Security News Police bust pirate streaming service making €250 million per month

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Content source

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/police-bust-pirate-streaming-service-making-250-million-per-month/

An international law enforcement operation has dismantled a pirate streaming service that served over 22 million users worldwide and made €250 million ($263M) per month.

Italy's Postal and Cybersecurity Police Service announced the action, codenamed "Taken Down," stating they worked with Eurojust, Europol, and many other European countries, making this the largest takedown of its kind in Italy and internationally.

"More than 270 Postal Police officers, in collaboration with foreign law enforcement, carried out 89 searches in 15 Italian regions and 14 additional searches in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia, and China, involving 102 individuals," reads the announcement.

"As part of the investigative framework initiated by the Catania Prosecutor's Office and the Italian Postal Police, and with international cooperation, the Croatian police executed 11 arrest warrants against suspects."

"Additionally, three high-ranking administrators of the IT network were identified in England and the Netherlands, along with 80 streaming control panels for IPTV channels managed by suspects throughout Italy," mentions the police in the same announcement.

Police bust pirate streaming service making €250 million per month

An international law enforcement operation has dismantled a pirate streaming service that served over 22 million users worldwide and made €250 million ($263M) per month.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Only people that can't afford paying the monthly subscription will use piracy

 

[Jonny Quest]

Maybe it's also some who think it's a way to stick it to these greedy companies, or that entertainment is an entitlement their entitled to, and that pirated justifies it?

The copyrighted content included redistributed IPTV, live broadcasts, and on-demand content from major broadcasters like Sky, Dazn, Mediaset, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+, and Paramount.

 

[cartaphilus]

Maybe it's also some who think it's a way to stick it to these greedy companies, or that entertainment is an entitlement their entitled to, and that pirated justifies it?

I pay for all of my streaming since I like to be honest and I don't mind paying for quality when I can afford it. It takes talent and resources to make good quality videos/shows. However I would be lying if I said that I never downloaded a show to watch offline whenever traveling. Those are the instances that streaming fails. I might be flying or camping or etc and there is no way for me to stream a show.

I 90% of the time still buy physical media. I have a nice home theater system with a great 11.2.4 sound and I want to experience it at full fidelity without any streaming artifacts or downgrades. However, that doesn't port to shows. I don't purchase shows just movies. So when it comes to shows....I might or might not download a copy even though I pay for the streaming service. So yes I might or might not download some shows at least until a solution is provided than allows one to download their favorite shows and watch it whenever online connectivity doesn't exist..

 

[Digmor Crusher]

All those streaming not worth watching, pay for nothing and also don't watch illegal, I don't care about this at all. Watch movies and series is a waste of precious time you have in your life.

Everyone is entitled to enjoy their lives in whatever way they choose, nothing wrong with watching a few movies. Now, if your staring at your phone all day or on social media all day, that's another story.

 

[Jonny Quest]

All those streaming not worth watching, pay for nothing and also don't watch illegal, I don't care about this at all. Watch movies and series is a waste of precious time you have in your life.

The same thing could also be said about being online, on forums including this one.I agree in a way, but for some of us as with myself, it's an escape from our intense daily lives.

What I have a hard time with are those who (I'm guilty of this) volunteer their time answering questions on AV forums. There are some with 13,000 - 25,000 posts (points) doing it for free for multi-million dollar companies who could afford to do it themselves. Again, for them it could be a diversion, an escape, or an online addiction?

 

[n8chavez]

Everybody should do what they please, but later when you think about it, and watch all those fake movies and series you realise all the other things you could have done. I am also hardly online , simply no time

You're talking in an online forum, in a thread about entertainment, how you are hardly online and hardly watch entertainment because it's dumb and stupid? How does that make sense? Your entire statement is oxymoronic.

 

[n8chavez]

If you don't like my statement then don't reply, I care less about what you think

Then why reply?

 

[Sorrento]

Only people that can't afford paying the monthly subscription will use piracy

No one has died yet because they can't stream movies or content - It's stealing.