MultiChoice Africa x Winning against piracy
Worldwide partnerships between governments, law-enforcement bodies, cybersecurity
specialists and civil-society NGOs are turning the tide against the scourge of content piracy
on the African continent.
The fight to break up the international crime syndicates stealing content has seen several
recent successes, broadening the partnerships being employed, and tightening the net
around content criminals.
Across Africa, raids and arrests are being conducted on an almost weekly basis, with illegal
streaming sites being shut down.
At the same time, the latest digital technology is being deployed to identify the sources – and the users – of illicit streams.
“Technology may make it easy to pirate content, but it also makes it easier to track down and
prosecute those involved,” says Frikkie Jonker, Director of Anti-Piracy Cybersecurity
Services at MultiChoice Group. “Forensic watermarking technology, proactive monitoring,
and global partnerships allow us to issue immediate takedown notices to law-breakers and
follow up with arrest operations where necessary.”
These critical global partnerships include the recent signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) in Ethiopia to combat piracy, support the creative sector and
safeguard the country’s cultural heritage.
The MoU between MultiChoice Africa, the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Sport (MOCS),
as well as the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority (EIPA), aims to collaboratively combat
piracy and enhance the protection of intellectual property rights in Ethiopia.
The MoU, and several similar agreements build upon previous collaborations under the
Africa-wide Partners Against Piracy (PAP) programme.
Piracy undermines the ability of creators and rightsholders to earn a living from their work. It
also has insidious cultural impacts, eroding the local content economy.
Protecting cultural and creative assets fosters a sustainable environment for creators and builds a thriving environment for continued evolution of a country’s creative works.
Recent breakthroughs
PAP last year conducted more than 155 successful raids across Africa, resulting in the
closure of 4 351 networks and the arrest of 107 individuals involved in illegal activities.
Since piracy is a global phenomenon, the secret to PAP’s effectiveness lies in its international presence.
The vast number of PAP initiatives across jurisdictions is proof of this global – and pan-African – approach. Among recent PAP accomplishments, the organisation.
➢Launched PAP in Namibia in partnership with the Business and Intellectual Property
Authority (BIPA) and the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB).
➢ Raided five shops and prosecuted five syndicate members selling illegal decoders in
Botswana in an enforcement action led by the Botswana Police Service and the Companies
and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA).
➢ In collaboration with the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) and the National Police
Service, successfully shut down the pirate sports streaming site & score808;.
➢Partnered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) for a media workshop to
address content piracy and intellectual property.
➢Deployed artificial intelligence (AI) technology in Zimbabwe to scour the web and detect
pirate content.
➢ Participated in an anti-piracy conference in Angola, alongside the US embassy and
copyright consultancy Portão.
➢ In Mozambique, launched raids after 160 hotels and lodges were found to be using
pirated decoders and foreign accounts.
➢Apprehended the operator behind the notorious pirate sports-content domain
www.score808.com.ng in Nigeria.
➢In Malawi, launched a campaign with MultiChoice Malawi and the Copyright Society of
Malawi (COSOMA), to raise awareness of copyright protections and fight piracy.
Lawmakers and law enforcement
PAP also engages with governments on reform processes, updating outdated laws to make
provision for new piracy trends.
“There is limited effective legislation on the continent to support prosecution of streaming
piracy,” says Jonker.
Jonker describes technology-enabled approaches such as dynamic IP blocking and domain
blocking, which can significantly hamper online piracy, but which require dedicated
legislation to be put into effect.
“We will be working with African governments to amend laws to address streaming piracy.
And help cybersecurity interventions to fight it,” he says
Almost all pirated content is uploaded from outside Africa. Dynamic IP blocking allows anti-
piracy units to block the African IP addresses that are being used to relay the content to local
users.
Piracy also involves local underground hardware dealers and resellers, as well as agents
who sell passwords, subscriptions and log-in credentials – criminals who enable the piracy
network.
PAP, in partnership with local law-enforcement, conducts raids almost daily, where these
individuals are arrested and prosecuted. Advanced technology also means all clients using
these illegal services can be disconnected at the click of a button.
PAP then works with international enforcement agencies like Europe, Interpol and US
Homeland Security to go after the kingpins overseas.
Jonker congratulates the police, legislators, civil-society bodies as well as the law-abiding
citizens who are helping to drive the breakthroughs against piracy.
“We have had some great successes, and it bodes well for the ongoing war on piracy,” he
says. “We have to act collectively to tackle piracy, and it is reaping great rewards.”
