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UK police bust 'significant' pirate pay-TV streaming ring
The City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) is claiming another small victory in the never-ending and probably unwinnable war against piracy. Following a series of dawn raids at several business and residential addresses in Lancashire, the fuzz has reportedly brought down a large-scale illegal TV streaming operation. While it's not unusual to hear about the seizure of modified set-top boxes that tap into pirate pay-TV streams, officers have landed themselves a much bigger fish this time around, also discovering 15 satellites and recovering over 30 servers.
UK police arrest pirate who cost the music industry 'millions'
In its ongoing fight to reduce online piracy in the UK, the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) often targets people suspected of illegally sharing movies, music and other digital downloads. In Liverpool, the City of London division has today, with help from Merseyside Police and UK copyright agency PRS for Music, arrested a 38-year-old Liverpool man linked with illegally distributing the UK's Top 40 singles via download sites.
UK police smug after 'major success' blocking pirate site ads
The UK's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) is patting itself on the back today, claiming a small victory in its ongoing war against online piracy. The specialist division announced that its plan to target the coffers of copyright-infringing websites has resulted in a 73 percent decrease in advertising on these illicit portals from the UK's biggest digital ad spenders. "Operation Creative" was launched by the PIPCU back in 2013 with the specific goal of disrupting online piracy. When the best-case scenario of pressuring a copyright-infringing site to turn legit fails, as we imagine all attempts do, the fuzz turn to other "tactical options." These include shutting the site down with the help (or else) of the domain registrar, or starving the pirate captains' bank accounts by putting a dent in their advertising revenues.
UK police threaten companies that sell domains to piracy sites
When a piracy site is targeted by authorities, the owner's usual trick is to move the website to another domain (and sometimes hosting provider) to re-establish access for users. The Pirate Bay is probably the biggest example of this, which has spent years avoiding internet blocks by leading police on a virtual game of Cat and Mouse. The City of London Police previously attempted to put a spanner in the works by hijacking ads to restrict their cash flow, but it's now turning its focus to the suppliers of those all-important internet addresses in its bid to limit piracy in the UK.
