Blog Post

Joint police and industry action brings down card sharing pirate

AAPA

21st June 2011

Police raid in Cyprus stops largest case of commercial card sharing
BFBS and AEPOC members BSkyB, Nova and Irdeto initiated undercover investigation
Pirate provider admits charges – nearly 1,400 illegal viewers fear consequences

AEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, welcomes the successful police operation against a large scale pay-TV pirate in Cyprus. The investigation was initiated by AEPOC members and its partners – BFBS, BSkyB, Nova and Irdeto supported the undercover action during past months and assisted the police in a raid with a team of specialists: On June 14th a 49-year-old Cypriot man was arrested for illegally providing subscriptions to the pay-TV offerings of BFBS, BSkyB and Nova. The accused has already admitted the charges. The police are still seeking a second suspect. Servers, computers and associated equipment have been seized to undergo a forensic examination.

The pirate is accused of having provided illegal pay-TV subscriptions to nearly 1,400 clients in Cyprus and across Europe – at least within the timeframe October 2010 to May 2011 earning a minimum of some €100,000 according to first findings. For giving illicit access to the pay-TV channels the man and the second suspect established a network of five servers which distributed the required access codes from single, legitimate but abused smart cards to the clients’ equipment. This case represents one of the largest incidents of commercial pay-TV piracy based on “card sharing”, given the harmful potential of five robust servers – and is the biggest case for Cyprus. The man is said to have sold illegal three, six and 12-months subscriptions for €55, €89 and €155, respectively.

The police focus their investigation on the accused in view of commercial piracy but did not rule out that also the individual clients who purchased the illicit subscriptions could have to fear consequences: EU legislation such as the Conditional Access Directive and other protection such as copyright laws forbid the use of pirate equipment to access audiovisual services such as pay-TV. The action was initiated by AEPOC members and their partners towards the end of 2010, followed by a carefully prepared undercover operation during four months. Close collaboration of the industry to support the Cypriot enforcement authorities proved very successful to bring down this pirate activity in a record time.

Michael Barley, AEPOC’s Vice President, said: “Every pirate activity leaves a trace, be it IP-addresses, websites to sell illegal offerings or even payment receipts issued to clients of an illicit card sharing network as in the Cypriot case. AEPOC and its members are committed to follow each incident and bring down pirates. Trustful collaboration with the police helps to achieve anti-piracy results in an increasingly short timeframe. Nevertheless, the EU legislative framework needs to evolve further to build an even bigger deterrent to prevent audiovisual piracy in the first place.”

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Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance 2024-2029 EU Manifesto

by AAPA • 01 Oct, 2024

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."

AAPA ANNOUNCES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

by AAPA • 28 May, 2024

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.”