The Press Office of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Mariupol reports on suppressing activities of two groups of people engaged in illegal sales and installation of equipment that transmits TV channels banned in Ukraine.
We shall recall that about 20 Russian TV channels remain banned in Ukraine. Later on the National Council declared that the TV content of those media was subject to forensic expert assessment.
The trespassers were detained while installing equipment and setting up banned TV channels for another customers. The offered package of Russian TV channels also included erotic TV channels decoded by the suspects by applying special software. The cost of such services, according to the press office of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Mariupol, amounted about UAH 2,500.
During the search in the office, the militiamen confiscated equipment, documentation and cash earned in an illegal way. Under Part 3 of Article 301, Part 2 of Article 361, Part 1 of Article 382 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, there was brought a criminal action against the suspects, providing for up to 7 years of imprisonment.
Mediasat informed before that in April of the last year, two residents of Lugansk were arrested, engaged in illegal activities like providing card sharing services. By setting up satellite equipment and Internet access they illegally transmitted pay-TV channels Football-1 and Football-2, owned by LLC TRK Ukraina, causing material damage to the right holder.
We shall recall that as far back as in August of the last year the National Council in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been carried out inspections aimed at combating card sharing in Ukraine.
And what about others?
In Russia, for example, the satellite TV operator Tricolor TV has been actively fighting so-called satellite pirates in the former CIS countries. Last year 14 criminal cases were opened against illegal distributors of TV content. The court proceedings were also initiated as for the case in Belarus.
The operator has been also combating Internet pirates providing access to the paid content. Thus, at its suggestion, the access was closed to 105 pirate web sites.
AAPA Association in Germany, responsible for combating piracy in the European Union, informed the public about criminal cases initiated by Sky Deutschland. People who provided card sharing services were sentenced to fines, to a suspended imprisonment and the confiscation of computers and satellite equipment. The German court considers users, agreed to free and illegal content, to be also involved in the action, and it initiated trials according to place of their residence.
In France, the court sentenced a resident of the city of La Rochelle to six months of suspended imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of over two million euros to US right holders, to the content of which he accessed illegally. Among the victims there were Warner Bros (over 470 thousand euros), Disney (over 242 thousand euros), 20th Century Fox (over 228 thousand euros), Paramount Pictures (over 221 thousand euros), Universal (over 172 thousand euro s), Columbia Pictures (over 158 thousand euros) and Tristar Pictures (over 11 thousand euros).
In Denmark, at the request of the organization STOP (monitors legal access to the content in the Nordic countries), the police carried out house searches of the residents of the Central and West Zealand to identify the audience, enjoying card sharing services. Those offenders were fined DKK 20,000 plus penalties in favor of the right holders. The maximum imprisonment in Denmark for card sharing is 1.5 years (in aggravated cases it may reach up to 6 years).
