US Shuts down 16 more Websites

[Fisha695]

(Reuters) - Three days before Super Bowl XLVI, U.S. prosecutors said they seized 16 websites that illegally streamed live sports and pay-per-view events over the Internet, and charged a Michigan man with running nine of those websites.

According to the government, the 16 websites provided links to give viewers easy access to other sites that hosted pirated telecasts from the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc ("WWE") and TNA Impact Wrestling. The latter is also broadcast on Viacom Inc's Spike TV.

Prosecutors said such piracy costs leagues and broadcasters millions of dollars a year, and some of this cost is passed on to ticket buyers and sports network subscribers.

"These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue" in what amounts to "virtual thievery," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, who announced the website seizures.

The websites are firstrow.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net, firstrowsports.tv, hq-streams.tv, robplay.tv, soccertvlive.net, sports95.com, sports95.net, sports95.org, sportswwe.net, sportswwe.tv, sportswwe.com, xonesports.tv, youwwe.com and youwwe.net.

As prosecutors announced the seizure on Thursday, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, expected to start in Sunday's Super Bowl against the New York Giants, admitted to reporters his own use of an illegal website.

"Last year, you know, I was rehabbing my foot, you know, in Costa Rica, watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website," he said in a video posted Thursday on the NFL website. "And now I'm actually playing in the game. So it's pretty cool."

"MAKE A DEAL"

The defendant charged in the case is Yonjo Quiroa, 28, who faces one count of criminal infringement of a copyright.

Prosecutors said Quiroa, also known as Ronaldo Solano, operated his websites from his home in Comstock Park, Michigan, prior to his Wednesday arrest, receiving at least $13,000 from online merchants who advertised with him.

Lawrence Phelan, a lawyer for the defendant, said Quiroa was in federal custody and expected to be transferred to New York, after having appeared on Wednesday in a Grand Rapids, Michigan federal court. Phelan declined to comment on the case.

The complaint against Quiroa outlines his alleged piracy efforts from February 2010 to January 2012.

It concludes by saying a U.S. Department of Homeland Security enforcement agent posing as a WWE representative last week offered to buy various domain names associated with the defendant, and received a response offering to "make a deal."

Prosecutors will seek the forfeiture of the domain names for the 16 seized websites.

The government had announced the seizure of 10 other websites said to pirate sports events exactly one year ago, shortly before Super Bowl XLV. [ID:nN02241115]

The case is U.S. v. Quiroa, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-mag-00241

And I've never heard of any of them.

 

[S. Yogurt]

This is reeeeeeeaaaaallly ridiculous.

(n)

 

[Fisha695]

This is reeeeeeeaaaaallly ridiculous.

(n)

How so? They were ripping the broadcast feeds which they do not have the license/rights/contracts to broadcast and then broadcasting them.

What those sites were doing is no different them me say taking whatever downloads you have on your site (ok as of now it's only a track beta, but pretend for this example it's hundreds of cars l0l) and posting them on my site for download without your permission. It's ripping & it's illegal.

 

[Chevellion]

Those seem like the types of sites that post blank videos on YouTube that solely exist to link you to their pages...can't say I'm sad to see them go.

 

[S. Yogurt]

How so? They were ripping the broadcast feeds which they do not have the license/rights/contracts to broadcast and then broadcasting them.

What those sites were doing is no different them me say taking whatever downloads you have on your site (ok as of now it's only a track beta, but pretend for this example it's hundreds of cars l0l) and posting them on my site for download without your permission. It's ripping & it's illegal.

LOL I probably should have read the article... I just saw nothing after "US Shuts Down 16 More Websites" lol. c.c Still, the government shutting down websites period is bothering me. They are really starting to enforce it a lot more. Could be good in cases like this one - but... Only time will tell.

 

[Dr. Kstar]

This won't get much attention on SRD until you guys without Speed or ESPN can no longer watch Nascar streams on the internet. Of course there is still MRN and PRN, but that is a whole different thing.

