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In this regional exclusive, UAE Government officials reveal how they won a major battle in the war against piracy, blocking access to rogue websites offering local users access to copyrighted broadcast content.
The Arabian Anti-piracy Alliance (AAA) and the UAE Ministry of Economy (MoE) are celebrating a victory against pay TV pirates after initiating what they claim to be a world first in counter piracy initiatives.
The project began during the Euro 2008 Championships in the summer and involved one specific method of pay TV piracy that uses the internet to re-transmit components of the security over the internet.
So called ‘sharing-piracy' re-broadcasts the security ‘keys', a series of control words refreshed constantly during broadcast, enabling non-subscribers to access pay TV signals.
The MoE claims that the growth in internet usage throughout the UAE has led to an increase in this form of piracy.
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The latest AAA/MoE anti-piracy initiative was enforced in the second week of June 2008, coinciding with the Euro 2008 football championships. The investigation immediately led to the identification and disruption of 10 internet sites.
This action marks the first of its kind in the UAE and the world against copyright violations, with more unique strategies also in the pipeline.
"We received communications that illegal operators were broadcasting unsubscribed Euro 2008 matches and other programs over the internet and promptly coordinated with enforcement authorities to conduct a raid," says an MoE source.
"We were able to identify 10 foreign internet links and immediately ordered the disruption of local internet connections to these addresses. We are currently investigating similar cases and are arranging the proper protocols to ensure that the identification and disruption procedures are both swift and effective."
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