Illegal football streams shut down! German internet giant blocked

Illegal football streams shut down! German internet giant blocked

For years, there have been illegal streams that football fans can use to watch matches. A major website has now been shut down. DAZN and the Bundesliga (DFL) have won a court case against the site livetv.sx.

As a result of the court ruling, the provider has now been blocked. Before that, it had been active for more than 13 years and is said to have been responsible for a large share of illegal streams in German-speaking countries, according to a DFL press release.

"This decision is of great importance for the protection of rights, an area in which the Bundesliga has invested for many years and where it is implementing extensive measures," said DFL managing director Steffen Merkel.

The case was coordinated through CUII, Germany’s clearing office for internet piracy. DFL and DAZN took part in the proceedings and provided data and analyses to support the legal action. According to estimates, the damage caused by piracy in sports amounts to up to 28 billion dollars a year.

DAZN’s chief executive also warned of the dangers for users. Many users are unaware of the risks. "Illegal streaming sites are run by criminal organizations and are linked to malware, data theft, the exploitation of data on the dark web, and fraudulent advertising," Alice Mascia was quoted as saying by 'Bild'.

She also said it harms fans as well, "because it affects one of the central sources of income for clubs and leagues and therefore limits how much can be reinvested in the product and the viewer experience."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.