This Year’s ‘Anti-Piracy Award’ Goes to Spanish Police

The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance has declared the winner of the 1st “Anti-Piracy Award.” At this year’s Europol Intellectual Home Crime conference the honors went to the anti-piracy division of the Spanish Police, which has been instrumental in bringing down a number of “unlawful streaming” operations.

Just about every yr, the entertainment industries celebrate their stars in numerous award ceremonies.

From the Oscars, as a result of the Grammys, to the Emmys, there’s no scarcity of spotlights for the very best performers.

This 7 days the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) launched an award of its individual, to praise those who secure the amusement industries.

The group, which counts popular media gamers these types of as BT, Canal+, Fox Networks, La Liga, Premier League and Sky among the its customers, issued its initially Anti-Piracy Award.

The award ceremony took put at Europol’s Intellectual Assets Crime conference in Budapest, Hungary. The anti-piracy division of the Spanish police arrived out as the huge winner.

Law enforcement Nacional’s ‘Grupo de Antipirateria’ is led by inspector Marlene Álvarez Vicente, who personally gained the award from the hands of AAPA’s Vice President Mark Mulready.

Collectively with AAPA member Irdeto, the Spanish Law enforcement played a vital function in several successful functions. This includes the shutdown of an ISP in Malaga which available unlicensed IPTV subscriptions, as properly as “Operation Casper,” through which a significant IPTV piracy ring was dismantled.

“Irdeto has been functioning with Marlene and her team on cases this kind of as Procedure Casper and Y-Online and I can testify personally to the determination, devotion and abilities shown by her and the workforce,” Mulready says.

Mark Mulready and Inspector Marlene Álvarez Vicente (Photograph AAPA pr)

The runners-up for the Anti-Piracy award ended up a group from the Countrywide Bureau of Felony Investigation, a department of the Irish Law enforcement, and Bogdan Ciinaru of Europol’s IPC3 device.

The AAPA is generally anxious with audiovisual piracy so the new award has its limits. The winners all instantly shielded the pursuits of quite a few of the group’s associates, which made them key contenders.

“The get the job done carried out by our a few award recipients in battling audiovisual piracy is of great price to the industry. It sends a crystal clear signal that piracy will not be tolerated and law enforcement has the assets, skills and knowledge to look into this criminal offense and provide the perpetrators to justice,” Mulready suggests.

“We hope that these awards will aid stimulate other individuals to get up the battle towards audiovisual piracy and we are prepared to assistance those attempts,” he adds.