As part of Operation Trojan Horse, Hong Kong Customs recently undertook a series of raids against four retail outlets in Sham Shui Po and Wan Chai. Eight persons were arrested and charged with copyright offences.
On 25 and 26 May, Hong Kong Customs raided retail outlets, arresting four shop owners and four salespersons found to be selling pre-loaded TV boxes (also known as Illicit Streaming Devices – “ISDs”) which provide access to pirated movies and TV shows. Over 350 ISDs were seized, including brands such as the Ubox, EVPad, BossTV, and Magic Box.
Hong Kong Customs will continue to strengthen its searches at ISD shop hotspots, cracking down on those who sell devices that allow for the stealing of Pay TV channels. Whether the rights-holders are based locally or internationally, both are protected under the Copyright Ordinance. Selling circumvention devices or providing circumvention services that allow users to watch Pay TV channels for free are serious offences.
Consumers are urged to watch Pay TV through legal avenues. Users of ISDs will not only face disconnections but also may have their private data stolen by malicious actors.
“The criminals who sell ISDs and operators of ISD networks and pirate websites profit from the hard work of talented creators, damaging the legitimate content ecosystem and exposing consumers to dangerous malware,” said Mr Neil Gane, the General Manager of Cabsaa’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP).
He also noted that the unprecedented growth in delivery of legal creative content over global broadband networks is being undermined by a surge in the sale of TV boxes with pre-loaded infringing applications.
Online video and broadband distribution has the potential to be a massive economic growth engine with analysts forecasting market growth of more than 20% over the next five years, benefiting consumers and creators of quality video content within Hong Kong and other Asian countries. But this growth potential is threatened by piracy.
In the past two years there have been many new roll-outs of online content services across the Asia Pacific region, by existing players as well as new ones. Unfortunately, the likelihood of success for legitimate online content suppliers is severely reduced by online access to pirated content via ISDs and streaming websites.
“The ISD ecosystem is impacting all businesses involved in the production and distribution of legitimate content”, said Mr Louis Boswell, CEO of Casbaa. “That is why content producers, distributors and content platforms are coming together and forming associations such as Casbaa’s CAP to combat this threat to their industry.”
Casbaa’s CAP includes leading video content creators and distributors in Asia. Members include: beIN Sports, Casbaa, The Walt Disney Company, Fox Networks Group, HBO Asia, NBCUniversal, Premier League, Turner Asia-Pacific, A&E Networks, Astro, BBC Worldwide, CANAL+, Cignal, La Liga, Media Partners Asia, National Basketball Association, PCCW Media, Singtel, Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia, TVB, True Visions, TV5MONDE, and Viacom International Media Networks.
