How to tell if your Amazon Firestick is 'illegal' as 15 UK areas named in police crackdown | OneFootball

Amazon Firesticks have become the weapon of those who wish to watch live football without paying for it. Here's how you can tell if you've got one.

Amazon Firestick streaming devices have become synonymous with the illicit streaming of football matches, so here's how you can tell whether yours is 'illegal'.

Amazon Firesticks have been all over the news of late, with reports that the latest editions of them have had some fundamental changes made to their internal architecture and that the police are set to launch a crackdown on their use in 15 different parts of the country.

The latest version of the Firestick has caused consternation among illegal streamers because Amazon have removed the ability to easily convert them into devices that can be used to access matches. But there have now also been further reports that FACT - the Federation Against Copyright Theft; the lobby group which acts on behalf of rights-holders - and the police are planning to clamp down on this sort of activity in 15 different regions.

It's important to understand the terminology of illegal streaming

The use of Firesticks has become commonplace among those who wish to illegally stream matches that otherwise are only available through pay-TV. Software can be "side-loaded" onto them, bypassing the normal way in which this happens, providing the software that allows users to watch matches without having to pay subscription services such as Sky or TNT Sports.

Such devices are known as "jailbroken", a reference to modifying the software contained on them in order to get away from the 'walled garden' approach that many streamer manufacturers use to keep buyers within their ecosystem. If you've bought one that has come with all this software pre-loaded onto it (often person-to-person, or through sites such as Ebay or Facebook Marketplace), it will often be referred to as "fully loaded" or, by the brazen, "dodgy."

How to tell whether your Firestick is "illegal" or not

Although the use of Firesticks to illegally stream matches is commonplace these days, this doesn't mean that everybody who has one is using it to break the law. The most important thing to remember here is that owning one isn't illegal, here. What matters is what you do with it.

If when you bought it, it was described as "fully loaded", then the chances are that it can be used for illegal purposes. If you bought it new in a shop or from the Amazon website, the chances are that this isn't the case. But it should be added that even 'side-loading' apps onto a Firestick isn't illegal, If you're using them to watch content that you are legally entitled to watch, the you're not breaking the law.

The line between staying within the law and otherwise is crossed at the point at which you use it for illegal purposes. If you use a Firestick - or any streaming device; Firesticks are just the best known of many different options - to stream a match that is being shown on pay-TV (this is particularly common with Saturday 3pm fixtures, which are unavailable in this country but can be freely streamed anywhere else in the world), then you've broken the law.

The crackdown that is being planned by the authorities will involve the use of 'cease and desist' letters. A cease and desist letter is a formal document sent to demand that an individual or organisation stop engaging in a specific activity that is considered unlawful or infringes on the rights of the sender, in this case streaming matches. While it is not legally binding, it serves as a warning that legal action may follow if the recipient does not comply.

You could be fined up to £1,000 should you fail to follow the demands of this letter, and this marks a change to the actions of those seeking to stamp it out. Previously, rights-holders have gone after those who supply them. Sending threatening letters to members of the public isn't good optics for any business, regardless of whether they're within their rights to do so, and there have previously been links between selling these devices and organised crime.

Data regarding your internet use can be traced by IP address. This is the unique identifier for the internet connection that you're using, and it can be tracked by the police. It is possible that those who ignore a cease and desist letter could end up with a large fine and a criminal record, should they continue to do so. There are other risks associated with their use, too. "Fully loaded" Firesticks have previously been found to contain viruses that capture user information such as credit card details. Using one can leave you at risk of hidden malware or explicit pop-up advertisements.

It seems vanishingly unlikely that the illegal streaming of matches will end with these changes by Amazon and the current crackdown. The aim of right-holders will be to make it feel like too much of a risk to do so for the average user. There are, after all, plenty of other devices which can do what Firesticks can do, and there are even ways to mask your IP address so it looks as though you're not even in this country.

But Firesticks have been the most common way of illegally streaming matches, and the risks associated with using them for these purposes have just substantially increased. And anybody who receives a cease and desist letter will only be leaving themselves at risk of prosecution, should they choose to ignore its content.