FACT action leads to shutdown of 17 piracy operations

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has announced that its actions have resulted in the shutdown of 17 separate pirate operations.

The body said that a number of individuals who were selling Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs) and providing illegal streams via websites and social media pages including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have immediately halted their operations following cease and desist notifications

FACT CEO Kieron Sharp, who recently spoke to Digital TV Europe’s TV Watch podcast, said: “Demand for content has increased over the last few months as people spend more time at home and criminals have been meeting that demand by providing illegal devices and services.

“FACT works closely with broadcasters and rights holders to identify the original source of illegal content and we employ a variety of techniques to tackle piracy. By sending cease and desist notifications we can encourage individuals to put an end to their involvement in providing illegal services, in the hope of preventing them getting involved in longer-term criminality.

“This is a warning to anyone engaged in selling subscriptions or devices that allow access to content without remunerating the legitimate provider – we are monitoring, and we will take action. Those that continue to provide illegal content risk a criminal conviction.

It has been a busy couple of months for piracy-busting in Europe, most notably with a Europol shutdown of a worldwide piracy network that had more than two million paying customers.