La Liga Cracks Down on Football Piracy: VPNs Ordered to Block Streaming Sites

VPNs or Virtual Private Networks, are useful tools for online anonymity and security. Through VPN, the user’s IP address is encrypted, providing website access without fear of being monitored for their actual location. VPN companies provide premium services that let users browse the internet and access online services with little impact on their connection speed.

While it provides security by encrypting users' IP addresses, VPN also comes with unintended consequences. While most people use VPNs to secure their online activity, some exploit their features for illegal purposes.

VPN as Part of the Illegal Streaming Problem

One of these illegal uses of VPN is pirating streaming of sports events. Websites that host illegal sports streams often use a VPN to cloak their location and access geographically blocked websites to stream sports events. These websites, in turn, stream the games illegally for profit.

And the losses are staggering - according to Agile TV, “piracy costs the sports industry $28 billion a year,” and these losses are often hard to recoup as illegal streaming simply earns through ads and, for some websites, donations and cybercrime activities.

La Liga is also losing an estimated €600–700 million per year, according to Agile TV. Recently, the Spanish league earned a small but significant victory against illegal streaming. KWSN reported La Liga’s court victory, “requiring VPN providers NordVPN and Proton VPN to block access within Spain ​to 16 websites accused of illegally streaming LaLiga matches.”

A Small, Technical Victory

La Liga’s win against illegal streaming is considered a technical victory because it reduces certain illegal sites’ capability to use VPNs to bypass restrictions. Because their actual IP address has been identified, these websites are blocked from accessing streaming services in Spain that carry these matches.

But here’s the issue: the report states that a total of 16 websites were blocked using two VPN providers.

While it is a victory against streaming, 16 websites and two VPN companies are just a small piece of the pie when dealing with illegal streaming services. If a website’s IP address is blocked, getting a new IP address or even using subdomains will most likely give these illegal websites new life. It doesn’t even take a very long time to set this up, and the financial incentive to put these websites online is just too good.

NordVPN and Proton VPN are definitely two of the biggest VPN companies in the world, but they are not the only VPN companies. Illegal streams can look elsewhere and use them with very little pushback.

Cyber Crime in Illegal Streams

But aside from the challenge of taking down illegal streams, websites that illegally stream sporting events also pose a risk to their users without warning. La Liga recently released a statement about this possibility: “Criminal networks behind illegal streams can gain access to sensitive personal data such as postal addresses, emails, bank information, and even device control.” It’s a free streaming site for popular sporting events, but it may come at a cost—visitors risk becoming victims of cybercriminals who steal personal information.

La Liga and other sports leagues are always on a cat-and-mouse approach to hunting down illegal streaming services. While they did have a technical victory, there are still holes that need to be addressed to limit the activities of piracy websites. Online users should be aware of the risks of using these websites, as they may contain viruses or spyware designed to steal personal information.