Month: October 2024

Schon im Juli war absehbar, dass es zwischen Delta und Crowdstrike zu einem Rechtsstreit kommen würde. Nun liegt die Klage vor Gericht. (Crowdstrike, Windows)

The exact launch date of the ‘BeStreamWise’ anti-piracy campaign is difficult to pin down. Often subject to intense planning and strict media embargoes, we simply stumbled across the live campaign website early October 2023.

The purpose of BeStreamWise is to raise awareness of risk associated with illicit streaming platforms. Specifically, when people subscribe to these types of services they risk fueling organized crime, quite possibly at the same time their bank accounts are being unexpectedly drained.

Whether due to malware or other unspecified vectors, the campaign message is simple: Illegal Streams Let Criminals In.

An Unusual Launch For an Awareness Campaign

The absence of a coordinated media push at launch was a little unusual, especially given the campaign’s heavyweight backing. The following partners were declared at launch (order per official website):

Federation Against Copyright Theft, Intellectual Property Office (UK gov), CrimeStoppers (charity), British Association for Screen Entertainment (home entertainment), Sky (broadcaster), Premier League (football rightsholder), Irish Industry Trust For IP Awareness (IP promotion/education group), ITV (broadcaster).

The main campaign video (above) was uploaded to YouTube on September 12, 2023, and when we spotted it early October, it had already been viewed 484,000 times. At the time of writing, YouTube is reporting an impressive 4.9 million views, a very respectable total for a video of this type. However, with just 17 ‘thumbs up’ and a grand total of zero comments, these YouTube views may have been driven from elsewhere, quite possibly Facebook.

Anecdotal evidence from people who claimed to have seen the campaign in action, feel that BeStreamWise ads may have appeared after they visited pirate sports streaming sites, or after viewing pirate streams on social media. Whatever the mechanism, the campaign seems to have been well targeted.

New Additions to the Campaign Partners List

Sky’s role as the operator of the BeStreamWise campaign has been clear from the beginning. The campaign website’s privacy policy is Sky’s and the website itself is hosted on Sky’s vast infrastructure. The content in focus – illicit broadcasts of Premier League matches – narrows things down quite a lot too. Virgin Media and TNT are notably absent from the main partners list, although both are members of BASE.

The BeStreamWise news section has been updated from time to time since launch, mostly with details of arrests or sentencing of various players in the IPTV ecosystem. Topics that haven’t received any coverage in the news section include developments relating to the theme of the campaign, i.e malware/cyber-security. While there have been no specific announcements concerning new BeStreamWise partners since launch (and still no security vendors whatsoever) logos have appeared periodically on the partners page.

In January 2024, streaming service DAZN was listed as a partner, followed in February by City of London Police (Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit) and the BBC. June saw the addition of GAAGO, the official streaming platform for Gaelic Games outside of Ireland. During the same month, United States media giant Universal joined the campaign. Universal is ultimately owned by Comcast which also owns Sky.

What comes next for BeStreamWise isn’t clear. The campaign is still mentioned fairly regularly by the UK tabloids, usually in connection with various anti-piracy operations involving Sky.

That being said, enthusiasm for churning out dozens of reports each week, at times based on no discernible news or current event, appears to have waned significantly. Whether that’s linked or merely coincidental to the campaign’s first birthday is unknown.

What Happens to the Data?

For many years, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office has produced a highly detailed annual report called the ‘Online copyright infringement tracker.’ The wave 12 report was published in February 2023, so this year’s wave 13 report is already very late; it’s also possible that there are no plans to publish a report this year, which should be viewed as a loss given how detailed the report has become over the years.

What type and volume of data BeStreamWise and partners have been collecting over the past year is yet to be revealed, but it’s likely to be substantial. Whether the data will show any reduction in pirate IPTV consumption is the million-dollar question, but whatever the state of play, the job isn’t over just yet.

Indeed, this particular job, in one form or another, has been a thorn in Sky’s side for several decades. It’s not thinkable that it will remain that way for several more.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Pixel-6-Besitzer berichten von gebrickten Smartphones nach dem Upgrade auf Android 15 - eine konkrete Ursache dafür scheint es nicht zu geben. (Android 15, Smartphone)

Dass Predator: Badlands im nächsten Jahr in die Kinos kommt, ist bekannt gewesen. Aber Fans dürfen sich noch auf einen zweiten Predator-Film freuen. (Science-Fiction, Film)

Gerade in Spielen scheint Arrow Lake unter 24H2 langsamer zu sein. Das Windows-Energieprofil macht noch einmal mehr aus. (Intel Arrow Lake, Prozessor)

Apple, einst Synonym für Innovation und unaufhaltsames Wachstum, steht am Scheideweg. Möglicherweise hat der Konzern seinen Zenit überschritten. Eine Analyse von Florian Hainzl (Apple, Wirtschaft)

Für den Bau haben die Studenten die Trägerrakete Falcon-9 von SpaceX als Vorbild genommen. Es war der erste erfolgreiche Hop-Test in Europa. (Rakete, Raumfahrt)

Dieses Foundation-Seminar vermittelt das gesamte erforderliche Basiswissen zum Informationssicherheitsmanagement nach der ISO/IEC-27001-Norm und bereitet gezielt auf die Zertifizierung vor. Die Prüfung ist inklusive. (Golem Karrierewelt, Unternehmenssoftware)

Over the past few years, Brazil has worked hard to combat the online piracy problem from various angles.

