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With 2016 UEFA Euro Cup in France, one of the largest sporting events of the year, being underway, UEFA&Co have started cracking down on unauthorized streams broadcasted on the Internet. However, this might be a game they can't possibly win.
Unauthorized live streams are a problem for football organization and its copyright owners. They have become quite common and allow people to watch various matches without paying for a subscription. UEFA is taking measures to fight them and over the past week has targeted a range of websites offering such streams, including several Google Blogspot blogs that are setup to stream sports events.
However, pages reported by UEFA to Blogspot were not taken down, though the live feeds are no longer available, thus efficiently stopping infringing activity. The problem is that the actual takedowns have to be instant, because when a match has ended it’s already too late. As a result, UEFA has tried to send advance notices to streaming websites, but it is appeared hard for site owners to take down something that doesn’t yet exist. This is why various torrent websites refused to take pre-preemptive action. As for Google, the company hasn’t responded to a similar pre-piracy request yet.
Aside from specialized live streaming portals, such sporting events are also frequently shared on social media through apps like Periscope. Indeed, it’s very easy for people to stream and watch these events – even despite the horrible quality, they can get up to a few thousands of views.
It is known that the football organization has previously targeted Periscope streams of other events, and some recent Euro Cup streams have also disappeared, which means that UEFA is keeping a close eye on these social streams as well.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
Unauthorized live streams are a problem for football organization and its copyright owners. They have become quite common and allow people to watch various matches without paying for a subscription. UEFA is taking measures to fight them and over the past week has targeted a range of websites offering such streams, including several Google Blogspot blogs that are setup to stream sports events.
However, pages reported by UEFA to Blogspot were not taken down, though the live feeds are no longer available, thus efficiently stopping infringing activity. The problem is that the actual takedowns have to be instant, because when a match has ended it’s already too late. As a result, UEFA has tried to send advance notices to streaming websites, but it is appeared hard for site owners to take down something that doesn’t yet exist. This is why various torrent websites refused to take pre-preemptive action. As for Google, the company hasn’t responded to a similar pre-piracy request yet.
Aside from specialized live streaming portals, such sporting events are also frequently shared on social media through apps like Periscope. Indeed, it’s very easy for people to stream and watch these events – even despite the horrible quality, they can get up to a few thousands of views.
It is known that the football organization has previously targeted Periscope streams of other events, and some recent Euro Cup streams have also disappeared, which means that UEFA is keeping a close eye on these social streams as well.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.