A new wave of illegal warnings have been issued to individuals across Ireland who are providing illegal access to premium TV content.
The cease-and-desist notices order them to immediately cease all illegal streaming activity or face prosecution. The notices, delivered in person, by post, and by email, were issued to addresses within the counties of Mayo, Monaghan, Galway, Louth, Dublin, Cork, and Laois between 7 and 18 August.
The legal notices are part of a broader targeted campaign in Ireland designed to disrupt and shut down organised and sophisticated piracy networks.
Anti-piracy organisation FACT has been working in partnership with broadcasters and law enforcement following earlier action in March that led to a number of prosecutions.
Sean, a former IPTV seller from the West of Ireland, received a warning in March: “I didn’t think that what I was doing was a serious offence. I didn’t think that anyone ever paid attention to copyright crime, let alone investigate and track people down for it.”
In May, five men were sentenced in total to just over 30 years in prison in the UK for their part in running three illegal streaming services – Flawless, Shared VPS and Optimal. The ringleader of the operation, Mark Gould, was sentenced to 11 years, a significant custodial sentence for the offence.
The case, which was a private criminal prosecution, was brought by the Premier League and supported by Sky and others.
Kieron Sharp, CEO at FACT, commented: “Illegal IPTV service providers are breaking the law and putting consumers at real risk of malware, data loss and identity theft.
“Consumers who pay for pirate services should also know that they are often funding serious organised crime groups.
The Premier League was recently granted a new, enhanced blocking order in Ireland, while Sky was granted a similar order, designed to protect its sports and entertainment content in the UK.