The “Operation 404” campaigns, in particular, have led to numerous takedowns and arrests, with the most recent wave completed last month.

The seventh installment of the Government-backed anti-piracy sweep, details of which were released in September, took down 675 pirate sites, 14 apps, and led to nine arrests. Meanwhile, Brazilian Internet providers now block more than 6,700 domain names.

These positive piracy developments haven’t gone unnoticed. The Motion Picture Association (MPA) acknowledged Brazil’s efforts in a recommendation to the US Trade Representative, where it discusses foreign trade barriers.

“Operation 404 is a model for effective and efficient criminal enforcement measures against piracy sites and services and should be replicated by other markets within the Western Hemisphere,” MPA writes.

Piracy Challenges Remain

Despite these successful enforcement efforts, the MPA still sees room for progress, to further clamp down on copyright infringement.

“Brazil’s legitimate online audiovisual services continue to suffer from the pervasive availability of illicit, advertising-supported services, despite the increasing availability of legitimate options,” MPA notes.

MPA says that the online piracy rate and the use of illegal streaming devices continues to rise in Brazil. This, despite a report earlier this year, suggesting that web-based piracy is declining in the Latin American country.

Among other things, MPA suggests that Brazil should enact a bill that formalizes site blocking, which is currently on the table. The movie industry group also encourages the government to approve a bill that criminalizes camcording in theaters, even when there’s no profit motive.

Account Sharing Threats

In addition to bills that the MPA would like to see approved, a proposal to outlaw password sharing restrictions is seen as a threat.

Netflix began its crackdown on password sharing in Brazil last year. This led to widespread critique, including complaints that the restrictions, such as tieing a Netflix account to a home address, went too far.

According to the government’s consumer protection agency Procon, it makes no sense to link a streaming service account to a home address, when people can use these on mobile phones as well. This critique was widely shared by other lawmakers, resulting in several bills that aim to ban these restrictions.

In the ‘trade barriers’ overview, the MPA describes the proposals as problematic. In addition to hurting revenues and limiting entrepreneurial freedom, they could weaken copyright enforcement.

“Brazil’s legislature is currently discussing bills […] that intend to limit or prohibit measures taken by online subscription service providers to prevent account sharing among their users,” the group writes.

“MPA opposes these restrictions because they would not only impact providers’ revenues and general freedom of contract but would also weaken copyright enforcement.”

Banning Account Sharing Restrictions

It’s no surprise that this pushback comes from the MPA, as the group’s members include the major Hollywood studios plus Netflix and Amazon. All have major streaming service interests and see password sharing restrictions as an effective measure to increase revenues.

Looking at the text of the most recent Bill No. 1153, we see that it aims to effectively ban any measure that restricts account sharing. When users pay for a certain number of simultaneous streams, they should be able to use these regardless of their location.

“This Law prohibits on-demand content providers from charging any additional amount or blocking access to shared accounts in a location other than the users’ domicile,” the bill reads.  

The proposal makes it clear that family members who live on opposite sides of the country, should be able to use a single streaming subscription if they please. Charging extra fees for this type of use is seen as abusive, and therefore not allowed.

“Charging additional amounts for access at an address other than the residence address is an abusive practice that limits the use of services by users, especially in cases of families with members who live in different cities or states; long-distance marriages; people who travel frequently,” the proposal notes.

It’s Streaming, Not Cable TV

The bill’s justification cites Rainer Grigolo, the director of Procon RS, who notes that streaming subscriptions shouldn’t be limited to a home address in any way. If people signed up for multiple simultaneous streams, their location shouldn’t matter.

“If a streaming service contract allows two simultaneous screens, for example, it is not up to the provider to define the degree of kinship, relatedness, and what the residential address is. After all, the contract is not linked to an address like it works with cable TV,” Grigolo explained.

The bill, and other similar proposals, are yet to be adopted, and the MPA would like to keep it that way.

MPA’s opposition, voiced in the trade barriers report, is limited to just a few sentences. However, these clearly show that the movie industry group is worried about these developments, which could potentially spread to other countries.

—

A copy of the MPA’s comments regarding the 2021 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers is available here (pdf). A copy of Bill No. 1153 can be found here (pdf).

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Die ständig defekten Eismaschinen von McDonald's dürfen nun auch von Dritten repariert werden, weil das US-Patentamt eine Ausnahme bewilligt hat. (DMCA, Urheberrecht)