The fight against pirated IPTV is adding new chapters every few months. We generally talk about police mega-operations against those who have a million-dollar and illegal business in equal parts, but the risk of using pirated IPTV goes further and also affects its users.
There are several countries that also impose penalties not only on pirate operators, but also on the users of these services. Italy is one of them and the results of his Operazione: Doctor Pezzotto are surprising, to say the least, considering that the police broke certain limits to track pirated IPTV users.
Italian Police Track Pirate IPTV Users
In Italy, not only are those who operate a pirated IPTV service persecuted, but the fight goes further and clients are also persecuted, tracked and identified. This is clear from the arrival of a wave of administrative letters (some 1,600) in which they state that the Italian authorities were able to track IPTV users “by organizing the redirection of the national connections of all Internet service providers” so that customers subscribe to a server controlled by the police and configured to log their activity.
As they say, they implemented a real-time tracking system with which users could be identified with a mixture of tracking all connections to pirate sites (IPs) combined, in real time, with the crossing of telematic information with the derivative of the means of payment used.
In short, the hacked connection was found, crossing with the data of the means of payment. Anyone trying to connect to this service was redirected to a dashboard indicating that it was seized and the connection details were being tracked.
Fines of up to 1,032 euros for users
The police in Italy are not only going after those who operate a pirated IPTV business, they are also going to whomever they identify through the above-described traces and these people receive letters informing them of the copyright infringement committed. and the fines they will have to pay.
The letters refer to an administrative fine for copyright infringement of just 154 euros or, “in case of repeat offence”, a total of 1,032 euros. However, if people pay their fines within 60 days, the amounts are reduced to €51 and €344 respectively.
“It is important to sensitize all citizens, especially young people, on this issue and make them understand that financing this business is financing organized crime. We must protect the healthy economy and companies that respect the rules”, says Gianluca Berruti, head of investigations at the Guardia di Finanza.
It is believed that around 1,600 people were attacked in this first wave of letters corresponding to the so-called Operazione: Doctor Pezzotto, but according to Andrea Duillo, CEO of Sky Italia, this is just the beginning. “These first fines show that it is doubly dangerous to use pirated services, because not only do you hand over your personal data to criminal organizations, but you also commit a crime for which you are fined and prosecuted.”
