Millions of people in the UK using jailbroken or hacked Amazon Fire Sticks could face jail time in a latest nationwide crackdown.
In an investigation by the Mirror, millions of Brits are believed to be using jailbroken or hacked Amazon Fire Sticks that allow users to stream popular services for a fraction of the cost.
However, the price of using a hacked Fire Stick is higher than the low cost of a streaming subscription, as these dodgy devices may allow bad actors to do all manner of things, from installing malware to committing identity theft.
This is because restrictions set up by the manufacturer are disabled, which allows users to install third-party applications.
The issue here is that users could download malicious third-party applications designed to harvest their personal information or install malware onto their devices.
Not only do individual users risk having their personal data stolen, but they are also, perhaps unknowingly, funding the multi-billion-pound illegal TV streaming industry estimated by the Mirror to cost up to £21 billion ($28.5 billion).
There are supposedly tens of thousands of adverts on Facebook for pirated services.
These include Fire Stick bundles, which offer thousands of popular channels from Netflix, HBO, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV, for as little as £2.50 ($3) per month.
The price starts at £35 for a six-month subscription and £150 for a five years, which is a fraction of the price of regular packages, the Mirror found.
There are so many issues with subscribing to pirated services, as it’s not a legitimate streaming service like Netflix or HBO there’s no way you can trust that the pirates aren’t just going to take off with your money.
Furthermore, with this so-called crackdown going on in the UK and across the world, you can’t be sure that these pirates are going to be around long enough to fulfill that five-year subscription.
Those looking to get their hands on a pirated bundle are asked to contact sellers via the end-to-end encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.
This form of communication isn’t uncommon amongst criminals, as end-to-end encrypted chats are difficult to intercept and can’t be easily decoded by authorities.
Yet, it doesn’t take a professional to jailbreak these devices. There are many tutorials online about how to hack Amazon Fire Sticks.
According to multiple tutorials online, it only takes a few changes to the Fire Stick settings to enable users to download third-party apps.
All users need to do is download some software, click a few buttons, and then they apparently become a developer.
While multiple sources say that this process is safe and legal, it opens up users to the possibility of pirate sites hosting copyrighted content and other nasty surprises that come with third-party apps.
However, the end of the pirated streaming empire could be near. Kieron Sharp, the chairman of the Federation Against Copyright Theft, told the Mirror that users of these hacked Fire Sticks are certainly breaking the law and could be prosecuted.
Multiple people have already been jailed in the UK for selling jailbroken Fire Sticks, with one man jailed for two years for supplying dodgy Fire Sticks via Facebook.
In August 2024, Sunny Kumar Kanda pleaded guilty to breaching copyright laws after he distributed the Fire Sticks and hid bank transfers linked to the illegal activity, National Trading Standards wrote.
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