Illicit streaming devices bring piracy to the mass market — and it’s terrifying Hollywood

[MrFredPFL]

Story : https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2019-11-03/illicit-stream

Not satisfied with online sales alone, business partners Hisham Alshaikhli and Laith Alqaraghuli opened a storefront in El Cajon to sell the latest craze in pirated media: set-top boxes similar to a Roku, but preloaded with illicit streaming apps. For a one-time price — $150 to $350 — viewers could gain access to thousands of pirated films and shows, no subscription necessary.

The brick-and-mortar shop gave customers a rare in-person shopping experience and lent the business the luster of legitimacy. But despite the openness with which the company operated, it was illegal.

The black-market entrepreneurs are the first in the nation to be successfully criminally prosecuted for selling such illicit streaming devices, according to Homeland Security Investigations.

Many more cases are in the pipeline. Criminal investigations into streaming piracy devices at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center — a clearinghouse partnering U.S. law enforcement agencies with foreign allies — have more than doubled over the past two years, according to an estimate by the FBI.