Blog Post
AAPA ANNOUNCES 6th ANTI-PIRACY AWARDS
AAPA
Lisbon, 27 October 2023
The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) has announced the 2023 awards given to an individual or team from the public sector for a successful initiative which supports the fight against audiovisual piracy. These are the 6th awards and were presented today at the Europol Intellectual Property Crime conference in Lisbon.
The winner of the 2023 award is the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (Fiscale inlichtingen- en opsporingsdienst, FIOD)
for taking down an illegal Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service with over 1, 000, 000 users across Europe. On 23 May 2023, a series of raids were carried out across the Netherlands as part of an illegal streaming crackdown. The officers from the FIOD searched properties in various locations in The Netherlands. This operation also saw the closure of Globe Data Centre which distributed the illegal services.
Commenting on the award Sheila Cassells, Executive Vice President of AAPA, said: “The scale of this operation illustrates clearly why law enforcement must continue to act against illegal IPTV services. And the inclusion and closure of a major hosting provider reinforces the need for a clear and robust regulatory regime, including, for example, know you customer requirements, to be imposed on such actors.”
AAPA introduced a new category this year, giving an award to a public sector body acting in the Europol IP Crime conference host country, namely Portugal. The first such award was presented to Inspeção Geral das Atividades. Culturais (IGAC) and its General Inspector Luis Silveira Botelho.
The award recognised the role played by IGAC in developing and implementing a comprehensive system of blocking orders under the framework provided by the law that entered into force on February 2022. This law regulates to control, remove and/or prevent access to illegal content, allowing, inter alia, for the imposition of blocking orders on ISPs also, thereby preventing the end user from gaining access to the illegal website or streaming service.
Mark Mulready, Co-President of AAPA and VP, Cyber Services at Irdeto said: “In presenting this award, we are pleased to acknowledge the steps taken in Portugal to implement an efficient and dynamic system for blocking orders. We have seen from other countries how helpful such blocking orders can be and we hope that countries who have not yet introduced the possibility of blocking orders will take note of the system applied here.”
AAPA also presented certificates of commendation to Podinspector Marcin Cyganek, an officer in the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC), (previously the Cybercrime Unit in Katowice (Poland))
for his support and action taken to highlight the need for greater priority to be given to fighting IP crime. These actions included the closure of polsharing.com.
Bulgaria, Italy, and Spain – previous recipients of an AAPA award – also received Certificates of Commendation. For Bulgaria, this acknowledges the continued role of the Bulgarian Cyber Crime Department
in driving the EMPACT programme and for Operation Pheonix which resulted in the dismantling of a local organised crime group.
The commendation for Italy for Operation Gotha
involved 70
searches and seizures in 23 provinces
of our country, dismantling a huge pirate IPTV network serving over 900k users, with profits estimated at 10 million euros. Operation Gotha’s investigation is a continuation of Operation Black Out.
For Spain, the commendation recognizes the role of the National Police in Operation Fagus which resulted in the disconnection of the 32 servers that were distributing/hosting illegally the signal for 2,294 TV channels.
The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) publishes its first Manifesto, linked here . The document aims to recognise past efforts of EU legislators when it comes to content protection and the fight against copyright infringement, whilst admitting that more can and should be done to address this growing issue. Miruna Herovanu, Executive Director of AAPA said : " After years of laying the groundwork to combat online piracy it’s time for EU policymakers and beyond to fully acknowledge that decisive, targeted measures are needed at the European level. The rise of digital theft demands action. We call for strong political resolve to end the theft of our members' content. We're ready to support every stakeholder—law enforcement, policymakers, and industry representatives—to dismantle criminal networks and protect European consumers from harm."
The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) has announced the appointment of Miruna Herovanu as its Executive Director. Miruna was previously the Director at the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand in Europe in charge of Intellectual Property and Competition policies. She took up her position with AAPA on 27 May 2024 and will be based in Brussels. Miruna will replace Sheila Cassells who is retiring as Executive Vice President of AAPA and will report on a day-to-day basis to the two Co-Presidents, Mark Mulready, VP of Cyber Services at Irdeto and Oliver Pribramksy, Head of IP Protection and Committees at the Deutsche Fussball Liga. She will be responsible for the implementation of the strategy agreed by AAPA members, managing relationships with law enforcement agencies such as Europol, Eurojust, INTERPOL and the European Institutions, delivery of AAPA’s Working Group goals and general management of the Alliance. Mark Mulready said that: “We are delighted to appoint someone of Miruna’s calibre and experience to become the Executive Director of AAPA. Miruna’s commitment to copyright protection is well-known. Her knowledge of the Brussels institutions and the EUIPO will stand AAPA in good stead for future policy developments. A priority will be for Miruna to work closely with AAPA members, the EUIPO and the European Institutions to deliver on, inter alia, the goals of combatting online piracy of sports and other live events recommendation.” Miruna Herovanu commented that: “My professional experience demonstrated that piracy is an ever-growing issue that eats at the heart of Europe’s most important industries. This is a golden opportunity and a new professional challenge that will help further develop my passion for and commitment to protecting copyright. Being able to work with and support industry experts and practitioners in AAPA, law enforcement, the European Institutions and other trade associations is essential to the fight against piracy. I am excited to be taking on this role.”
Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance member, NOS , marks World IP Day with a powerful campaign to eliminate piracy. Spread the message!
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