 

[BillyJack79]

There's no stopping it, really. I wonder what the gov't spent on this investigation and closure of these sites, not to mention what it'll cost to prosecute the guy. It's all pointless, IMO. The gov't won't be able to control media sharing without infringing on civil liberties, putting a halt on "legal" file sharing, and wasting money pursuing the "criminals" in this matter. Just in my lifetime, we've gone from "Let me dub that tape" to "Let me burn a copy" to "Where can it be downloaded/streamed?" It's really arrogant of our gov't to think copyright infringement and illegal file sharing can be stopped by them.

 

[John Gregorio]

Prosecutors said such piracy costs leagues and broadcasters millions of dollars a year, and some of this cost is passed on to ticket buyers and sports network subscribers.

"These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue" in what amounts to "virtual thievery," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, who announced the website seizures.

I get so mad when these companies try to play the victim game and blame they are losing all this money. There was NEVER any money to begin with! These people watching the streams would NOT have paid for anything. Nearly all the people who watch the streams either A) cant afford to pay for the cable package, or B) country/region blocked out of the cable package so when these companies spout of complete manure from there mouths with these comments I get sooooo irritated.

 

[BillyJack79]

"These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue in what amounts to "virtual thievery." Statements like this kill me, especially concerning the networks and media conglomerates. All the popular file sharing software can still be downloaded from cnet.com, a division of CBS/Viacom. Hypocrisy? For years, the top download on AOL was Limewire. It's hard to decide what side of this topic to be on, when the lines are as blurry as they are.

 

[K.Chuck]

So are we all going to jail for the mix tapes we made for girls in jr high school? I am a red blooded American and a veteran, we can use the money spent on this crap for a better cause. Like education and health care. RANT

 

[Markfan]

So are we all going to jail for the mix tapes we made for girls in jr high school? I am a red blooded American and a veteran, we can use the money spent on this crap for a better cause. Like education and health care. RANT

They were streaming pay-per-view programs. It's not surprising that they had massive legality issues.

 

[NossedEvo]

Mess with my N'03 & it's on tho

I'm concerned that things go too far. Not opposed to financially-motivated, criminal activity being discouraged.

Anytime big government/brother/money gets its hackles up, I get pensive, and make sure I have an adequate supply of foil.

As long as nobody seizes my pc, because I have few fast threes (of dubious origin) on it?

's all good.

 

[K.Chuck]

I love the USA but some of our priorities need to be reevaluated.

 

[Frigus5]

I get so mad when these companies try to play the victim game and blame they are losing all this money. There was NEVER any money to begin with! These people watching the streams would NOT have paid for anything. Nearly all the people who watch the streams either A) cant afford to pay for the cable package, or B) country/region blocked out of the cable package so when these companies spout of complete manure from there mouths with these comments I get sooooo irritated.

It's all about the money. As you said, these people wouldn't have paid anyway. This is no different from having a party and watching these events on a television at your home. These people might as well go arrest anyone who's ever been to a Super Bowl party, because they weren't paying to watch the game. Which, by the way, was on non-cable TV. Sometimes these things don't make sense. Now, I can see why they were upset about this guy making a profit off of advertising, but if he wasn't, I bet the same thing would happen.

 

[taz1458]

Firstrow was the place to go. I cant really afford to dish out $60+ for UFC & WWE PPVs, and ill be dammed if im getting DirecTV just to watch the Broncos so thats where I went. This crap is really starting to get rediculous. We got troops getting killed everyday, but were more worried about websites streaming stuff. Come on. Really? Priorities guys...PRIORITIES!!

EDIT: Ice idiots think they can get rid of it? Wrong. Firstrow is still there. Just had to change a few letters after the "."

 

[celticfang]

So, how long before they shut down youtube or Justin.tv, or the iPlayer over here? All can be used for copyright infringement. Also, why didn't they do anything before the Super bowl?

