If you’ve been using illegal IPTV streaming services on your Fire TV stick, you might want to check your inbox – because you could be getting squeezed from two directions at once.
FACT, the UK’s leading anti-piracy organisation, has recently contacted over 1,000 people across the country via email and text message, warning them to immediately stop using illegal streaming services or face potential prosecution.
And this isn’t happening in isolation. At the same time, Amazon has been systematically blocking illegal IPTV apps across all Fire TV devices in partnership with Hollywood’s anti-piracy coalition – creating what amounts to a coordinated assault on illegal streaming from both the legal and technical sides.
The message from FACT is blunt: you’re not anonymous, they know who you are, and watching unauthorised content carries serious risks – including potential criminal charges.
The Warning Campaign: How FACT Got Your Details
FACT’s campaign builds on investigations carried out with police forces nationwide, and the organisation has been very clear about where they got the contact details for the people they’re warning.
During investigations into Jonathan Edge’s Liverpool IPTV operation and another illegal streaming service (currently subject to a pending criminal prosecution), law enforcement seized customer databases.
Those databases contained details of people who had purchased access to so-called “loaded” or “jailbroken” Firesticks, Android boxes, or Kodi devices. And now those customers are being contacted directly.
The emails and text messages warn recipients that accessing illegal TV streaming services could make them liable to prosecution under Section 11 of the Fraud Act 2006 – the same law used to jail sellers of these services.
Kieron Sharp, FACT’s chairman, didn’t mince words: “This campaign makes it clear that end users of illegal streaming services are breaking the law.
“The risks are real, from…