November 28, 2023
Reading time • 5 min
Operation 404 takes down 100 websites providing illegal access to the English Premier League
On Tuesday (28), the Civil Police served 24 search and seizure warrants in the sixth phase of Operation 404, an ongoing action coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security to combat digital piracy on websites and applications.
606 sites were blocked, 238 of which were hosted in Brazil, 328 in Peru and 40 in the UK. Around 100 of the sites taken down were specialized in broadcasting the Premier League. Nineteen streaming applications were also taken down
The sixth phase involves civil police from the Federal District and 11 states – Alagoas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and São Paulo.
Authorities from five countries took part in the integrated operation. In addition to Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Peru and Argentina took part. These countries also conducted coordinated actions on Tuesday.
The private sector is also cooperating with the investigations, through organizations such as the Brazilian Pay-TV Association. In this phase, the Premier League itself has also collaborated with investigators.
Delegate Alessandro Barreto, from the Cyberlab of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, responsible for coordinating the work in Brazil, stressed that the fight against piracy is not restricted to intellectual property issues, but has a broad impact on the economy and society
“Piracy is a crime, piracy must be tackled. It’s not just the violation of the author’s right, there’s the crime of criminal association, there’s money laundering, and there are other ancillary or related crimes that bring immense damage to our society,” said Barreto.
He cited a study by the Brazilian Pay-TV Association (ABTA) according to which 47 million people have used or had access to some illegal streaming service or illegal access to pay-TV. The figure represents a loss of BRL 12 billion a year, Barreto said.
He also pointed out that the focus of Operation 404 is on taking down illegal websites and applications, even though those who use these services are also breaking the law. “The focus of the operation is to crack down on people who offer this type of service,” said Barreto.
Among the targets of this Tuesday’s operation is, for example, a man from Londrina who offered illegal access to subscription channels to 106,000 people. In Mato Grosso, another investigated registered 60,000 customers for illegal transmissions.
The name of the operation refers to the 404 code, which is displayed by the browser when a web page is not found.
