The fight against streaming piracy It is more and more spread all over the world. Europol and Bulgarian authorities led a large-scale international operation against the illegal broadcasting of content subject to TV rights and the trade in counterfeit products. A Europe-wide operation led to the uncovering of a network of over 2,500 illegal channels, with 22 million subscribers spread across the globe.
European Anti-Piracy Operation
The operation, called “Kratos”, was carried out between July and September 2024, involving special agencies and police forces. 15 countriesInside and outside the EU, from Bulgaria to France, from Italy to Switzerland, as well as private digital content companies.
The research activities are specifically related to the coverage of the biggest sporting events to be broadcast in 2024, the European Football Championship in Germany and the Paris Olympics, to eliminate a very extensive system of publication, distribution and dissemination. Permission is granted subject to copyright. and related rights.
Cooperation with TV rights holders and football governing bodies, such as La Liga and UEFA, and the Coalition Against Audiovisual Piracy (AAP), allowed the identification of pirate platforms, the sharing with authorities of information necessary to identify crimes and those responsible.
Illegal network
As a result of the operation, more persons were identified. 560 sellers Illegal streaming content, not only related to football matches and sports events in general, but also to the distribution of movies, series and television channels.
More than 112 searches were conducted by the police forces involved, resulting in the seizure of at least 29 servers. 270 IPTV devices And 100 domains are linked to illegal activity.
At the end of the investigation, 102 suspects were identified, involved in various capacities of crimes related to arms and drug trafficking, which were also seized by Europol and Eurojust authorities, along with large amounts of cryptocurrencies. were confiscated. Approx 1.6 million euros And 40 thousand euros in cash.
The fight against TV piracy
The investigation of “Kratos” is a major action at the European level by intensifying international efforts in the fight against piracy.
In November 2024, another vast network of illegal audiovisual content was broken, this time also affecting more than 22 million users.
Operation “Taken Down” took the form of searches and seizures for illegal businesses in fifteen Italian regions and other foreign countries, from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, from Romania to Croatia. 250 million Euro per month.
A more decisive crackdown on the use of illegal IPTV in Italy has been achieved with the introduction of the Piracy Shield anti-fraud platform, which Automatic fines of up to 5,000 euros For users who use pirated streaming services.
