DStv wants stricter rules to combat illegal streaming

Clarence Ford is joined by My Broadband Editor, Jan Vermeulen.

Listen below

DStv plans to ramp up efforts to block illegal streaming sites in South Africa.

The satellite television services provider faces increasing competition from unauthorised platforms that offer pirated content for a fee.

Owner Multichoice wants to see the laws around combating illegal streaming websites changed to make them less time-consuming and expensive.

Currently, ISPs can only block piracy platforms with a court order.

Earlier this month MultiChoice announced the arrest of a suspected DStv pirate following a raid in Germiston.

A suspect is facing charges of  theft, fraud, money-laundering and violations of the Cyber Crimes Act.

"People are stealing the content."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - My Broadband 

Vermeulen says there is a difference between copyright infringement, such as sharing music between friends and these illegal subscription sites.

"These people stealing other people's product, their content, putting it up on their own website , putting a price on it and selling it."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - My Broadband 

Vermeulen explains one of the ways the sites are able to get the content to their platforms.

"They might pay for the service and then get an encryption key as a user of the service and then repackage it from there."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - My Broadband 

"It has a negative impact on legitimate users at the end of the day."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - My Broadband 

The Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (ISPA) suggests adopting Australia’s model for blocking access to these illegal streaming services.

In Australia, the industry regulator, ACMA can request help from ISPs’ in disrupting access to this type of content.

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