A group of anti-piracy organizations worked with police in Indonesia to apprehend the alleged operator of an illegal streaming website aimed at giving sports fans illicit access to live events.
In a press release last Friday, the Asia Video Industry Alliance (AVIA) and the Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) said its efforts led to the arrest of an unnamed person who was stealing live programming from the streaming service Vidio and retransmitting it through two illegal services called “Paseo TV” and “OK Stream.”
The operator, who wasn’t named, focused specifically on matches from the Premiere League, Ligue Un and AFC. The person allegedly launched a popular Telegram account, where live links to sign-up pages for Paseo TV and OK Stream were widely distributed. It wasn’t clear if the operator earned an income from the services, but the AVIA and CAP said OK Stream was one of the most-visited websites in Indonesia, raking up millions of views each month.
“Vidio has always been committed to being at the forefront of fighting piracy,” Gina Golda Pangaila, the senior vice president of legal anti-piracy and government affairs at Vidio, said in a statement. “Vidio’s piracy mitigation commitment requires collaboration not only with law enforcement and industry associations, but also cooperation with the public. Effective anti-piracy measures are critical for maintaining the integrity and sustainability of the content industry.”
Matt Cheetham, the general manager at CAP, said streamers who pick illegal websites over legitimate ones like Vidio aren’t just breaking the law — they’re also putting themselves at risk of having malware or viruses installed on their devices, and could even fall victim to identity theft.
“CAP’s research shows that social media and messaging platforms are the most popular forms of consumers accessing pirate content in Indonesia, and Telegram by some distance the most popular platform for this activity in Indonesia,” Cheetham said on Friday.
AVIA and CAP’s effort in Indonesia is the latest in a trend of anti-piracy organizations shutting down illegal streaming services and working with police to arrest their alleged operators.
Last month, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) worked with police in Egypt to shut down several illegal streaming websites that were retransmitting live sports without authorization. In August, police in the Netherlands also shut down a popular website that was offering illegally-transmitted live TV channels and on-demand movies to more than 1.3 million customers.
