Illegal streaming is a very widespread problem, which complicates even more a sector unable to take off, also due to structural problems.
The pandemic year has led to an exponential growth in the illicit market for illegal subscriptions to pay TV and audiovisual content platforms. Where, however, the risk of pitfalls and fraud is very high.
It seems that in 2020 even 21% of Italians illegally used pay channels using IPTV technology. IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television, a system that allows you to watch television channels using the TCP / IP protocol of Internet connections.
In the same year, nearly 11 million people have used non-legal channels at least once for watching movies, TV shows or sporting events. The share of illegal subscriptions amounts to 2 million.
The eyes of the Guardia di Finanza on illegal streaming
But now Financial Police and Postal Police are closely monitoring this illegal market.
Telegram channels are one of the vehicles in which you can find access to platforms at ridiculously low prices, in addition to sharing passwords. The possibility of using a single subscription for multiple users is a further blow to the big names in legal streaming.
The operation of the Finance Police
In recent days, the Guardia di Finanza of Varese denounced a seventy-year-old for a sales network of pirate subscriptions that touched many Italian cities. The illegal streaming tour allowed the fraudulent viewing of several of the main platforms: from Mediaset Premium to Sky, from Dazn to Disney Channel.
The person under investigation, in the three years of activity from 2017 to 2020, would have illegally earned 500 thousand euros. And now he is being investigated for “counterfeiting, intellectual property infringement and computer fraud.”
The approximately 1,800 subscribers of pirate subscriptions have paid fines for a total of 300 thousand euros and have been reported for receiving stolen goods. The Finance Police intercepted the payments, which were made by bank transfers or top-ups with prepaid cards.
Curious that the subscriptions subscribed, despite being illegal, somehow contained a condition of sale which in the intentions should have freed the seller from any responsibility. In fact, purchasers were informed that “viewing these television schedules could entail risks associated with the exclusive rights to disseminate intellectual property”.
The maxi operation in May
The action of the Guardia di Finanza of Varese takes place on the long wave of that, much more conspicuous, of last May.
When a maxi operation by the Postal Police against illegal streaming, at the request of the Public Prosecutor of Catania, had led to the blackout of 1.5 million outlawed subscriptions. The simultaneous intervention had taken place in eleven Italian cities, and according to the Postal Police it had affected about 80% of illegal streaming in our country.
Streaming and football
Another reason for the growing attention towards pirate subscriptions is the (at least partial) passage of great football from satellite to streaming..
He confirms it Alberto Mattiacci, Ordinary of Economics and Business Management at Sapienza, at the head of an Observatory on audiovisual piracy in the process of being activated. Mattiacci said: “With the passage of football, which is valuable content, from satellite to streaming, the feeling is that all the phenomena of fraudulent use are on the rise. The network would seem to be more permeable than satellite encryption and there is the issue of multiplying the use of accounts “.
The problems of streaming and the digital divide
Beyond the execrable practice of resorting to illegal streaming, it should be noted that in our country the infrastructures do not yet seem ready for massive use by the population..
The not small misunderstandings that accompanied the first day of the Serie A football championship broadcast by Dazn are well known.
Problems that, although of minor importance, also occurred in the following days. In two matches broadcast on Sunday 24 October, for example, there were some audio interruptions.
But, as we have pointed out in another article, the blame would not be attributable only to the platform. In this sense, the so-called digital divide, or the digital divide, also plays an active role. Not all areas of Italy enjoy the same coverage, and not all Italians have the same opportunity to access the Internet.
Is Piracy Really Harmful? A study of the European Union
Opinions or researches are published periodically according to which, beyond the undoubted illegal aspect, piracy and fraudulent streaming would not cause concrete damage to companies in the sector.
According to a 2015 study funded by the European Union, for example, the negative impact would be minimal. Indeed, often, in the case of films, a first pirate viewing would encourage a later legal one.