Direct fines likely to be on the way for dodgy box users in Ireland

New plans are in the works to crack down

New plans will reportedly see Irish dodgy-box users receive direct fines for the first time.

The Irish Independent are reporting that large TV rights holders are planning hand out tougher punishments for casual users, in a move similar to what has been seen in Italy.

Thousands of dodgy-box users in Italy were fined in May, receiving fines of at least €154 per person, and there are more in the works.

This came after Italy’s anti-piracy system allowed police to share subscriber data from raids on sellers of the devices.

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The added pressure in Ireland comes after three individual sellers of the devices were found liable for hundreds of thousands of euro worth of damages to Sky by the High Court last month.

A recent Sunday Independent poll revealed that up to one in five Irish households use dodgy boxes.

Amazon’s additional move

A new move from Amazon might spell the end of those illegally streaming sport, movies and TV shows on dodgy boxes.

As well as there being a major crackdown on the illegal use of devices in recent times, with the Federation against Copyright Theft (FACT) working alongside Gardai, a new device could scupper users.

The release of a new Amazon Fire TV Stick, which uses an in-house Amazon system called Vega, will prevent hackers from downloading illegal apps that are used to stream the content.

James Bore, a cybersecurity expert, told the Metro: “It’s going to cause a problem for the people who create these apps.”

However, Bore insisted people will now switch to non-Amazon devices

“People are just going to switch to non-Amazon devices, as this will only prevent those specific devices from being used for illegal streaming.”