The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA)’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) reported that Singapore’s High Court granted an order requested by several media companies, to block access to 17 Internet domains associated with pirate streaming and an additional 41 domains serving illicit streaming devices (ISDs). The ISDs are sold at retail in Singapore, as well as online.
Pirates profit from sales of the devices themselves, plus the associated subscription and advertising revenue. Furthermore, “Consumers who buy ISDs or access piracy streaming sites are … also wasting their time and money when the channels and websites stop working. Piracy services do not come with a ‘service guarantee’, no matter what the ISD seller or website operators may claim,” according to Neil Gane, AVIA CAP’s General Manager.
Read AVIA’s July 6 news release
Why it matters
These domain blockages come against a backdrop of increasing consumer awareness in Singapore.
AVIA’s release also said that the market research firm YouGov released a new study which found that consumers understand the risk of pirate sites: 52% recognize that crime groups profit from it, a like percentage know that piracy is an avenue for malware, and that 42% know it puts the livelihoods of creative professionals at risk.
