14 DAY TRIAL // The World Cup is kicking off today and FIFA is already making threats left and right to fend off pirate sites that are interested in streaming the event.
According to TorrentFreak, FIFA has sent advance warnings to owners of several sites that regularly host or link to unauthorized live streams of sports events. The organization is warning owners that they’ll be sued and face criminal liability if they stream the unauthorized content.
Truth be told, most people will watch the matches on TV, through the licensed broadcasters since most cable companies will have access to these. However, there’s undoubtedly going to be a group of people that will want to watch things online, whether that’s due to the convenient nature of watching content on the Internet or the fact that they’ve given up on owning a TV a while back.
There are dozens of sites that allow so-called “pirate” streams, which generate millions of views on a regular basis. Considering the popularity of the World Cup, chances are that even more people will try them out.
In the letter sent by FIFA, Director of Legal Affairs Marco Villiger and Head of Commercial Legal Jörg Vollmüller ask the site owners, in the name of the football association, to do everything in their power to take down the streams. Of course, it’s not as much along the lines of “do your best,” but more along those of “do it, or you’ll face criminal liability.”
“Due to the nature of your service, we anticipate that a large number of users will continually use your website to create, distribute and/or link to live streams via the Internet of the 2014 FIFA World Cup BrazilTM. We want to ensure that all infringing streams can be promptly identified and removed, regardless of whether they can be viewed openly or through private areas of your site,” FIFA’s message reads.
According to FIFA’s message, site operators will bear all the blame if the unauthorized live streams see the light of day. The association recommends that site operators immediately block access to such broadcasts as soon as they are pointed out to them.
FIFA went as far as to include a schedule of the event, so the website owners know when live streams are about to make their way onto the sites.
“We thereby expect a member of your website team to be present and available to promptly perform this duty during and throughout all matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil,” FIFA added.