Telcos and ISPs ready to bring down illegal IPTV services

Telecommunication companies GO and Melita have expressed their determination at helping authorities in bringing to an end illegal IPTV streaming services.

Last week a police action triggered by an Italian clampdown on illegal streaming of content, including Serie A football, saw raids carried out across Europe, including Malta.

The European Union’s Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) coordinated the action day, codenamed ‘Operation Perfect Storm’, at the behest of Italy’s Guardia di Finanza through a European Investigation Order (EIO).

In Malta, raids were coordinated by the Financial Crimes Investigations Department (FCID) and the Cybercrime Unit of the Police Force. No arrests were made but searches carried out in Qormi and St Paul’s Bay in properties owned by one individual, yielded the confiscation of around 150 devices, together with approximately 48 Smart Satellite Cards, two smartphones and around €13,000 in cash.

The investigations also saw IMG, the streaming agency for Serie A and other major European leagues, file a court injunction  calling on internet service providers and digital terrestrial TV platforms, like GO and Melita who legitimately stream matches in Malta, to terminate internet access to individuals or organisations found to be broadcasting illegal Serie A content through IPTV.

“Melita can confirm that it has, in cooperation with its peers in the industry, put in place the necessary procedures to identify illegal IPTV streams. As a result of these procedures a number of illegal broadcasts have been blocked,” the company said.

GO also said that it will be assisting the authorities in the best way it can. GO said telecoms can only block the sources (IP addresses) of the illegal services once such IP addresses are provided to them by the rightful content owners, such as Serie A content providers, and following a court order to block such content.

“These actions will not have any impact on the internet connection of customers,” Melita said.

Both companies said that in terms of internet usage, IPTV has limited effects on internet usage by neighbouring households. “GO has adequately dimensioned its network to meet every customer’s internet usage demand, no matter what the type of content consumed is,” it said.

Melita confirmed that to date, despite taking up significant bandwidth during simultaneous viewing of live events, IPTV services have rarely affected the internet speeds of other customers.

But the companies did warn that use of illegal services might pose various security risks. “Illegal IPTV applications, installed on devices within a household, often contain various security vulnerabilities, that could put the customer’s internet quality and security at risks,” GO said.

Melita stated that illegal streamers are often hacked and this can leave consumers’ devices and home networks open to viruses and other malware.

EOne seller who advertises IPTV on Facebook’s marketplace told MaltaToday that he was not concerned about the recent action since he was only a reseller of the boxes and his main source of income did not come from the streaming devices.