The Italian law enforcement agencies continue to counter the phenomenon of pirate IPTV with an action that was concentrated close to the last day of the Serie A football championship (from 20 to 22 last May) and the final of the Conference League ( May 25). The two sporting events gave further impetus to IPTV activities with hundreds of new services and resources put on sale in Italy to allow illegal streaming.
SINGLE (PIRATE) SUBSCRIPTION AT AN IRRISORY PRICE
The sales scheme is the classic one, namely the advertising via Telegram. The subject of the announcement was a single subscription, called “Official application“which was offered at a defined price derisory by investigators and which allowed access to any TV channel and PAY TV simultaneously from any device – smartphone, tablet, TV, computer, etc.). There was also the possibility of accessing a free trial period of one hour before activating the subscription. The sellers guaranteed the anonymity of the customers.
SEQUESTRES IN RAIN AND USERS TRACKED IN A DIFFICULT FIGHT
The investigations of the Special Protection of Privacy and Technological Fraud Unit of the Guardia di Finanza led to the seizure of 500 web resources and the related 40 Telegram channels. Some Telegram groups advertising the subscription had a large number of subscribers – over 20,000. At the same time, the investigators integrated a tracking system for service users illegal: anyone who tried to connect to the pirated service was redirected to an information page containing confirmation that the site through which the transmission was being viewed had been seized and that the connection data was being tracked.
There is no news of sanctions at the moment, but one fact is already sufficiently proven: i managers of these illegal activities continue to demonstrate the ability to reorganize themselves even after the maxi kidnappings. Investigators found that the new pirate streaming services were offered through the IT flow management system called “Stream Creed“, which appears to derive from the source code of the Xtream Code platform neutralized in 2019.
