Video piracy, especially live sport, is an increasing challenge. Unauthorised distribution of services is enabled by dodgy software on low-cost hardware like the Amazon Firestick. A report by research firm Enders Analysis accuses big tech companies of ambivalence and inertia in addressing the problem.
It is relatively easy to find illicit online streams, if you know where to look, and tthey can be viewed through sofwtare players that ar perfectly legitimate.
There are often multiple unauthorised streams of high-profile sports events, each of which can have tens of thousands of people watching them.
Six out of ten people who had watched unauthorised streams in the last year while using a physical device said that they had used an Amazon Fire product, according to data provided by Sky.
Amazon says that it prohibited the sale of illicit streaming devices in its marketplace as well as on apps that infringed the rights of third parties, with “on-device warnings informing customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources”.
The report claims that digital rights management systems like Microsoft PlayReady and Google Widevine are now compromised across various security levels. It says: “A complete overhaul of the technology architecture, licensing, and support model is needed. Lack of engagement with content owners indicates this a low priority.”
Nick Herm, chief operating officer of Sky Group, said the Enders research “highlights the significant scale and impact of piracy, particularly on premium live sport”.
“It’s a serious issue for anyone who invests in creating and delivering world-class content,” he said. “We’d like to see faster, more joined-up action from major tech platforms and government to address the problem and help protect the UK creative industries.”
The reality is that it is relatively trivial to circumvent restrictions applied to media to enable unauthorised distribution, which is illegal. Anything that can be seen or heard can be copied and distributed.
The have been cases of prosecutions for those that profit from pirate services, but the real loss is in subscription revenue to rights holders, with those that do subscribe paying the price.
The solution is generally to make media available with a high-quality experience at a cost and convenience that most people will not want to seek alternatives.