The Premier League has struck a massive blow against piracy, after a major international investigation into illegal IPTV streaming yielded a number of arrests and the shutdown of a prominent subscription streaming service.
The operation, which was a joint effort between police in the UK, Spain, and Denmark, saw raids in 14 locations leading to five people being arrested for crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation, intellectual property theft, fraud and money laundering.
The police discovered 11 server farms, some of which had 44 individual servers, that underpinned the illegal IPTV business. As a result of the investigation, the service has been shut down.
While operating, it had offered its subscribers access to 800 television channels for fees starting at 40 euros a month. Police say the alleged perpetrators made eight million euros from the illegal business.
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The five arrests are the result of an investigation initiated by the Premier League back in 2015, with the focus was on a website based in Malaga, Spain. Police say the service was operated by a “specialist international criminal organisation with a presence in Spain, Denmark, United Kingdom, Latvia, the Netherlands and Cyprus.”
Naturally, the Premier League is pretty pleased with the shut down, claiming it is enjoying “unprecedented success” in clamping down on rights theft.
Premier League Director of Legal Services, Kevin Plumb said: “The success of this investigation is a further example of the Premier League’s hugely impactful global anti-piracy programme. We are achieving unprecedented success in the protection of our media rights, with ground-breaking Court orders blocking illegal streams and numerous actions against suppliers of illegal Premier League content resulting in significant prison sentences.
“The support of the authorities is crucial in our anti-piracy efforts and we are very grateful to all the agencies that played a pivotal role in this operation, particularly the Spanish National Police for leading this collaborative investigation. We will continue to invest in cutting-edge technology and work with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders across the world to protect our rights.”
Will illegal streaming ever be totally combatted? Or will the pirates continue to find a way? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
