On Friday, the Italian Financial Police announced the dismantling of a sophisticated network pirating streaming services that caused losses estimated at 300 million euros ($348 million) to rights holders, including Sky, DAZN, Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify.
The Guardia di Finanza police explained that the operation targeted an unprecedented technology based on an application called “CINEMAGOAL,” which connected users’ devices to foreign servers that illegally decrypted broadcast content.
The police added that virtual devices were working around the clock inside Italian territory to capture and resend access codes from legal subscriptions registered with fictitious names every three minutes.
She pointed out that the system was able to bypass the protection systems of broadcasting platforms, without the need for a direct connection linked to a specific IP address, which made tracking users difficult. Subscriptions were sold at prices ranging between 40 and 130 euros annually.
Public prosecutors in the city of Bologna, in cooperation with the European Judicial Cooperation Agency Eurojust, were able to confiscate foreign servers that stored decryption data in addition to the application’s source code, while simultaneous operations were carried out in France and Germany.
The police also revealed the use of traditional illegal broadcasting devices known in Italy as “Pizzuto,” confirming that they would impose fines on 1,000 identified users, ranging from 154 to 5,000 euros.
