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Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) has carried out a successful raid against a pirate IPTV provider that had been capturing broadcasters’ content for at least two years. Authorities say the operation was hidden in a house with an outward appearance of being abandoned years ago. Among 279 items seized were 72 set-top boxes, 72 video encoders, servers, networking hardware, bank books, and mobile phones. Two suspects were arrested.
A cursory skim through blocking records for Italy’s Piracy Shield system reveals that pirate IPTV servers can operate from almost anywhere.
Asia-linked servers and services make regular appearances in the AGCOM list with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan-based platforms causing issues for rightsholders all over the world.
Within China itself, enforcement actions take place far less often than rightsholders believe they should, but in Taiwan, raids are reported more frequently, with foreign rightsholders also likely to benefit.
IPTV App Sold Online Leads Investigators to the Source
In a report detailing events that culminated last month, Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) says that searches of online auction platforms revealed sales of an app known as Qingtian TV / Sunny TV. In common with similar TV piracy tools, Sunny TV offered live TV streams culled from legitimate broadcasters, bundled together in a mobile app.
Organizations and TV companies with interests in that content include Taiwan’s Satellite Radio and Television Business Association, and members of Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA, which include TV stations TBS, Fuji TV, NTV and TV Asahi. Rightsholders estimate that over a two-year period, the market value of the content offered via the app amounted to at least one billion Taiwan dollars, around US$31.2m.
Their case was referred to the Taichung District Prosecutor’s Office in Taiwan and following an investigation, authorities targeted addresses in Taichung City and Yunlin County early last month.
Suspects Rented an Empty House
Along with others, one of the two main suspects, identified by CIB under the surname Li, reportedly rented an empty house in which to conduct business.
“The appearance of the place was low-key, like a house that had been abandoned for many years,” CIB says.
Photographs taken inside the house during the raid tell a different story.
According to labels displayed next to the equipment post-seizure, the relatively small units in red cases are cable TV set-top boxes, while the units in black cases are marked ‘signal encoders’.
CIB says 72 set-top devices and 72 signal encoders were seized, along with two servers, two hosts, six network switches, plus nine bank books and several mobile phones. In total, 279 pieces of equipment and other items were seized as evidence.
Structure of the Piracy Operation
CIB’s report indicates that Li and another suspect identified as Chen, were both arrested, noting that the latter is also suspected of “using various online markets to sell the illegal OTT software, and often changing accounts to avoid police investigation.”
CIB also references two additional suspects; who they are and what roles they played in the operation go unmentioned.
Finally, the law enforcement agency has published a diagram which provides an overview of the IPTV operation; from receiving, capturing and encoding streams for distribution, right through to consumption by end users. The original slide is in Chinese and our translations here aim to reflect the original as closely as possible.
The prominent inclusion of Cloudflare in the slide doesn’t really come as a surprise, and appears to be part of a growing trend.
Placing the company’s name and logo within a piracy chain arguably lacks context. However, if informal talks on how to mitigate piracy are perceived to be going nowhere, moving the discussion into the public arena may serve to increase the pressure.
