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PRESS RELEASE: FOXTEL WELCOMES CONVICTION AND SENTENCING OF SUBSCRIPTION TV PIRATE

AAPA

9th August 2017

Foxtel has welcomed the sentencing of a Sydney man for his role in the selling of unauthorised access to Foxtel services.

Haidar Majid Salam Al Baghdadi, 33 years old, was convicted of criminal offences relating to charges of operating an illegal network that allowed more than 8000 people across Australia to access Foxtel subscription television broadcasts for free. A Sydney court has sentenced Al Baghdadi to serve an 18 month suspended jail term for carrying out the offenses.

The conviction and sentencing are the result of on-going joint antipiracy investigations involving the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Foxtel investigators, and Irdeto, the world leader in digital platform security. The three organisations uncovered an organised criminal network responsible for committing a wide-range of intellectual property theft of Foxtel services.

Foxtel's CEO, Peter Tonagh, said, "Foxtel welcomes today's court ruling and hopes it sends a strong signal that this type of activity is illegal. Foxtel takes intellectual property theft very seriously as it severely undermines the creative industry including every business and individual that works so hard to deliver us the movies, sport, drama and entertainment we love.

"Foxtel conducts ongoing investigations into the theft of Foxtel programming and we are proud to work so closely with the AFP and our partners at Irdeto to ensure the full force of the law is applied to protect our content.

"Rory O'Connor, Senior Vice President of Cybersecurity Services at Irdeto, said, "This conviction is another step forward in the global fight against online piracy. The seriousness of these crimes should not be underestimated and this result is further proof that piracy will not be tolerated. Partnerships like this play a crucial role in not only detecting these pirate networks, but ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

"Foxtel looks forward to continuing work with the rest of the Australian media industry to address the issue of piracy in Australia.

ENDS

About FoxtelFoxtel is one of Australia's most progressive and dynamic media companies, directly employing around 2,800 people and delivering a diverse subscription television service over cable, satellite and broadband distribution. Foxtel effortlessly connects Australians to all the stories they love by offering a better entertainment experience every day to more than 2.8 million subscribing homes through delivery of new and inspiring programming across all genres, the world's most popular channel brands, and investment in high quality local content. As constant champions of innovation we have brought customers the iQpersonal digital recorder; Australia's largest HD channel offering; the Foxtel App for tablets and mobile devices; internet TV service, Foxtel Now; and television, broadband and home phone bundles with Foxtel internet and voice services delivered over Australia's largest telecommunications network. Foxtel is owned by Telstra Corporation Limited ACN 051 775 556 (50%) and News Corporation (50%).
About IrdetoIrdeto. Building a Secure Future.TMIrdeto is the world leader in digital platform security, protecting platforms and applications for media & entertainment, automotive and IoT connected industries. Our solutions and services enable customers to protect their revenue, create new offerings and fight cybercrime. With nearly 50 years of expertise in security, Irdeto's software security technology and cyber services protect over 5 billion devices and applications for some of the world's best known brands. Our unique heritage as a subsidiary of multinational media group Naspers (JSE: NPN) means

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AAPA MEMBERS JOIN FORCES WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST-EVER OPERATION AGAINST AUDIOVISUAL PIRACY

by AAPA • 27 November 2024

The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) has supported the Catania Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Croatian State Attorney Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime and law enforcement agencies in Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Croatia and England in dismantling the world’s largest transnational criminal organisation alleged to be serving pirated audiovisual content to over 22 million users, and generating over 250 million euros in illegal revenue per month. The operation, conducted yesterday, was coordinated by Europol and Eurojust and involved over 270 officers from the Polizia Postale carrying out 89 property searches in 15 Italian regions. An additional 14 searches were conducted by law enforcement agencies abroad, including five addresses in England, and further searches and seizures in the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, France, Bulgaria, Germany and Croatia. 11 people were arrested by the Cybercrime Division of the Croatian Police. During yesterday's searches, cryptocurrencies in excess of EUR 1,650,000 and cash in excess of EUR 40,000 were seized as alleged proceeds of the offences committed. These immediately seized proceeds represent only a fraction of an illegal business that is alleged to yield approximately EUR 3 billion per annum. Digital piracy harms the entertainment and creative industries across the continent and is often run by sophisticated criminal networks that may use their profits to fund other serious forms of criminal activity. At the same time, illegal streams can expose the end user to the risks of data theft, fraud and malware. Mark Mulready, Co-president of AAPA, said: “We applaud the efforts of the Catania Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Croatian State Attorney Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime, Europol, Eurojust, and all of the law enforcement agencies involved in these operations. The scale of these multi-jurisdictional law enforcement actions highlights the considerable challenge our industry faces when dealing with such sophisticated international pirate networks. We are proud to have collaborated with our law enforcement partners to provide technical training and in-field support to assist them in successfully tackling the world’s largest pirate network. We are very grateful to the AAPA members who supported this action day, including Premier League, Sky Group, Nagravision, Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), beIN Sports, United Media, Friend MTS and Irdeto. We will continue to closely collaborate with law enforcement agencies in Europe and beyond to enable them to successfully identify, investigate and prosecute large-scale cross-border pirate networks.” ---------- AAPA contact: Mark Mulready +31651246415 Co-President AAPA Miranda Rock +44 7957 391 498 Rocket Launch for AAPA

Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance 2024-2029 EU Manifesto

by AAPA • 1 October 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.”