Content security outfit NAGRA has long been involved in the anti-piracy business. The company has become involved in tackling the online phenomenon that is streaming, with a focus on piracy carried out via illicit IPTV and augmented Kodi setups. TorrentFreak caught up with the company to find out more.
NAGRA or Nagravision is one of the best-known companies operating in the digital cable and satellite television content security space. With pirates, the company has proven unpopular due to successes spanning several decades.
In particular, Nagravision encryption systems have been a hot topic for discussion on satellite and cable hacking forums, frustrating those looking to receive pay TV services without paying the high prices. The rise of the Internet is presenting new challenges.
NAGRA protects traditional cable and satellite pay TV services in 2017; Virgin Media in the UK is a long-standing customer, for example. However, the rise of Internet streaming means that pirate content can be delivered to the home with ease, completely bypassing the entire pay TV provider infrastructure. And, by extension, NAGRA’s encryption.
What this means is that NAGRA has been required to spread its wings.
As reported in April, NAGRA is establishing a lab to monitor and detect unauthorised consumption of content via set-top boxes, websites and other platforms that are streaming. That covers the omnipresent phenomenon that is Kodi, alongside premium IPTV services that are illicit. TorrentFreak caught up with the company to find out more.
“NAGRA has an automated monitoring platform that scans all live channels and VOD assets available on Kodi,”NAGRA’s Ivan Schnider informs TF.
“The service we offer to our customers automatically finds the illegal distribution of their content on Kodi and removes infringing streams.”
In the first instance, standard takedown notices are sent by NAGRA to hosting services to terminate illicit streams. The company says that while some companies are very cooperative, others are less so. NAGRA switches to more coercive methods when meeting resistance.
“Takedowns are generally sent to streaming platforms and hosting servers. When those donât work, Advanced Takedowns allow us to use both technical and legal means to get results,” Schouten says.
“Numerous stories in recent days episode how for instance popular Kodi plug-ins are removed by their authors due to the mere threat of legal actions like this.”
At the middle of operations is NAGRAâs Piracy Intelligence Portal, which offers customers a real-time view of worldwide online piracy trends, information on the infrastructure behind illegal services, as well as statistics and status of takedown requests.
“We measure takedown compliance very carefully using our Piracy Intelligence Portal, so we are able to usually predict the results we’ll get. We work on a daily basis to improve relationships and interfaces with those who are less compliant,” Schouten says.
The Piracy Intelligence Portal
Some hosts refuse to cooperate while persuasion is the best solution. However, the NexGuard software, which is able to determine the first source of the content is also offered by NAGRA.
“Using forensic watermarking to trace the origin of the leak, we’ll be able to completely shut down the ‘leak’ at the source, independently and within minutes of detection,” Schouten says.
Whatever route is taken, NAGRA says the aim is to take streams down as quickly as possible, something which encourages users and undermines confidence in pirate services to re-enter the legal market. Interestingly, the company also says it uses technical means to degrade pirate services to the point that consumers lose faith in them.
But while illicit IPTV and augmented Kodi setups are considered a major threat in 2017, they’re not the only problem.
The open nature of Android means that there are a rising number of apps that could be sideloaded from the web, while the Apple platform is tight. These allow pirate content to be consumed within an interface that is glossy.
Apps like MovieHD Showbox and Terrarium TV have TV episode sector and the movie wrapped up, while the same is achieved by the popular Mobdro with live TV, including premium sports. Schnider says apps can be handled by NAGRA such as these and other emerging threats in various ways.
“In addition to Kodi-related anti-piracy activities, NAGRA offers a service that automatically finds the illegal distribution of content on Android applications, fully loaded STBs, M3U playlist and other platforms that provide plug-and-play solutions for the large TV screen; this service also includes the removal of infringing streams,” he explains.
M3U playlist piracy doesn’t get lots of press. An M3U file is a text file that specifies locations where content (like streams) can be found online.
In its basic free form, it’s simply a case of locating an M3U file on an indexing site or blog and loading it into VLC. It’s not as flashy as the above apps, and unless one knows where to get the free M3Us quickly, many channels may already be offline. Premium M3U files tend to be reliable, and are available, however.
But while attacking sources of infringing content is clearly a big part of NAGRA’s mission, the company also deploys softer strategies for dealing with pirates.
“Beyond disrupting pirate streams, raising awareness amongst users that these services are illegal and helping service providers deliver competing legitimate services, are also key divisions in the fight against premium IPTV piracy where NAGRA can help,” Schnider says.
“Converting users of such services to legitimate paying subscribers represents a significant opportunity for content owners and distributors.”
For this Schouten says there needs to be an understanding.
“Is it price? Is it? Is it functionality?” he asks.
He also reveals that lots of people are spending large sums of money on IPTV services they believe are legal but aren’t. Rather than the high prices putting off them, they add to their air of legitimacy.
“These consumers can relatively easily be converted into paying subscribers if they could be convinced that pay-TV services offer superior quality, reliability, and convenience because of letting’s face it, most IPTV services are still a little dodgy to use,” he says.
“Education is also important; done through working with service providers to inform consumers through social media platforms of the risks linked to the use of illegitimate streaming devices / IPTV devices, e.g. purchasing boxes that may no longer work after a brief period of time.”
And the battle over content continues.