Amazon Fire Sticks enable “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy
Enders Analysis
Amazon Fire Sticks enable “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy
Research firm blames outdated DRM tech, Facebook ads, Amazon hardware, and more.
Scharon Harding
–
May 30, 2025 5:18 pm
|
114
An Amazon Fire Stick and remote.
Credit:
Amazon
An Amazon Fire Stick and remote.
Credit:
Amazon
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Amazon Fire Sticks are enabling “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy, according to a report today from Enders Analysis, a media, entertainment, and telecommunications research firm. Technologies from other media conglomerates, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, are also enabling what the report’s authors deem an “industrial scale of theft."
The report, "Video piracy: Big tech is clearly unwilling to address the problem," focuses on the European market but highlights the global growth of piracy of streaming services as they increasingly acquire rights to live programs, like sporting events.
Per the BBC, the report points to the availability of multiple, simultaneous illegal streams for big events that draw tens of thousands of pirate viewers.
Enders' report places some blame on Facebook for showing advertisements for access to illegal streams, as well as Google and Microsoft for the alleged “continued depreciation” of their digital rights managementsystems, Widevine and PlayReady, respectively. Ars Technica reached out to Facebook, Google, and Microsoft for comment but didn’t receive a response before publication.
The report echoes complaints shared throughout the industry, including by the world’s largest European soccer streamer, DAZN. Streaming piracy is “almost a crisis for the sports rights industry,” DAZN’s head of global rights, Tom Burrows, said at The Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit in February. At the same event, Nick Herm, COO of Comcast-owned European telecommunication firm Sky Group, estimated that piracy was costing his company “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue. At the time, Enders co-founder Claire Enders said that the pirating of sporting events accounts for “about 50 percent of most markets.”
Jailbroken Fire Sticks
Friday's Enders report named Fire Sticks as a significant contributor to streaming piracy, calling the hardware a “piracy enabler.”
Enders’ report pointed to security risks that pirate viewers face, including providing credit card information and email addresses to unknown entities, which can make people vulnerable to phishing and malware. However, reports of phishing and malware stemming from streaming piracy, which occurs through various methods besides a Fire TV Stick, seem to be rather limited.
Still, at the February Financial Times event, Herm said that Fire Sticks account “for about half of the piracy in the UK.”
“People think that because it’s a legitimate brand, it must be OK. So they give their credit card details to criminal gangs. Amazon is not engaging with us as much as we’d like," he said.
In the UK, there has been a push to crack down on illegal usage of Fire Sticks. For example, in November 2024, a man received a three-year, four-month sentence for hacking Fire Sticks. In June 2024, another man got a two-year suspended sentence after a police raid found jailbroken Fire Sticks in his home. In the US, however, there aren’t nearly as many publicized efforts to combat illegal streaming on Amazon devices.
While Enders’ report accuses Amazon of contributing to the piracy problem, as the owner of its own streaming service, Prime Video, Amazon has an incentive to fight piracy. Amazon’s streaming business includes selling streaming hardware, but the business is more centered on getting people to sign up for Amazon services, data collection, and ad sales.
When reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson told Ars Technica:
Pirated content violates our policies regarding intellectual property rights and compromises the security and privacy of our customers. We work with industry partners and relevant authorities to combat piracy and protect customers from the risks associated with pirated content. Our Appstore prohibits apps that infringe upon the rights of third parties, and we warn customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources.
Amazon’s representative also told Ars that Amazon works with industry partners to break up piracy networks and has assisted law enforcement efforts, including the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit in London and UK IP Crime Group.
DRM limitations
Enders’ report also blamed poorly updated DRM systems, especially from Google and Microsoft, for contributing to streaming piracy. Google’s Widevine and Microsoft’s PlayReady "are now compromised across various security levels,” the report said, pointing to a lack of upkeep. Microsoft issued its most recent big update to PlayReady, version 4.6, in December 2022.
The report authors wrote:
Over twenty years since launch, the DRM solutions provided by Google and Microsoft are in steep decline.
A complete overhaul of the technology architecture, licensing, and support model is needed. Lack of engagement with content owners indicates this a low priority.