If I wanted I could if I came up with a way, rip the BBC's coverage of the Super Bowl, and upload it somewhere else. Illegal? Of course. However....I'd have a reason, that it's the only coverage that I legally have of it, even then it's just piggy backing on CBS's feed, the sole thing the BBC does is go to a studio during CBS ad breaks.

But, consider the position of people who (for whatever reason) can't watch said programs. For instance, I pay £20/month for NASN and Premier Sports TV (which is about $50), I got sold on the NASCAR package. However, I resort to watching them online because....well

Take Homstead last year for instance, Premier Sports only had 2 hours of airtime booked, so the rain came, they cut away and had zero updates. Zero. I feel more than justified to go to justin TV or Firstrowsports or Megavideo or Rapidshare or a torrent site to watch it, as I paid for the product/service and didn't get what I paid for (a full race).

Or, I recently read (and can't confirm how true this is) that Premier Sports only shows each NASCAR Cup race this year in a 2 hour timeslot. So, if something like Homstead happens, I'm screwed out of a race.

EDIT: I go to SPEED's site, I click on a video,

'We're sorry, this video cannot be watched from your location'

So I'm region locked out of any SPEED videos, to my mind, there is nothing wrong with streaming (say) the Rolex 24, or a Truck race, or ARCA to those who can't see it for whatever reason.

Or analogy time, if you stand on a street reading a book that's not sold in the US, and people hear you as they walk past or stop to listen. is that just as illegal as streaming something to non US residents?

 

[Relly]

I have no clue how much money our government is spending on this but IMO shouldn't we be more concerned with using that money to hire more/better teachers, reform healthcare, put people back to work, or maybe even something as simple as fixing the major bumps dead in the middle of the Thruway?

Idk I'd have to say I'm against this whole internet censorship deal, I can understand where they're coming from with all this but I have a feeling it's getting to the point where they're going to explore shutting down Twitter, YouTube ect.

And dammit if I can't watch my old races on YouTube and interact with random strangers on Twitter I'm not too sure what to do.

I too love my country but I hate how the government at times only seems to look out for the ultra rich and can care less about the average person...but it's the ultra rich that keep these government big wigs employed

Sorry for the rant...just my opinions on the article

 

[NossedEvo]

Firstrow was the place to go. I cant really afford to dish out $60+ for UFC & WWE PPVs, and ill be dammed if im getting DirecTV just to watch the Broncos so thats where I went. This crap is really starting to get rediculous. We got troops getting killed everyday, but were more worried about websites streaming stuff. Come on. Really? Priorities guys...PRIORITIES!!

EDIT: Ice idiots think they can get rid of it? Wrong. Firstrow is still there. Just had to change a few letters after the "."

Who are, " ...Ice idiots"?

I have considered my priorities. I don't need to holler about them.

I pay for what I consume. I'm old scool. So I don't use heroes' accomplishments to add drama to any of my arguments.

I use logos, and fonts, without permission -- call me an outlaw. :gun_bandana:

If Richard, or Teresa, asked me to stop? I would.

 

[SimDesigners]

Rather than seeing this as an opportunity to sue the living hell out of people, I wish the media would seize the opportunity to turn this into a positive. I would be more than willing to pay a per-event, reasonable fee to watch things online- from an F1 race to the Super Bowl. Why not set up a legal way for me to do that? They can spend less on legal fees and likely rake in almost the same dollar amount they're trying to persuade a judge to award them.

 

[Relly]

Speaking of pay per view events those sports packages like NFL Sunday Ticket and NBA League pass they should allow you to buy the packages by team, so for example I am a Toronto Raptors fan I should be allowed to buy just a Toronto Raptors package via the League Pass so instead of paying an egregious $170 I can buy it for a discounted rate and there by eliminating the need for Justin.tv and other online streams, and I can't imagine I'm the only one in this boat