"Well Organized" TV Show Piracy Group Shut Down

[shamu726]

Customs authorities in Hong Kong say they have shut down a "well organized" TV show piracy operation. Two men aged 25 and 46 were placed under arrest and a third key member is said to be at large. At this stage the group remains unnamed as their United States-based site is still online and proving difficult to shut down.

When it comes to content being made available on file-sharing networks, TV shows have certainly stamped their position as one of the leaders in recent years.

Often enjoying their premiere in the United States, TV shows are illegally downloaded all over the world just minutes after they air, disrupting local licensing and marketing strategies in an instant but giving fans want they want – without the premium price tag.

Until these issues are fully addressed piracy will continue, with dedicated TV show releasing groups happy to fill in the gaps on availability and/or price – until they’re tracked down and stopped of course.

To that end, Hong Kong customs authorities are this morning reporting success in shutting down what they describe as a “well organized cross-border” TV show piracy “syndicate”.

Following an investigation carried out over the past three months, yesterday authorities arrested two men in two areas of the autonomous territory. One, a 25-year-old living in the Southern District, is said to be the group’s founder. Another, a 46-year-old, is being described as a “key member”. A third, said to be the group’s ‘capper‘, is believed to be at large.

According to a government release, four sets of computers were seized and TV shows were discovered stored on the equipment. Overall the group is suspected of distributing around 2,500 shows.

Of interest, however, is that Hong Kong authorities are currently refusing to name the group or their site URL. That’s because the server is located in the United States and at the moment remains fully operational. Nevertheless, the operation is being declared a success.

“This is virtually our first case in which we have discovered such a large quantity of television programs being uploaded to the Internet for downloading,” a Customs officer said.

Under local copyright law anyone distributing an infringing copy of a TV show or other copyright work commits a criminal offense if that negatively affects the copyright owner. The maximum penalty is four years in jail and a fine of around US$6,500 per infringing copy.

Source: TorrentFreak

[steven36]

the real story

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Three men who allegedly illegally redistributed television programs on an online forum have been arrested in Hong Kong and Macau.

Four sets of computers worth about HK$20,000 were also seized when the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department mounted an operation on Monday after a three-month investigation.

Most of the pirated shows were from TVB, with some from Now TV and ATV.

A man, 25, believed to be the administrator of the discussion forum, was arrested in Southern District. Another man, 46, believed to be a key member of the forum, was arrested in Tuen Mun.

A 31-year-old Macanese, who was suspected of being hired by the two Hong Kong men, was arrested in Macau.

He is alleged to have recorded all three channels for 24 hours a day.

More than 2,500 local television programs were believed to be copied.

Customs divisional commander (intellectual property technology crime investigation) Guy Fong Wing-kai said the department received a report from a local television station before launching the probe.

Members of the discussion forum were required to register and, with sufficient electronic tokens, could download the pirated TV programs.

The forum has about 3,000 members. When an undercover officer requested the forum administrator to quicken his downloading speed, the administrator asked more for it.

In the past three months, customs conducted in-depth investigations and identified the website, which is suspected of distributing local TV programs without authorization. "For example, they will delete some TV advertisements, or adding subtitles by themselves," Fong said.

"Then they will compress the files for facilitating the uploads and downloads of the files.

"We found that the downloaders were forced to watch internet advertisements. We believe that there are advertising profits behind the forum."

The programs were recorded in Macau, while other members of the group added subtitles, deleted TV advertisements and compressed the file before uploading to the website.

A spokesman for TVB said: "The proliferation of online video sites and set- top boxes offering unauthorized contents seriously affect not just television stations, but the entire creative industry.

"The present laws, including the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 in its current form, will not be effective in stopping the existing piracy activities."

Those convicted face up to four years' jail and a HK$50,000 fine per infringing copy.

​Source:

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=156955&sid=44453138&con_type=1&d_str=20150513&fc=2

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