This weeks “Dodgy FireStick” warning in the UK press
Football Fans Could Face Prison for Illegal Streaming Amid Piracy Crackdown
This “dodgy firestick” warning story appeared in the UK press over the weekend. The usual weekly “scaremongering”, but no mention of how the police have the resources to combat this, yet they are unable to have the resources to combat other crimes, or have the space in prisons when they are letting prisoners out early!
Football fans who stream matches illegally may soon face prison sentences, according to recent reports, as authorities intensify efforts to combat digital piracy.
Prompted by repeated warnings from the Premier League, enforcement agencies are now placing significant emphasis on stopping illegal streaming—an activity estimated to cost the industry over £2 billion annually.
A major target of these efforts has been modified Amazon Fire Sticks, often referred to as “dodgy” devices, which have been illegally altered to grant users unauthorized access to content from major broadcasters.
In recent years, police have stepped up action against such practices. In January, a man from Halifax was sentenced to prison for selling these modified devices over an 18-month period between 2020 and 2022. Sunny Kanda, 41, of Creek View, Wheatley, was accused of defrauding legitimate service providers of more than £108,000.
Until now, enforcement has primarily focused on those distributing the illegal devices. However, new reports suggest that end users could also come under scrutiny. According to the Daily Record, fraud investigators have indicated that from next season, users of illegal streams could face legal action, including up to five years in prison.
Kieron Sharp, chairman of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), confirmed that users may be implicated in future investigations.
‘It is possible consumers could get swept up in our investigations,’ he said. ‘We did have the attitude that we would rather not criminalise the end user.
‘If we take out a gang and they have a customer database, we would normally write to the consumers telling them, “What you are doing is breaking the law.”
‘I would never say to consumers they will not get prosecuted because that just isn’t correct.’
According to media analysts at Enders, as cited by The Financial Times, the scale of illegal streaming has become so widespread it now equates to theft “on an industrial scale.” High-profile events, such as live football matches, are reportedly drawing tens of thousands of viewers away from official platforms toward pirated streams.
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