The siege on piracy is becoming increasingly intense throughout the world. Today we read a news story about how two sellers of decos prepared to watch pirated IPTV content have been arrested and sentenced by the authorities. In this case, the research has had the collaboration of one of the best-known companies in the television and streaming sector.
Notices are being given practically every week. The authorities have their eye on the pirates who profit from the IPTV market and they are not going to let a single one pass by. For this reason, arrests continue to be made all over the world. The two pirates in this news have been arrested in Northern Ireland thanks to the participation of Sky, which had previously carried out an investigation that it made available to the agents.
Following the trail of the pirates
The investigation of this specific case had a first phase that took place between September 2018 and January of the following year. In that first contact, the radar was placed on the two detainees, a 43-year-old man and a 27-year-old man. They were being tracked because they suspected that they were doing business selling pirated IPTV decos. This is how they discovered that one of them was the director of a company that was related to the satellite television market.
They also discovered a second company, in this case with the name of the two detainees. They tried to pass it off as an entity specialized in the sale of second-hand products, but the authorities were already on their trail and that movement caused more alarms to go off. The next thing that was discovered was that their companies were performing maintenance tasks related to televisions, so it seemed that not everything was illegal. Then they saw that they were selling IPTV decos, although in the first instance there was no evidence that they were breaking any laws. After all, selling the deco without pirated content is not something that is penalized.
Arrest and prison
The authorities followed the leads they had and continued checking the movements made by the two suspects. This is how it was discovered that, in reality, it does seem that they were marketing devices with pirated content, as well as providing their clients with access to all kinds of illegal tools. Based on the discoveries made, they have been accused of various copyright crimes, with both criminals acknowledging that they had sold, distributed or provided access to unauthorized decoders. In addition, one of the two detainees has also been guilty of having electronic devices that allowed him to access illegal services, as well as for recognizing that he had “criminal property.”
The punishment for these crimes includes prison time. There are several crimes, including a punishment of eight months in jail, but the only good news he can cling to is that these charges are going to overlap, so he won’t have to spend as much time in jail as he might have imagined. The other defendant has only been charged with one of the piracy crimes, for which he will only receive a punishment that will require him to complete 175 hours of community service.
As a result of the sentences, the agent in charge of the investigation wanted to take the opportunity to applaud the decision made by the judge and to issue a warning to anyone who can pirate free channels and television with IPTV decos. He reminds us that these devices are legal until they are used for something illegal and places special emphasis on the fact that anyone who uses them illegally will be committing a crime, both those who distribute or sell them and the users themselves. Furthermore, he mentions that the authorities must be very careful with these crimes because, in many cases, pirates hide large organized crime networks behind them.
In this case, from what can be deduced from their statements, they are aware that the two arrested and sentenced are not part of any large criminal network. And although his crimes seem not to have been as alarming as others that have been discovered in recent times, they wanted to use his case as a demonstration of what can happen to anyone. He states: “Users and subscribers of illegal services must be aware that they are also committing a crime for which they can be prosecuted.” It would be necessary to know, precisely, what both men did and what type of services they offered with their decos to their clients, given that the authorities have not shared all the information. In any case, the message they send is clear.
