisation FACT took place, leading to 40 illegal streaming operators got stung with warnings.
A third of Brits who illegally stream say they, or someone they know, has been a victim of fraud or identity theft as a result of illegal streaming, according to BeStreamWise.
Figures from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) show that the annual loss to the economy through counterfeiting and piracy is £9billion.
An expert recently told The Sun that cyber criminals can use jailbroken streaming gadgets to break into your Wi-Fi and then onto other electronic devices on the same network.
Matt Hibbert, group director of anti-piracy at Sky, said: “When people illegally stream they provide their personal information to criminals and the risks that result are very real.
“We are grateful to the police intellectual property crime unit for leading this action.
“We’ll continue to do everything we can to protect our content from theft, and to help keep consumers safe.”
When an Amazon Fire Stick is ‘jailbroken’, it means a third-party media server software has been installed on it.
It’s not just Fire Sticks that can be modified to stream content for free.
The software most commonly used on Fire Sticks is called Kodi.
It can grant users unrestricted access to new features and apps the normal version of the device wouldn’t allow – but it is not legal to use in the UK.
The government outlined in 2017 that adapted Amazon Fire sticks and so-called ‘Kodi’ TV boxes were illegal.
This is because they breach intellectual property laws in not paying for the media content being watched.
“These devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air, content,” the government said at the time.
“They become illegal once they are adapted to stream illicit content, for example TV programmes, films and subscription sports channels without paying the appropriate subscriptions.”
If users are watching content that would usually be free, however, then they would not be breaking any laws.
