Streameast, the most popular and largest illicit live sports streaming network, was shut down following a coordinated law enforcement action conducted by Egyptian authorities last month, an antipiracy coalition of entertainment companies announced Wednesday.
Egyptian authorities seized infrastructure powering Streameast and arrested two operators at their residences in El-Sheik Zaid, Egypt, a spokesperson for the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment told CyberScoop.
Streameast operated 80 domains and logged more than 1.6 billion visits during the past year, driving more than 136 million monthly average visits, according to the association of about 50 entertainment companies, film and TV studios.
A team of 22 Egyptian police officers participated in the Aug. 24 raid, confiscating three laptops and four smartphones that were used for Streameast’s operations. Authorities also seized 10 Visa cards containing about $123,000 in funds, the spokesperson said.
Streameast offered pirated access to major live sports broadcasts, including Europe’s top soccer leagues, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. The network also ran sites for pay-per-view boxing matches, mixed martial arts and motorsports.
“With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide — and our global alliance will stay on the field as long as it takes to identify and target the biggest piracy rings across the globe,” Charles Rivkin, chairman of ACE and chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, said in a statement.
Pirated networks, similar to other digital crime enterprises, are difficult to keep offline. New sites crop up often and operators can regroup after disruptions and reconstitute under new domains and infrastructure.
“It’s not uncommon for copycat operations to appear following the takedown of a notorious piracy site, and it’s difficult to predict to what extent this might happen,” the spokesperson for ACE said. “ACE remains actively engaged with Egyptian authorities and we continue monitoring the landscape.”
The majority of Streameast’s traffic originated from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Germany.
ACE claims global digital piracy impacts the U.S. economy to the tune of $29.2 billion and 230,000 jobs lost annually. The coalition said more than 2,500 illegal sites are taken down daily.
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