Feds seize 10 sites for sports streaming

[dirt_dobber]

Feds seize 10 sites for sports streaming
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Feds-s...&asset=&ccode=

Ten websites that were allegedly engaged in the live streaming of major sporting events have been seized and shut down by authorities, the government said Wednesday.

The 10 sites were among the most popular on the Internet for users hoping to access copyrighted sporting events, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

According to the government's complaint, which was unsealed Wednesday, each of the seized sites aggregated illegal, pirated broadcasts, and provided links to site visitors.

Some of the world's biggest sports leagues were allegedly victimized, including the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, World Wrestling Entertainment and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the seizure, carried out just days before the Super Bowl, reaffirms the government's commitment to protecting copyright material.

"The illegal streaming of professional sporting events over the Internet deals a financial body blow to the leagues and broadcasters who are forced to pass their losses off to fans by raising prices for tickets and pay-per-view events," Bharara said.

The sites were disabled Tuesday, and have since been replaced by a posting notifying visitors that "This domain has been seized by ICE - Homeland Security Investigations."

The seizure were carried out by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

ICE is the principal investigative arm of the larger Department of Homeland Security, and runs the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, which coordinates government efforts to combat intellectual property theft.

Atdhe.net, channelsurfing.net, hq-streams.com, hqstreams.net, firstrow.net, ilemi.com, iilemi.com, iilemii.com, rojadirecta.org and rojadirecta.com are the names of the seized sites.

[dirt_dobber]

this is for my 1000th post!!!!!!!!!!1

I know this will effect my watching Mav games online for now.....

Oh well, At least I can tell my wife I HAVE to go to the sports bar now :-)

[bernardos70]

Lots of them have alternatives. atdhe.me, rojadirecta.es, channelsurf.eu, etc. I think Homeland Security was only able to shut down the domains registered in the US.

[rabbitproof]

Viva La Internet!

[dalger]

Originally Posted by bernardos70

Lots of them have alternatives. atdhe.me, rojadirecta.es, channelsurf.eu, etc. I think Homeland Security was only able to shut down the domains registered in the US.

The funny thing is that rojadirecta.es was actually ruled legal by a Spanish court. Considering that there is no worldwide approach to deem those sites illegal, as evidenced by the decision of the Spanish judges, it's going to be very difficult to put them out of business.

[MavsX]

craziness. It would be interesting to see if content providers ever provided a way to legally view material, without them making a butt load of money. This isn't the 90's and early 2000, were consumers just hand over a pile of cash for CD's and other 'content'

[GermanDunk]

My 900k Soccer source was forced to relocate about 5 times last week. Seems it correlates with the value of the product. The NHL for example is way more generous in this case.

[Ninkobei]

Poor adthe.net. I will forever miss your crappy quality, shaky reliability, and time delay. Perhaps your cousin will be just as good.

[Zaknaf3in]

Originally Posted by dalger

The funny thing is that rojadirecta.es was actually ruled legal by a Spanish court. Considering that there is no worldwide approach to deem those sites illegal, as evidenced by the decision of the Spanish judges, it's going to be very difficult to put them out of business.

And rojadirecta definitely got the best list of links out there - at least for soccer that is!