Back in 2022 in Singapore, a police raid on Sim Lim Square led to the and seizure of several thousand Internet Streaming Devices (ISDs). ISDs are set top boxes which may have preinstalled software allowing access to streaming channels. Typically they are made in China and, like cassette players decades ago, they can have legitimate uses. But they are also widely used to enable illegal streaming. Preloading the ISDs for customers allows instant piracy of streaming content out of the box.
One shop owner Ge Xin had over 400 ISDs on which you could view Disney and Netflix channels and Premier League matches. Later he was charged with copyright infringement. In late October 2024, the criminal courts convicted Ge Xin and jailed him under the Copyright Act. His sentence was 10 months of jail time. He had two stores, MT Gadget+ and Grandnew and these received fines of S$200,000 and S$100,000 each.
While the vendors in Sim Lim no longer sell them, there has been a shift online. Many major ecommerce marketplaces in SE Asia allow vendors to sell ISDs. Some are clearly advertised as offering streaming capability. But many SE Asian countries’ limited rules on secondary liability remain a challenge for the content industry.
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