Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleSubscriptions were offered for €40 to €130 per year (Getty Images/ iStock)Italy's financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, dismantled a sophisticated streaming piracy network, causing an estimated €300 million in damages to major rights holders such as Sky, DAZN, Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify. The operation targeted a previously unseen technology centred around an application called CINEMAGOAL, which connected users' devices to foreign servers to illegally decrypt streaming content. The system utilised virtual machines operating around the clock on Italian soil to capture and retransmit access codes from legitimate subscriptions every three minutes, effectively bypassing streaming platforms' security checks. Users of the illegal service were offered subscriptions ranging from €40 to €130 per year, significantly undercutting the cost of legitimate streaming services. Prosecutors in Bologna, working with Eurojust, secured the seizure of foreign servers storing decryption data and the application's source code, with parallel operations conducted in France and Germany, and 1,000 identified pirate users face fines between €154 and €5,000. In fullPolice bust huge £300m illegal European streaming piracy networkThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Major European streaming piracy network is dismantled by police
Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleSubscriptions were offered for €40 to €130 per year (Getty Images/ iStock)Italy's financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, dismantled a sophisticated streaming piracy network, causing an estimated €300 million in damages to major rights holders such as Sky, DAZN, Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify. The operation targeted a previously unseen technology centred around an application called CINEMAGOAL, which connected users' devices to foreign servers to illegally decrypt streaming content. The system utilised virtual machines operating around the clock on Italian soil to capture and retransmit access codes from legitimate subscriptions every three minutes, effectively bypassing streaming platforms' security checks. Users of the illegal service were offered subscriptions ranging from €40 to €130 per year, significantly undercutting the cost of legitimate streaming services. Prosecutors in Bologna, working with Eurojust, secured the seizure of foreign servers storing decryption data and the application's source code, with parallel operations conducted in France and Germany, and 1,000 identified pirate users face fines between €154 and €5,000. In fullPolice bust huge £300m illegal European streaming piracy networkThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
