Blocking thousands of illegal football streaming websites, so why has Xoi Lac TV still been operating illegally for 5 years?

On September 26th, Thudo Multimedia Company organized a seminar on ‘Solving the Copyright Protection Puzzle for the Music, Film, and Digital Television Industry,’ with the participation of many journalists from various major editorial offices tuoitre.vn news reported:

The digital revolution in the fields of television, music, and film has brought unprecedented challenges to content security and copyright protection.

The Center for Digital Content Copyright in Vietnam has stated that from August 2022 to August 2023, government agencies have blocked nearly 1,000 illegal football streaming websites, including Xoi Lac TV, which has been repeatedly blocked but continues to operate illegally. Why?

Despite being blocked multiple times, the illegal football streaming website Xoi Lac TV has continued to exist under new domain names – Screenshot taken on September 26th.

At a recent press conference of the Ministry of Information and Communications, representatives from the Broadcasting, Television, and Electronic Information Department reported that in 2023, they, along with the Information Security Department, blocked a total of 162 infringing websites.

If you count websites that change their domain names, there are many more, close to a thousand. However, dealing with these entities has not met the expectations of the regulatory authorities.

This is because, as soon as the domain name is blocked, these channels quickly change their IP address and domain name, taking only 5 to 10 minutes.

The Broadcasting, Television, and Electronic Information Department gave Xoi Lac TV as the most flagrant example of an infringing copyright website, with 20 different domain names. When the authorities block one domain name, a new one appears shortly after.

This way, Xoi Lac TV has been operating illegally for nearly 5 years.

At the seminar on copyright infringement prevention in the digital environment on September 26th, Ms. Pham Thanh Thuy, in charge of copyright infringement prevention for satellite digital television K+, said that the company cannot propose administrative penalties or file civil lawsuits. Currently, the only solution is domain name blocking, which has proven to be ineffective.

“We keep fighting, keep blocking, but when they change the domain name, we block again, and we rely on the support of state management agencies,” Thuy said.

Also, at the seminar, the Center for Digital Content Copyright in Vietnam (VDCC – under the Broadcasting, Television, and Electronic Information Department) said that to make domain name blocking more effective, in the near future, they will establish a flexible blocking mechanism to chase new domain names that appear after being blocked.

Furthermore, they will develop automatic blocking tools to minimize time and human resources, as well as apply various suitable technical measures to block access.

Regarding the Xoi Lac TV case, the Broadcasting, Television, and Electronic Information Department stated that they are coordinating with the police and businesses to fight firmly. In the future, the handling of these cases will not be limited to administrative penalties but will involve higher-level sanctions.

Is AI the Solution?

The seminar received many opinions on the current situation of copyright infringement in digital content in general, as well as in the music, film, and digital television industries in particular.

Representatives from both businesses and government agencies shared the difficulties in preventing copyright infringements. Administrative solutions like domain blocking and lawsuits have either been ineffective or very challenging.

Representatives from Thuy Do Multimedia believe that while administrative and legal solutions have not yielded high effectiveness, businesses should proactively prevent copyright infringement using technical solutions.

The company has shared the Sigma Multi-DRM solution, which integrates artificial intelligence (AI) in copyright protection (commercial name Sigma Active Observer – SAO), helping content owners and online content distribution platforms protect the copyright of their content on the internet.”

Source: Blocking thousands of pirated football websites, why has Xoi Lac TV been so blatant for 5 years?