Ethics would dictate a firm “no”.
After all, as well as being illegalthe use of unofficial streaming sites is a profound disrespect for the work of others.
Yet, despite morals, common sense, awareness campaigns against piracy and the interventions of the police, many Italians insist on using illegal portals to watch sport, football in the first place.
And by “many” we really mean many. Think that we are among the leaders in Europe on this front. A record we shouldn’t be proud of at all and which actually demonstrates how widespread the problem is.
Saving is an illusion
Why do fans decide to rely on disreputable portals?
The most frequent reason is economic. Following football on TV has its cost: there is a subscription to Sky, to DAZN, to Prime Video… In short, the platforms have increased and the investment required has grown. And so, instead of choosing a single subscription or cutting other expenses, illegal streaming is used.
The “savings”, however, is only an illusion.
The Guardia di Finanza discovered e fined 6,000 fans for watching matches on pirate sites. Yes, now it is not only the illegal streaming providers who have to deal with the law but also the end users of the service who will now have to pay well 1,000 euros each. A sum with which they could have paid the legal subscription
The Risks of Illegal Streaming
The fine, however, is only one of the aspects to consider.
The use of illegal sites exposes users to a flood of security risks.
Think of the classic illicit streaming services.
If you have opened one, at least once in your life, you will know that require an advanced slalom between advertising pages of dubious origin, deceptive notifications and links designed to convince you that that is the right place to click even if in reality you risk ending up elsewhere, against your will.
Danger is always around the corner, especially because there is no kind of regulation and control by the users of the service themselves, interesting to increase the views of the ad because that is what their revenues often depend on.
However, we could consider this a nuisance rather than a real risk. The problem is that a wrong click could lead you to download a virus. And getting it wrong is very easy when you are dealing with notifications telling you that to watch the game you need to install an additional extension. Or that to close the ad you have to click on that X which actually opens another page for you. Or that your PC is at risk and you need to act now by downloading the software they recommend.
All of this jeopardizes your safety. In a moment you could find yourself with your PC or smartphone blocked by ransomware, which is a type of malware that restricts access to the device it infects, requiring a ransom to be paid to remove the restriction. And you, of course, pay, losing more money, because none of you want to give up your files, vacation photos, access to social networks and everything you keep on your devices.
Things get worse when it comes to super-cheap subscriptions to streaming sites.
The reason? Nobody guarantees that your data will be adequately protected. On the one hand it means that the service providers may be free to sell them to third parties, on the other hand there is the possibility that all this information is directly stolen by hackers.
And that means names, email addresses, phone numbers, credit card details exposed and usable by the bad guys.
On balance, therefore, savings, as we said before, are illusory. There is much more at stake.
Watch tonight’s Champions League match on official channels. For you, your data and your wallet.