Matrix Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 The Guardia di Finanza, the Italian police unit tasked with financial crimes, has reported 223 subscribers of pirate IPTV services to the judicial authorities. This is the first large scale operation against IPTV users worldwide. According to the authorities, the targeted users risk a hefty fine as well as a potential prison sentence. Last summer the pirate IPTV market was thrown into turmoil when Italian authorities took down Xtream-Codes. The IPTV management service was believed to be connected to 5,000 pirate services that catered to around 50 million end-users. The enforcement actions caused problems at many IPTV services, with IPTV traffic dropping by half, but in the weeks that followed many providers managed to recover. That doesn’t mean, however, that law enforcement authorities are giving up. This week the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), the law enforcement agency connected to the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, announced another IPTV-related enforcement operation. This time, it is targeted at customers of these pirate IPTV services. Following an in-depth investigation, Guardia di Finanza tracked down 223 subscribers of illegal IPTV services. These people were subsequently reported to the judicial authorities, where they face further prosecution. According to the law enforcement agency, the investigation remains ongoing. This means that more IPTV subscribers may be identified and reported in the future. The subscribers in question are being held responsible for the crime of “receiving stolen goods.” If found guilty, they risk a penalty of 25,000 euros as well as an eight-year prison sentence, the authorities state. The investigations were carried out with help from Italian anti-piracy group FAPAV, which provided technical assistance. FAPAV sees IPTV piracy as a major and growing threat to the entertainment industries. Federico Bagnoli Rossi, Secretary-General of FAPAV, thanks Guardia di Finanza for its operation which he believes is needed to show that end users are also at risk. “The operation is crucial because, for the first time in Italy, it doesn’t only focus on the operators of the pirate portals but also the users of these services,” Rossi says. FAPAV hopes that these enforcement actions will continue. It believes that the growing problems pirate IPTV services cause are underestimated, so clamping down on all aspects is essential. “In just one year we have seen an increase of over a million [pirate IPTV] users,” Rossi notes, adding that copyright holders are severely affected by these illegal services. If and how many of the reported IPTV subscribers will indeed be prosecuted is unknown. However, the operation does show that subscribers are not untouchable, which will likely be used as a warning message to others. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanderthunder Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Most countries will only prosecute IPTV providers, but seeing IPTV users are also being targeted, it looks like overkill to me. And imagine thousands of IPTV users being targeted, even the jail wont enough to cater them anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 On 2/21/2020 at 12:54 AM, zanderthunder said: Most countries will only prosecute IPTV providers, but seeing IPTV users are also being targeted, it looks like overkill to me. And imagine thousands of IPTV users being targeted, even the jail wont enough to cater them anyway. That why you need to use a vpn if you buy or use free illegal IPTV , In the UK they block people from streaming illegal IPTV if they dont use VPN . Only in recent years have they been going after the money they went after users as well as providers since the days of Napster . They went after people who used illegal cable and satellite boxes long before they was IPTV so you knew it was just a matter of time they went after people who steals there transmissions on the web. Anyway even legal IPTV is starting to die out Sling TV reports first-ever subscriber decline https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/19/sling-tv-reports-first-ever-subscriber-decline/ So Dish is talking about selling out to At&t I dont like IPTV it full of commercials i rather download my stuff from a web site raw video files and watch it latter no internet needed just like i done every since they made VCRs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanderthunder Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Nonetheless, I'm living in an Asian country where they care less about who subscribe IPTV. They more to aiming those resell IPTV services, but they are dumb enough to act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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