Investigator Calls for Law Change to Combat Illegal IP-TV
Stockholm, Sweden – A government investigator is urging a change in Swedish law to explicitly criminalize the use of illegal IP-TV services. Eva Bergquist, the special investigator tasked with examining illegally streamed television, proposes the legal update in an opinion piece published in Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) Debate. The investigation will be formally presented to the Minister of Culture on Tuesday.
Bergquist estimates over half a million Swedes currently utilize these illegal services to stream television and sports broadcasts. She argues that current legislation surrounding consumption of such content exists in a “gray zone” and is insufficient,especially as tracing the source of the illegal streams is “almost unachievable.”
“It should be stated that it is indeed punishable for private individuals to use the type of illegal IP-TV services that are common in the market today,” Bergquist and chief secretary Jakob Kihlberg wrote.
The proposal also calls for increased prioritization of cases related to illegal IP-TV by authorities, including the police and The Swedish Tax Agency. Additionally, the investigator recommends “special assignments” for the patent and Registration Office and the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency to address the issue.
Further recommendations include removing search engine results linking to illegal services and exploring the implementation of “live blocking” during events – a practice already utilized in several other European countries – to quickly halt illegal broadcasts, particularly of sporting events.
Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed (KD), responsible for sports issues, expressed support for the investigation, stating via TT news agency: “Both elite and broad sports are today losing huge amounts and law-abiding citizens can see their sports subscriptions to be expensive when others buy illegal IP-TV services, which benefits the criminals. It must be resisted.”
