An international network illegally distributing TV signals via satellite has been caught and shut down in an operation involving police in Brazil and Portugal.
The Judicial Police and the Brazilian authorities say they have dismantled the international criminal organisation that was dedicated to the unlawful distribution of satellite TV signals through ‘card-sharing*.’
The police operation in Brazil caught several suspects including a Portuguese national while in Portugal a man was arrested on suspicion of managing the distribution network which served more than 10,000 clients in Portugal, Brazil and a number of European countries.
The service has been shut down as the police managed to confiscate all the computer hardware that ran the illegal service.
The Judicial Police in Lisbon said that this type of activity, as well as being illegal, affects the national economy and those legitimate businesses operating in this market.
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* Cardsharing. The term “cardsharing” has many names like CS, card shares, control word sharing, and so on, but they are commonly used to point out the method of using a smart card (or multiple cards) over a network.
A legitimate satellite smart card can be inserted into a receiver’s card slot (host), and then another receiver (client) which could be located either in the next room or a thousand miles away will have an access to the card via internet or local network.
The 'client' device will have full access to all TV channels which are available through the physical card plugged into the 'host' receiver, thus the name 'satellite cardsharing.'
The 'sharing' means an access to a remote card from a device which doesn’t have it plugged in physically.
