The fight against pirate football does not stop and, throughout this Friday, it was learned through a statement from the Civil Guard that they have deactivated “the most important streaming channel in Spain”. It is nothing more and nothing less than ‘Cristal Azul’, an “addon” to the Kodi multimedia player that broadcast all First and Second Division matches live.
The investigation, which occurred following a complaint from LaLiga and Movistarhas encrypted more than 42 million euros the amount “defrauded” to two of the most recognized companies in our country, in addition to knowing that some 78,000 members benefited from sports broadcasts.
An arrest and the total elimination of the channel
The Civil Guard Agents, within the framework of ‘Operation Blue Corsair’, belonging to the Technological Research Team (EDITE) of the Madrid Command, have achieved “identify and investigate the perpetrator of the events for an alleged crime relating to the market and consumers”.
“The investigations carried out allowed the identification of a 37 year old male for a crime related to the market and consumers, and responsible for a fraud of 42,547,104 million euros,” Benemérita began in its statement. Likewise, they confirmed that they have achieved the “removal” of “all channels” of the instant messaging where the matches were played, in addition to the elimination of the “programming code” used illegitimately.
How was the operation carried out?
The researchers initially “They focused their activity on finding out the place where the football matches were being broadcast”. From there, following the steps of the source code of the ‘add on’ extension and after consulting several information searches, they managed to “obtain said place”, which was related to one of the most used platforms in Spain.
On the other hand, and to determine the authorship of the events, “the investigation focused on nicknames or pseudonyms” that appear through the “source code within the add on extension”, a platform where the content of the First and Second Division was broadcast for free to more than 78,000 people.
A tireless fight against piracy
The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, confirmed days ago that, currently, there is a team of more than “50 people” working non-stop against piracy. The main objective that the Spanish football institution has set is to block each and every one of the domains associated with the illegal service and its technological infrastructure, preventing the use of illegal apps installed on mobile phones.
Following the recent resolution of the Commercial Court number 8 of Barcelona, LaLiga may indicate legal actions against people who find themselves consuming football content illegally, and they will receive fines of up to 450 euros for damages.
Another blow to piracy
LaLiga has reported the arrest of the person responsible for one of the largest piracy networks in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian Police arrested this past Thursday a subject (JELC, 51 years old) accused of illegal distribution of streaming services with which he would have collected monthly payments from thousands of people.
Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, gave more details of the operation: “It has been a complete success. Dismantling illegal platforms such as ‘MagisTV’ and ‘FlujoTV’ are very important milestones for the protection of intellectual property rights and for the hundreds of thousands of jobs that the audiovisual industry generates throughout Latin America.