Background Report on Digital Piracy of Sporting Events
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- 3Live streaming piracy
- 3.1.1How does a stream begin
- 3.2Unicast streaming
2.5Governmental regulationThe lobbying and educational process can be time-consuming and expensive but ultimately one of the best ways to ensure that those affected by piracy can gain the protection which they need. The United States government identified the live sports telecast piracy problem in its 2008 Special 301 Report, stating that “unauthorized retransmission of live sports telecasts over the Internet is reportedly becoming an increasing problem internationally, particularly in China....The United States is continuing to work with other governments, in consultation with U.S. copyright industries and other affected sectors, to develop strategies to address [[this] global problem].” While fully international and internet-wide regulation is almost impossible to imagine and implement, controls which may impose restrictions on the service which individual country-based ISPs can offer or the steps which they must take to ensure that copyrights are better protected have become more widely discussed over the last two years. For instance, the 2006 Gowers Report in the UK required ISPs to produce an acceptable code of ‘Best Common Practice’ for complaints about copyright infringements committed by subscribers while proposals for graduated response4 have been raised by governments in France, Japan, and Canada. Government regulation also requires that regulatory organisations are fully aware of the level of harm experienced by sporting leagues from such piracy, as well as the prospects for a future internet in which access to such streams becomes easier and faster. With sport contributing significant amounts to local economies and the range of reinvestment and redistribution initiatives undertaken by sporting organisations, it must be hoped that internet-based sports piracy would become widely recognised as a major issue worthy of exploration and attention. At every level, it is vital to recognise – as a recent EPFL Conference on protecting intellectual property rights within sports stated – that “a clear IP framework for sport, through appropriate legislative action, is absolutely indispensable both at national and international levels”. 3Live streaming piracy3.1IntroductionThere are two main types of streaming used in the broadcast of pirated sporting events through the internet:
As previously mentioned, direct streaming sites such as Mogulus and Ustream have also started to be used for sports broadcast redistribution but are not yet prevalent enough to be classed as a significant problem. Most such services employ content delivery networks which help cache and distribute streams, lowering the cost of live streaming. All services of this sort carry significant amounts of advertising which represents their dominant business model. 3.1.1How does a stream begin?The technology required to begin a stream that can be re-broadcast via a Unicast or P2P-based site is simple and available to many internet users. Indeed, most streaming channels begin with a standard home computer attached to a typical residential broadband connection. Any computer with a television tuner card installed (becoming a standard piece of hardware on many home computers or available for a small cost at any computer store) can re-broadcast a stream. The software to achieve this is freely downloadable: for instance, Windows Media Player can produce a unicast stream which can then be offered to others while P2P services such as SopCast, TVAnts, and TVU offer a small piece of free software which will re-broadcast an incoming television channel or video within their own distribution services. 3.2Unicast streaming For pirated re-transmissions of sports events, sites which use a unicast server offer a direct stream to connected viewers, who connect only to the streaming server to access the content on offer (unlike P2P-based system where the viewer is provided parts of the stream from many different users).
 Sites which offer unicast streaming of live sports often require a paid subscription. Direct streaming of video feeds to a large number of users is demanding of bandwidth and processing power and can lead to substantial costs. Such sites are often run on a commercial basis and tend to deploy well-known logos and sleek design to offer an air of authenticity. For instance, the screenshot above shows a typical unicast site featuring logos from Windows Media, SkySports, Setanta Sports, EuroSport, and the NASN. Payment is offered by Visa and Mastercard with pay-per-view and ‘sports pack’ subscriptions available. Many potential subscribers would view such a site as legitimate.
Once subscribed, the streams can be received by the viewer direct into any typical media player. Streams are of a good quality and generally suffer little from buffering or pausing. Directory: downloads -> reports downloads -> Forth coming competitive exams downloads -> Brush High School Morning Announcements Friday, September 05, 2014 all school downloads -> Year 9 The Arts — Music downloads -> Years 7 and 8 standard elaborations — Australian Curriculum: Music draft downloads -> Chris Young sets 2016 “I’m Comin’ Over” Tour headlining dates downloads -> Slavery and Abolition: the Plymouth Connection Introduction downloads -> Summer Assignment reports -> Project summary reports -> Abbreviations & Definitions Download 178.33 Kb. Share with your friends:
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