The Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) welcomes the Singapore High Court’s latest order to block another 22 illegal streaming sites and 70 associated domains responsible for the distribution of illegally streamed content in Singapore.
The Court’s order follows on from a similar order obtained in Singapore by the Premier League in November 2024 and continues the push by its applicants BBC Studios, the Premier League, DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and LALIGA, that in recent years has seen the blocking of hundreds of illegal streaming sites and hundreds more associated domains that were offering access to some of the most sought-after content in Singapore including live sports, drama and entertainment. The order is also part of a wider campaign by CAP and its members against online piracy in the region, including in-depth analysis into piracy trends in the region, and the harms caused to both consumers and the potentially wider impact from piracy services that are essentially illegal operations run by criminals.
“There is now extensive evidence of the links between piracy services and consumer harm, including risks of malware infection, identity theft and viruses. A 2024 study undertaken showed that consumers accessing pirate sites in Singapore are nearly four times more likely to be exposed to a cyber threat compared to a mainstream site[1], and blocking access to piracy services is a great step in preventing this type of harm,” said CAP’s General Manager, Matt Cheetham. “Recent research has also shown that piracy services could have wider potential harm, with illegal streaming devices (ISDs) shown to be riddled with compromised apps and pre-installed malware targeting personal data. These devices can be remotely hijacked and potentially used for more widespread attacks on other devices and broader networks[2]”, added Cheetham.
[1] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4709637
2 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4986107
