New garda crackdown on TV ‘dodgy boxes’ launched as seven counties targeted

The action comes after authorities’ claims that an earlier crackdown this year resulted in several dodgy box operators being shut down.

The counties currently being targeted are Cork, Dublin, Galway, Laois, Louth, Mayo and Monaghan.

The organisation leading the crackdown, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, says it is working with gardaí on the matter.

A dodgy box is a device that can bypass pay-TV copyright controls illegally. The gadget, often also referred to as an Android box, is sold by individuals around the country, who then also sell codes to access illegally streamed premium sport, movies and other television content.

An EU report into illegal internet protocol television (IPTV) in 2019 found that Ireland has the sixth highest use of dodgy boxes in the EU.

The report measured 171,000 people, or 5.1pc of the population, using the service.

The content on dodgy boxes is often taken from online broadcast feeds originating in the Middle East or the US, where they are supposed to be geographically locked under copyright restrictions. This year’s crackdowns are focusing mainly on individuals selling dodgy boxes, as opposed to homeowners using them.

Irish law makes it an offence to have, use or sell a dodgy box under the Copyright Act 2000. It can lead to fines of up to €127,000 or prison sentences of up to five years.

A spokesperson for the gardaí said that the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) Intellectual Property Crime Unit currently has “a number of live investigations with some matters currently before the courts,” but “cannot provide specific details of matters that are currently before the courts or subject to criminal investigation”.

Prosecutions have generally been against individuals selling Android boxes, or the codes to give box owners access to pay-protected TV, sport and movies.

In April, a 38-year-old computer design technician from Tallaght, Dublin, received a sentence of 240 hours’ community service for selling Android boxes to 150 customers, charging them €12 per month for codes to watch pay-protected TV, sport and movie content amounting to over 4,000 channels.

The copyright infringement earned the man over €20,000 in proceeds, which was confiscated by the court.

The man was traced through a company that he had registered to the sales services.

He had bought the Android boxes himself on Alibaba.com.

In May, five individuals in the UK received jail sentences of up to 11 years each for running a dodgy box streaming network with 50,000 monthly customers. The services involved were called Flawless, Shared VPS and Optimal.

The case was spearheaded by the English Premier League, whose pay-per-view matches are often a main driver for dodgy box sales.

The Premier League has obtained a legal order in Ireland that requires internet services to block illegal online streams of football matches.

“Illegal IPTV service providers are breaking the law and putting consumers at real risk of malware, data loss and identity theft,” said Kieron Sharp, CEO at the Federation Against Copyright Theft.

“We remain committed to disrupting these criminal operations and protecting consumers. Consumers who pay for pirate services should also know that they are often funding serious organised crime groups.”