3 Count: Stealth Piracy

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1: FACT and Sky Join Forces in Nationwide Piracy Crackdown

First off today, Julian Clover at Broadband TV News reports that, in the UK, the anti-piracy group FACT has teamed up with broadcaster Sky to target 40 illegal IPTV operators in the country.

Official warnings from the organizations were served in person to the operators involved. The warnings had a simple message: cease infringing activity or face prosecution. Three warrants were also served, which led to the arrest of three men accused of selling “fully loaded” smart TV devices.

Sky said that targeting such listings is ongoing and that they removed over 3,000 in the latest period. The goal is to discourage piracy by targeting those operating illegal streaming services or selling the devices to access them.

2: CCC Announces a Collective Licensing Subscription for AI Systems

Next, Porter Anderson at Publishing Perspectives reports that the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) has announced a new licensing scheme that will make it easier for creators and companies to license content for AI systems.

The news is especially important for the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and its members. The organization has relied heavily on CCC licensing schemes to license its content.

However, the new scheme has a significant limitation. It’s meant only for developing internal AI systems, not public ones. As such, systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity cannot rely on such a license.

3: Stealth Piracy App Evaded Apple Again? Just the Tip of the Evasion Iceberg

Finally today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that a recent report targeted the iOS app Collect Cards: Store Box for being a stealth piracy app. The app had avoided detection in the iOS App Store for over a year before being detected and removed.

The app claimed to be a tool for organizing images and videos. However, its actual use was to access illegal content from various streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu and more.

Such apps have been a problem in both the Apple and Google app stores. Rightsholders claim that the companies are not doing enough to detect and prevent such apps from appearing.

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