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    Die ersten 200 Besitzer von zwielichtigen Boxen wurden von Sky-Rechtsschreiben ins Visier genommen

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    36 Kommentare

    3. garcia1723 on

      I wonder how they can track it? And how are sky allowed to take legal action? If I allegedly watch Netflix only films on a dodgy stick are they going to target me?

    7. rmp266 on

      „I only watch Filipino Fishing Channels 3 and 4, I dont watch any Sky content, thanks“

    9. SeanB2003 on

      Notable that sky got the details for these people following a prosecution of a provider in the same area in which most of those receiving these letters live.

      Being paid for through revolut. In telegram/whatsapp groups with their real phone number and full name.

      Anyone taking even the most basic of measures that you’d expect to take while buying an illegal service will have nothing to fear from this.

    11. Specialist-Flow3015 on

      This is so bought and paid for, the Independent should put #ad on it. The point is to scare people away from firesticks and push them back towards paying €80 a month for Sky.

      If Sky had proof of illegal activity, they’d go to the Gardai, not turn vigilante and send out „settlements“.

    13. HighDeltaVee on

      >Warning states that failure to sign the settlement could mean Sky treat the matter as unresolved, potentially issuing a legal claim for breach of copyright

      That’s the most mealy-mouthed „we would very much like to imply that we have power here“ sentence I’ve read in quite some time.

    14. heshtios on

      I will always be on the side of piracy in these cases. Sky already has more money than they know what to do with. Hopefully they can’t find everyone, or there’s a legal loophole against them.

    15. Alarming-Anywhere-14 on

      What if you have sky and a dodgy box?! Does that make it better?!😂😂😂

    16. Zig-Zag47 on

      I call BS. Sky paid Media to run these ads. They can resolve the problem very easily, stop ripping people off.
      Have their own box that’s 20 euro a month all in but they won’t because they’re too greedy.
      Now they are losing thousands of people every month.

      If the providers servers are in China or Russia they can’t do fuck all about it.

    17. anubis_xxv on

      Ok so I understand how Sky got the details of these people. Guy got busted, he had these people’s details on his phone.

      My first question is how did Sky get this info from the Guards? I’m not sure how Sky is involved in this directly enough to be given such insider information.

      My understanding of dodgy boxes is they’re just android streaming boxes, essentially open source Amazon fire sticks, but otherwise legal to own. I could buy a Raspberry Pi and build one myself.

      On the boxes though, it’s a app you sign into that gets you the unlocked channels. So this guy they arrested, I assume he didn’t make this app himself? I assume he’s the shopkeeper at the till, charging customers for his wares that he himself bought elsewhere from another source. I’ve seen several in houses and they all look to be Asian in design and build quality.

      So my next question is, why is Sky involved at this level? Yes these people were almost certainly watching Sky channels, but apart from their names on a phone Sky surely have no proof of any kind.

      I assume the channels were all bundled together by the hundreds, from multiple countries around the world, but Sky took this crusade upon themselves? Instead of going through the authorities and going after either the maker of the boxes or especially the hosting services for the app for the Irish region.

      Seems like intimidation tactics more than anything.

    19. irishgorey on

      Id be interested in what the legal letters say. Is it “ stop using them“ etc.

    20. Will_Iis on

      Ah yes Sky. Company of the people for the people.

      I cancelled with them a few years ago because the sky box hadn’t been switched on in over a year and in the last week before the account ended they rang 3 times.

      1st call offered 40% off the old bill

      2nd call offered 60% off

      Last call offered 85/90% and that really pissed me off. It was so cheap even if I wasn’t watching it would have been cheap enough to have on standby for just incase.

      If they offered the last price to everyone there wouldn’t be a house in the country without their services but they’re a bunch of greedy Aholes.

    21. Hoodbubble on

      If I go before the judge and say that I’ve only been watching children be sexually abused on the dodgy box would I get a suspended sentence?

    23. Jon_J_ on

      If you have the choice to buy a year subscription with a dodgy box for 80 Euros compared to paying 30+ Euro’s a month for Sky….

    24. PalladianPorches on

      i’m not even going to bother clicking this monthly paid clickbait, but i’ll wager this:

      not one person was charged with owning a dodgy box, using a dodgy box provider or any copyright related infringement.

      instead, sky (or some FACT related entity), have misused PPI information obtained in a money laundering conviction to threaten individuals over using their revolut accounts to send money to a convicted money laundering (who sells subscription services).

      it’s funny how it’s never RTE or VM paying for these adverts, even though these are overwhelmingly the most watched dodgy box streams in ireland.

    25. jumpbutton23 on

      People need to get back into good old fashioned piracy, which is to say; watching the match on your laptop like it’s 10 years ago.

      I’ve never had a dodgy box because to me the idea of paying someone to do my piracy for me is completely insane; and that just gets even more insane when there is now a legal precedent set for dodgy box distributors handing over payment details to IP holders.

      The juice is just not worth the squeeze imo.

      Grab a VPN and a browser with decent adblock capabilities, and watch one of the many many many websites streaming every sport under the sun for free – like we used to do in the olden days.

      It seems to me the appeal of these boxes is watching the match on ‚the big telly‘ and without having to faff around looking for new sites but… is it really worth paying money for something you’re legally stealing anyway? And when the person providing the service to you is some lad in Kildare with DIRECT ties to you, personally, rather than some guy in eastern europe who runs a mini data centre out of his gaff lol

    26. FatherFintanFay on

      Fuck protesting about fuel prices, we should be out on the streets for this

    28. J-zus on

      Oh no, a LETTER, consider my timbers thoroughly shivered.

      I also love how this propaganda piece says „first“ 200 dodgy-box owners got a letter, implying that there will be more

    29. lazymanschair1701 on

      Presumably these people were cut off from their original box supplier, so if it’s a warning letter from Sky, it only relates to something they are no longer engaged with.

      In reality they’ve likely already moved on to another provider so unless SKY is their broadband I’m not sure how they could track their usage further.

      I notice Now TV bundles HBO MAX and other streaming, so they must be feeling the pinch, at least it’s making them more competitive on price if nothing else

    31. oldezzy on

      Got the names from a dodgy box provider, stop using and paying for dodgy boxes it’s laughably simple to make your own with a fire stick in 2026, pirating in the early 2000s was tough, pirating now ? Easier than ever (with usually better quality/ bitrate then the providers)

    32. ThoseAreMyFeet on

      Surely they’d have to prove that content was watched illegally, rather than someone had a dodgy box and ‚had access‘ to illegal content. 

      By that logic having Internet access means you’d have a heap of potential legal issues.

    33. Livid-Schedule-634 on

      I don’t own a dodgy box, I own a fully functional Amazon fire stick.

    34. FearTeas on

      You’re asking for trouble if you’re paying someone to setup a way of pirating media instead of just doing it yourself.

      You’re just so much more exposed and the media companies are going to be way motivated to go after you than someone who pirates their own media.

      Not to mention, you have no idea what the installer is setting up. It’s not hard to cover your tracks if you’re pirating yourself, but I doubt people you’re paying take equivalent precautions. Not to mention, it’s clear some of these installers weren’t very careful about customer data either.

    35. Henry_Bigbigging on

      I don’t have a dodgy box. I’ve never had one.

      I want one now.

      Fuck Sky.

    36. SnooPickles7970 on

      billion dollar company known for price gouging going after individual consumers if it isn’t illegal its extreamly unethical

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