Organized Crime Unit Orders Pirate IPTV Sellers to Cease & Desist

[Matrix]

The Covert Development and Disruption Team of the UK’s North West Regional Organised Crime Unit says it has issued cease and desist notices in England and Wales to people involved in the sale of 'pirate' IPTV subscriptions. The sweep took place Tuesday and also targeted sellers of modified set-top boxes.

Over the past couple of years, it has become abundantly clear that entertainment industry groups are taking the rise of ‘pirate’ TV boxes very seriously.

Where previously the supply of unlicensed content into living rooms mainly took place via hacked satellite and cable boxes, the latest threat is content delivered directly via the Internet.

Thousands of live channels are now readily available via cheap monthly subscriptions, modified Kodi installations, or dedicated apps, all of which are considered a threat by small and large broadcasters alike.

There are many civil strategies available for reducing the flow but in the UK, high-tier police forces are now getting involved. According to an organized crime unit based in the north of England, a wave of activity took place just this week.

The North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) is a collaboration between police forces across Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and North Wales. During Tuesday, the unit said it contacted people involved in the supply of ‘pirate’ IPTV subscriptions (sometimes known as ‘lines’) and the sale of modified set-top boxes.

“Our disruption team have been working with GAIN (Government Agency Intelligence Network) & @FACTUK & today issued cease & desist notices in Wrexham & Blackburn to people involved in the sale of illegal IPTV subscriptions & cracked online television boxes,” the unit said in a statement.

GAIN is a multi-agency group that provides a mechanism for various agencies to work together and share information. More than four years ago it was involved in raids against several ‘pirate’ box sellers.

FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) needs little introduction, as it has been involved in similar operations against a number of entities working in the ‘pirate’ IPTV arena, whether that’s via subscription-based services or modified set-top boxes.

Early today, TorrentFreak sought comment from FACT chief Kieron Sharp on the events of yesterday. We asked about the nature of the campaign, whether it would be expanded to other areas, and requested further details on those targeted. We were also keen to know which laws are allegedly being broken.

Due to the nature of the investigation and the involvement of various police units, Sharp couldn’t immediately offer a comment but we’ll update when we receive a more detailed response.

The brief police statement does not make it clear whether those ordered to cease and desist are lower-tier players (resellers of subscriptions) or those closer to the top (IPTV providers), or a combination of both. The former seems more likely but in the absence of more detail, it’s impossible to say.

The North West Regional Organised Crime Unit has now been involved in action against illicit streaming on at least two occasions in as many months.

In June, its officers arrested the alleged operator of the Supremacy Kodi add-on repository after it was reported to the unit by FACT in association with the Premier League, Sky, BT Sport, and Virgin Media.

 

 VIEW: Original Article.

[straycat19]

I mentioned in posts a year or so back that a large portion of these pirate systems would fall under U.S. RICO laws of organized crime.  I don't know why the FBI hasn't pursued that recourse in the US but it appears our UK allies have jumped on that train.  To fall under RICO it actually only takes two people, who create an organization with the purpose of participating in an illegal activity.  That would apply to any and all of these illegal streaming services.  It could also include the people who use those services if they were so inclined to follow the accounts to the end users, since they are also participants in the organization.

[steven36]

6 hours ago, Mach1 said:

In June, its officers arrested the alleged operator of the Supremacy Kodi add-on repository after it was reported to the unit by FACT in association with the Premier League, Sky, BT Sport, and Virgin Media.

These guys didn't  charge for IPTV  they just linked to Free IPTV streams  and they was not very dependable like the Subs that got closed  down and some subs still never been ban  at reddit.com  that linked to sports streams you can watch in your browser were .Supremacy was a crap shoot,  i never liked the addon  it sometimes worked and it sometimes didn't and it never was stable .   The Streisand Effect of that dev getting arrested caused many better addon dev than his to retire .  But new addons come out everyday many DEVs are out of the UK's reach .

 

Still reddit.com is the home of a sub were they sell illegal IPTV . And the subs they shut down like  Supremacy they was only linking to Free IPTV streams but the Websites were they got streams from is still around. In the USA all they ever done to Kodi Devs was give them a cease and desist deal . And when TVAddons got sued by Dish in Texas they settled  out of court . He still a free man , The site owner  faces charges in his own country Canada still but that will up for them to decide. Strange they can arrest some dev in the UK  for linking to them, but big sites like reddit.com who allowed it for years  and still involved in the sale of it can get away with it,  by just using a ban hammer when rights holders complain.  That's the difference in being in the USA were DMCA protects social media i guess.

 

Also Google links to Kodi addons  and IPTV streams  ,Pirate  videos and much more .  Also Microsoft is involved with it as well because they own GitHub now, so most kodi addons  are hosted on there site ,  but because of DMCA they can't be touched . Its OK for Big Tech sites to allow  it but lord forbid anyone else to do it even if they follow DMCA . Also Twitter , Facebook and  YouTube allow people to advertise  illegal IPTV  and Kodi addons and YouTube even paid them money for doing it.  That's the problem with Piracy today it is to centralized  with Big Tech sites and that's why everyone gets busted  so easy. Even the CDN they use there at risk they will snitch them out.  Time to decentralize and stop shouting it from the rooftops of the clearnet. .

 

 

UK/ Ireland Courts are a joke i'm reading right now were people are buying VPN's to go with there  Pirate IPTV subs to get around them blocking the streams, also people are buying vpns to stop the networks and ISP from snooping on them when they stream  . If they have the money to buy Pirate IPTV they have the money to buy a vpn . In the USA  they lots of people just using legal streaming services and sharing  accounts  .