Customers viewing content through illegal services: Most Indian expatriates living in the US and Canada are aware of the problems related to content piracy and intellectual property rights. Platforms like YuppTV, Zee5, SonyLIV, Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon, SunNXT and Colors are affected by this problem. Pirates stream the content of these services illegally through IPTV apps and set-up boxes.
What many customers don't understand is that when they buy these boxes from pirates and pay upfront they are directly supporting these criminals/pirates. These pirates steal content from content owners, causing huge financial losses to the media and entertainment industry and also affecting jobs.
unknowingly helping criminals
Pirates operate on the dark web, which poses a threat to both customers and the government. They can use the money earned through these illegal means for other illegal activities, such as drug trafficking and terrorism. In this way customers are unknowingly helping in anti-national activities.
The consequences of possessing an illegal IPTV box can be quite serious. Boxes that are set to stream pirated content have the ability to track customers' personal and confidential information. Pirates sell this information, such as credit card details, on the dark web.
Information reaching the dark web
Recently Nagra Technologies has confirmed that personal information collected by pirates is reaching the dark web. In many cases, people have lost money after falling prey to phishing emails, where they were sent false messages asking them to transfer money on behalf of their acquaintances. This results in financial loss.
Apart from this, the money earned from piracy is used for illegal activities like drugs, terrorism and human trafficking. When customers watch pirated IPTV content, they are indirectly helping these illegal activities.
Many big illegal pirates in the international market include Chitram TV, Boss IPTV, Tashan IPTV, Real TV, Jadu TV, World Max TV, Max TV, Webox, Voice IPTV, Punjabi IPTV and Indian IPTV.
May have to face legal action
Additionally, users who view content illegally through these pirated boxes may face legal action, including court summons. Subscribers may have to pay heavy fines for each content accessed illegally through these pirated services. This may impose a heavy financial burden on customers. They could face fines of thousands of dollars.
A recent piracy case in Britain has revealed that customers who watch pirated content illegally are committing criminal acts.
Continuous action against piracy
In recent times, there have been reports about several raids on a big pirate. Customers who are watching content through these illegal sources may have to face summons from the court. Big content partners are suffering huge losses due to IP infringement. This is considered a serious criminal act by the courts.
This is directly or indirectly creating a huge problem for governments like India and the countries where their citizens live. This problem arises because the money given to tax evading pirates is being misused to support illegal activities like drug trafficking and terrorism.
As responsible citizens of India, US or Canada and other countries, customers are requested to watch legally available content through platforms like YuppTV, Zee5 and SunNXT instead of supporting piracy. The use of pirated content poses significant risks to consumers, including potential cyber attacks by pirates via the dark web. Recent incidents in the UK and the passing of the law in France on May 15 are examples of the consequences consumers have to face for using pirated content.
During the month of January, FACT and police raided homes across the UK. During this time, people were given notice to stop illegal streaming activities with immediate effect. Users were informed about the risks associated with this, including criminal prosecution.
More than 1,000 individuals have been identified following a raid by West Mercia Police against an illegal UK-based streaming service that was supplying entertainment and sports content through modified boxes, Firesticks and subscriptions.
https://www.ladbible.com/news/technology/iptv-illegal-streaming-piracy-shield-italy-347634-20240410
The “Piracy Shield” platform came into existence as a result of Anti-Piracy Law No. 93/2023 passed in July 2023 and the subsequent AGCOM Regulation, which facilitates the automated management and distribution of piracy reports. According to Italian law, ISPs must block reported sites within 30 minutes.
“Piracy Shield” works to block illegal streaming of content. The services it blocks include IPTV as well as DNS and VPN services that are adept at breaking geo-specific rules. ISPs are not the only ones who need to block pirate IPTV services. All VPNs and Open DNS services will also have to comply with the blocking order.
Furthermore, resellers selling these boxes face arrest and heavy financial penalties for selling such devices illegally. Legal actions taken by content and platform owners against these resellers could even lead to bankruptcy filings.
https://www.ladbible.com/news/crime/iptv-subscription-warning-dodgy-sticks-court-ruling-980583-20240508
In May 2024, a person in the US was fined $30 million for selling access to an illegal IPTV streaming platform.
https://www.ladbible.com/news/crime/uk-iptv-fire-stick-facebook-court-crime-038968-20240605
A major UK IPTV vendor has been sentenced in court for illegal IPTV streams. The police have worked to dismantle the Fire Stick empire by focusing their attention on illegal IPTV sellers on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Pirates:
Pirates are engaged in illegal activities by downloading and streaming content illegally without permission, which significantly impacts the content and platform owners. Illicit earnings from piracy are being used to fund anti-national activities like terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal financial transactions. The network of pirates mainly works on the dark web and promotes anti-national elements.
Impacts on content and platform owners include intellectual property theft, resulting in loss of revenue as consumers can view content without paying subscription fees on legitimate platforms. This would have affected the business of platforms like YuppTV, Zee5, SunNXT. Additionally, pirates do not pay any taxes and use the money earned from their illegal activities to contribute to illegal activities like drugs and terrorism.
Apart from this, pirates also steal customer data, selling personal information like credit card details on the dark web. Pirated boxes in homes also give rise to the risk of phishing, targeting people with money for financial fraud through email scams and unauthorized bank transfers.
Some of the big pirates in the market include Boss IPTV, Tashan IPTV, Punjab IPTV, Chak De IPTV and IPTV.
IP Owner/Platform/Aggregator:
A lot of money is invested in creating content, which is then licensed to platforms to make it available to consumers for money, but piracy causes a huge loss of revenue which affects the entire ecosystem. Piracy causes loss to content selling platforms, broadcasters, content creators, actors, artists and the entire production team. There is a huge investment and effort involved in creating any content and when piracy occurs, it involves illegal theft. Due to this, many people lose their jobs and the companies and the entire industry suffer huge financial losses.
Piracy causes direct financial loss to content creators and distributors. When content is streamed illegally and distributed without permission, consumers who pay for legitimate access get it for free or at low cost. This hurts businesses that rely on selling or licensing content for revenue.
Platforms: Platforms that legally acquire content for distribution suffer significant losses when piracy forces consumers into free or low-cost illegal alternatives. This adversely affects the growth and stability of these platforms.
Broadcasters: Broadcasters who pay for the right to broadcast content lose viewership, licensing revenue, and advertising revenue if pirated versions become available. This reduces their ability to invest in new content.
Content creators: Piracy prevents creators from investing in new projects as they do not get returns on investment due to piracy.
Actors and Artists: Piracy affects the royalties that actors and artists receive from the distribution of their work. Not only this, it also affects their livelihood, due to which they lose their job and their career gets affected.
Government:
Governments, whether in India, America, Canada or any other country, are losing revenue due to tax evasion by both pirates and customers. India is losing huge export earnings due to piracy.
More importantly, the money paid by customers to pirates is being used to finance illegal activities such as drugs and terrorism. This situation greatly impacts the entire ecosystem, leading to loss of revenue and creating a number of potential risks as anti-national elements may be involved in these activities.
It becomes important for the government to educate consumers about the consequences of piracy and raise awareness about it among the people.
Money earned from piracy often contributes to illicit networks that can fuel illegal activities such as drug trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism. It poses security threats to both India and the rest of the world and affects global security.
Overall, content piracy also raises social and security concerns that governments need to address through educating consumers, enforcing laws, international cooperation, and support for legitimate content distribution channels.
