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Amazon Fire TV Stick owners warned of £50,000 fine and home raids in new streaming crackdown
Plus, tips on how to spot a jailbroken or modified Fire Stick
AMAZON Fire TV Stick owners face home raids and being slapped with fines of £50,000 as part of a new crackdown on illegal streaming.
Anyone who uses jailbroken Fire Sticks to stream Premier League games for free have been warned about "inevitable" raids by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).
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Raids and arrests over illegal streaming have increased over recent months as PIPCU and other UK authorities step efforts to combat the crime.
Illegal Fire Sticks can be used to illegitimately access Sky and TNT Sports subscriptions.
Households were issued a "stern warning" in April after an entire illegal TV streaming ring was busted selling Sky-enabled Fire Sticks.
A police investigation found that the operation had garnered nearly 4,000 subscribers, earning the duo over £320,000 in three years.
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Just a month earlier, one person was arrested and 10 others were interviewed under caution as part of the wider crackdown on modified gadgets.
Detective Chief Inspector Emma Warbey, of the PIPCU in City of London Police, said at the time that "while it may seem like a low-risk, high-reward crime, the proceeds [from illegal streaming] are used to fund other serious forms of criminal activity".
She added: "At the same time, it can expose end users to the risks of data theft, fraud and malware."
Those found distributing illegal streams have been hit with fines exceeding £50,000, according to Birmingham Live.
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Beyond substantial fines, offenders also face prison sentences of up to 10 years.
Viewers who tune into illegal streams may face less severe fines, but they can still teeter into the low thousands.
What is a 'jailbroken' Fire Stick?
When an Amazon Fire Stick is ‘jailbroken’, it means a third-party media server software has been installed on it.
The software most commonly used on Fire Sticks is called Kodi.
It can grant users unrestricted access to new features and apps the normal version of the device wouldn't allow – but it is not legal to use in the UK.
The government outlined in 2017 that adapted Amazon Fire sticks and so-called ‘Kodi’ TV boxes were illegal.
This is because they breach intellectual property laws in not paying for the media content being watched.
“These devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air, content,” the government said at the time.
“They become illegal once they are adapted to stream illicit content, for example TV programmes, films and subscription sports channels without paying the appropriate subscriptions.”
If users are watching content that would usually be free, however, then they would not be breaking any laws.
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There's also a risk of malware spread, as DCI Warbey noted in her March statement.
Malicious software can be used to swipe people's personal data, and can even break their infected devices.
Jailbroken devices often lack parental controls, meaning users run the risk of exposing children to inappropriate content.
The storage on the devices is also limited, because the illegal third-party software swallows up so much space, meaning these Fire Sticks may be slow and lag frequently.
Get more out of your Amazon Fire Stick
Try some of these top tips to improve your Amazon Fire Stick instantly.
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- Fire Stick mistake that could land you in trouble with the police
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