Live sports content. There’s plenty of it, meaning there’s a myriad of ways to exploit it too. Friend MTS is pioneering a movement to diminish piracy’s hold TACKLING THE PIRACY ENDEMIC
T here is a common misconception that piracy mostly applies to pre-recorded content. However, a report by The New York Times suggests there is a ‘Pirated live sport endemic in the UK’, with a study finding over eight million are watching illegal streams. “The industry has moved towards a streaming model,” Robin Boldon, head of product at Friend MTS introduces, “with the popularity of legitimate streaming platforms accelerating during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Most large media companies have a streaming proposition easy for consumers to engage with. But it means pirates can offer services on a level playing field.” Boldon highlights that the technology is ubiquitous, making it easy to attain. “With sports, the rights value is so high but unlike film, entertainment or TV, pirates only have a short window of time to exploit sports content.” CALLS FOR COLLABORATION Fragmented content strategies proliferate live sports, offering pirates ample chance to find chinks in the live production chain. “Siloed activity plays to the advantage of the pirates,” emphasises Boldon. “Limited industry collaboration has allowed them to continue to operate, although we are seeing pockets of collaboration delivering better outcomes.” Streaming infrastructures built to a price point and deadline also play a role. “We are seeing a common technical design for the streaming platforms: they all have the same sorts of components to them and are often architected in a cookie-cutter way. That means they often contain common vulnerabilities pirates can repeatedly exploit, ultimately allowing them to take advantage across multiple platforms.” This issue calls platforms to take a closer look at security best practice, “not as an afterthought or an item on your project plan to set aside when you are up against it from a budget and delivery perspective,” explains Boldon. WHO ARE THEY? It’s vital to recognise pirates as a key segment of your audience. “It’s an illegitimate one, but nonetheless, it is an audience. Understanding the demographic – and their motivation for piracy – is important. “The obvious answer is that it’s free. But, we have customers who are quite adept at classifying people who pirate. There are people that will never engage with their products and always steal. Then, there are those that are opportunistic and need to be told there’s a legitimate option out there. Finally, there are
those that will seek out legal outlets and opportunity, but don’t have access.” The usual reason for the latter is typically it’s not licensed in some territories, meaning the exclusivity business model may well be pushing some of that demographic towards piracy. “This is why it’s so important to start thinking of content protection as a key component to your distribution model and channel operation,” Boldon highlights. MONITOR, IDENTIFY, DISRUPT Since its inception, Friend MTS has developed a broad suite of security services powered by proprietary technologies. “We have three core pillars: monitor, identify and disrupt. Monitor finds the illegitimate sources of content – organised by type (or
vectors) and identifies where it is hosted as well as which sites are linking that source. Our solutions scan tens of thousands of locations and look at the network forensics. “Then, we verify that content through a process called fingerprinting. Similar to a human fingerprint, we use a mathematical process with content. Once the content is verified, we can additionally identify the presence of a forensic watermark to identify the distribution path or subscriber. Finally, we enter the disruption aspect.
LIMITED INDUSTRY COLLABORATION HAS ALLOWED
PIRATES TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE
“We’ll either access removal tools negotiated with a hosting provider to get the content removed, or issue a legal cease and desist notice. In certain situations, we can request content to be removed via whatever online tools those platforms provide.” Friend MTS is also an aficionado in blocking. This is a sophisticated method, where blocking can be deployed to make a rapid and considerable impact on piracy. However, blocking is also deeply complex and needs to be handled by experts, otherwise over-blocking can become an issue. “Blocking is very effective,” Boldon concludes. “It reduces illegitimate consumption. If you’re a rights holder or platform provider, it is an effective way to ensure the rights ecosystem for a given territory is as secure as you can make it.” To learn more about Friend MTS, head to friendmts.com
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