A portion of the Internet sports fan community cried foul on Monday when two popular illegal gaming websites released a message – apparently from their anonymous owner – that they will “cease to scatter.”
Visitors to sites called Methstreams and Crackstreams were encouraged to join the existing Discord community for more information. As an indication of the website’s following, more than 80,000 accounts were part of the Discord group — which has existed at least since 2022 — as of Monday afternoon.
Methstreams first gained attention in November, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted a clip of NFL action that originated on the site (he had taken the video from another poster, as opposed to a non- inactive).
Two weeks ago, the owner of Methstreams told Discord members that one of their names had been locked during an ongoing battle between copyright owners and licensing agreements. Around the same time, the anti-piracy organization The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced that it had helped shut down hundreds of websites, many based in Vietnam, that had attracted more than a million hits. 800 last year.
An ACE representative did not respond to a request for comment on whether those sites were part of its damage.
Media companies pay billions for exclusive rights to broadcast sports, and broadcasters also pay billions to reach the viewing audience. The NFL’s recent media deals, for example, are worth more than $125 billion; The latest NBA cycle is worth $77 billion. Illegal broadcasts often come via imported feeds, meaning the broadcasts (and ads) are often not intended for US audiences. In extreme cases, that lost money can threaten the stability of sports organizers and the events they put on.
A report from the anti-piracy firm VFT estimated that 17 million people watched the 2024 Super Bowl on illegal streams.
Although Methstreams and Crackstreams did not explain why they were taken down, the most likely reason is that they are accused of infringing the rights of games and that Internet Service Providers (OSPs) acted in accordance with their legal responsibility to order the takedown.
American sports leagues are armed with limited tools to combat illegal streaming, which, as Harvard Business Review recently warned, it costs the global gaming industry about 28 billion dollars in annual revenue. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is the government’s primary anti-privacy law. However, it is from 1998, a time when most people accessed the Internet with dial-up modems and live streaming was not available.
The DMCA, gamers have argued, is too slow as it provides a notice and takedown process that isn’t appropriate for streaming games. The core of the process involves the content creator notifying the OSP (such as YouTube or Facebook) that they are hosting an illegal channel. OSP is then required to investigate and, if necessary, take action, but hours or days may pass before the stream is removed.
With live sports news, it’s clear that action is needed in seconds, or at least minutes, as the quality of news diminishes over time. The UFC, along with the NBA and NFL, have urged lawmakers and the US Patent and Trademark Office to consider measures that would oblige OSPs to act quickly and carry out advanced verification measures before allowing a user. to live.
Restricting access to content distributed from overseas can be more difficult, and often requires intervention from the internet service providers that host or distribute said content.
A recent survey conducted in France found that more than half of Ligue 1 spectators had obtained the match through illegal means. Professional Soccer League Media Director Ben Morel described the theft as coming at a “dangerous time” for the game. French law allows rights holders to require technology companies to take measures to prevent serious infringements of their broadcasting rights.
When Google was ordered to participate in the same game last summer, it reportedly expressed its intention to follow through while indicating that the impact of the effort may be limited.
Worldwide, visits to illegal video sites have increased by 12% since 2019 despite efforts to reduce their spread, according to the Government’s anti-piracy monitoring platform.
Unregistered websites can benefit from signing their own advertising agreements or collecting valuable visitor information. Some services have tried to charge subscribers to access private portals.
It remains unclear whether the operation or other motivations prompted Monday’s announcement, as the owner of Methstreams and Crackstreams also teased news of the comeback.
Although many users of the sites publicly saluted the operator for the service they provided, it did not take long before commentators began to discuss which site was left to provide such a way. the best way to continue watching unlicensed games.
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