Good Luck if you do,

U.S. shuts 16 sports piracy websites pre-Super Bowl

http://news.yahoo.com/sports-piracy-web ... --nfl.html

(Reuters) - Three days before Super Bowl XLVI, U.S. prosecutors said they seized 16 websites that illegally streamed live sports and pay-per-view events over the Internet, and charged a Michigan man with running nine of those websites.

According to the government, the 16 websites provided links to give viewers easy access to other sites that hosted pirated telecasts from the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc ("WWE") and TNA Impact Wrestling. The latter is also broadcast on Viacom Inc's Spike TV.

Prosecutors said such piracy costs leagues and broadcasters millions of dollars a year, and some of this cost is passed on to ticket buyers and sports network subscribers.

"These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue" in what amounts to "virtual thievery," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, who announced the website seizures.

The websites are firstrow.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net, firstrowsports.tv, hq-streams.tv, robplay.tv, soccertvlive.net, sports95.com, sports95.net, sports95.org, sportswwe.net, sportswwe.tv, sportswwe.com, xonesports.tv, youwwe.com and youwwe.net.

As prosecutors announced the seizure on Thursday, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, expected to start in Sunday's Super Bowl against the New York Giants, admitted to reporters his own use of an illegal website.

"Last year, you know, I was rehabbing my foot, you know, in Costa Rica, watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website," he said in a video posted Thursday on the NFL website. "And now I'm actually playing in the game. So it's pretty cool."

"MAKE A DEAL"

The defendant charged in the case is Yonjo Quiroa, 28, who faces one count of criminal infringement of a copyright.

Prosecutors said Quiroa, also known as Ronaldo Solano, operated his websites from his home in Comstock Park, Michigan, prior to his Wednesday arrest, receiving at least $13,000 from online merchants who advertised with him.

Lawrence Phelan, a lawyer for the defendant, said Quiroa was in federal custody and expected to be transferred to New York, after having appeared on Wednesday in a Grand Rapids, Michigan federal court. Phelan declined to comment on the case.

The complaint against Quiroa outlines his alleged piracy efforts from February 2010 to January 2012.

It concludes by saying a U.S. Department of Homeland Security enforcement agent posing as a WWE representative last week offered to buy various domain names associated with the defendant, and received a response offering to "make a deal."

Prosecutors will seek the forfeiture of the domain names for the 16 seized websites.

The government had announced the seizure of 10 other websites said to pirate sports events exactly one year ago, shortly before Super Bowl XLV. [ID:nN02241115]

The case is U.S. v. Quiroa, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

unbelievable the amount of website seizures in the past year or so. anyone go numbers?

hint: notice all the domains being seized end in .com, .net, .tv, etc.

BUY A .EU OBV / HOST THAT BITCH NO WHERE NEAR THE LAND OF THE FREE

that sucks because I don't know anybody that can afford the high dollar cable package that has nbc on it

vote Democrat across the board, the more liberal in ideology the better. our civil liberties have been protected with extreme care, since the dems have been in control.

fucking freedom cost a buck o' five.

they did, and it certainly didnt take very long

firstrowsports.eu up and running with everything the old site had it looks like

That whole argument falls to pieces when that superbowl feed is broadcast in its entirety with commercials over those bootleg feeds. They lose nothing except being able to track people on their new fangled digital head counting system (digital broadcasting) which I don't remember signing up for... ever.

They count so that they can determine how much 30 seconds of ad space will cost. Not just for the SB but everything on TV. I half agree with you and half agree with them.

all i'm saying is that if they want to track how you watch tv they need to hit you with a popup that asks whether or not you're down with that bs.

That is what I was thinking, wierd time to do the bust, should be before a weekend w/ 50 games on 12 different networks.

Same idea of busting the bookie before the super bowl when anyone on that side knows its the slowest football day of the year. More people betting maybe, but way less volume.

There is a UFC tomorrow night so I'm sure Zuffa was in on pressuring the feds.