Outside of Enders' report, Google was criticized by the Italian government earlier this year for allegedly failing to block pirate websites identified by Italy’s communication regulator, AGCOM. In March, the Court of Milan ordered Google to poison its public DNS servers with the goal of blocking illegal soccer streams.
And beyond the aforementioned tech giants, earlier this month, France ordered five VPN providersto block illegal sports streaming sites. Unsurprisingly, the move has been slammed by VPN providers as setting “a dangerous precedent," per i2Coalition, an Internet infrastructure trade association that manages the international VPN Trust Initiative consortium of VPN providers.
A growing problem
As the Internet solidifies its position as the primary method for watching shows, movies, and, increasingly, live events, it presents new challenges to content distributors and owners seeking to curb online piracy.
In the case of sports, especially, the distribution of sports rights across various linear networks and streaming services often means signing up for multiple services in order to watch a single team’s season. For some fans—including NFL players themselves—that's financially and/or logistically impractical. Simultaneously, anti-piracy advocates argue that piracy could lead to higher subscription fees for streaming services.
As legislation and rights holders become more stringent about piracy, we can expect more effort from tech providers and law enforcement to block piracy, while hackers also seek new ways to enable illegal streams.
Scharon Harding
Senior Technology Reporter
Scharon Harding
Senior Technology Reporter
Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK.
114 Comments
#amazon #fire #sticks #enable #billionsAmazon Fire Sticks enable “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy
Enders Analysis
Amazon Fire Sticks enable “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy
Research firm blames outdated DRM tech, Facebook ads, Amazon hardware, and more.
Scharon Harding
–
May 30, 2025 5:18 pm
|
114
An Amazon Fire Stick and remote.
Credit:
Amazon
An Amazon Fire Stick and remote.
Credit:
Amazon
Story text
Size
Small
Standard
Large
Width
*
Standard
Wide
Links
Standard
Orange
* Subscribers only
Learn more
Amazon Fire Sticks are enabling “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy, according to a report today from Enders Analysis, a media, entertainment, and telecommunications research firm. Technologies from other media conglomerates, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, are also enabling what the report’s authors deem an “industrial scale of theft."
The report, "Video piracy: Big tech is clearly unwilling to address the problem," focuses on the European market but highlights the global growth of piracy of streaming services as they increasingly acquire rights to live programs, like sporting events.
Per the BBC, the report points to the availability of multiple, simultaneous illegal streams for big events that draw tens of thousands of pirate viewers.
Enders' report places some blame on Facebook for showing advertisements for access to illegal streams, as well as Google and Microsoft for the alleged “continued depreciation” of their digital rights managementsystems, Widevine and PlayReady, respectively. Ars Technica reached out to Facebook, Google, and Microsoft for comment but didn’t receive a response before publication.
The report echoes complaints shared throughout the industry, including by the world’s largest European soccer streamer, DAZN. Streaming piracy is “almost a crisis for the sports rights industry,” DAZN’s head of global rights, Tom Burrows, said at The Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit in February. At the same event, Nick Herm, COO of Comcast-owned European telecommunication firm Sky Group, estimated that piracy was costing his company “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue. At the time, Enders co-founder Claire Enders said that the pirating of sporting events accounts for “about 50 percent of most markets.”
Jailbroken Fire Sticks
Friday's Enders report named Fire Sticks as a significant contributor to streaming piracy, calling the hardware a “piracy enabler.”
Enders’ report pointed to security risks that pirate viewers face, including providing credit card information and email addresses to unknown entities, which can make people vulnerable to phishing and malware. However, reports of phishing and malware stemming from streaming piracy, which occurs through various methods besides a Fire TV Stick, seem to be rather limited.
Still, at the February Financial Times event, Herm said that Fire Sticks account “for about half of the piracy in the UK.”
“People think that because it’s a legitimate brand, it must be OK. So they give their credit card details to criminal gangs. Amazon is not engaging with us as much as we’d like," he said.
In the UK, there has been a push to crack down on illegal usage of Fire Sticks. For example, in November 2024, a man received a three-year, four-month sentence for hacking Fire Sticks. In June 2024, another man got a two-year suspended sentence after a police raid found jailbroken Fire Sticks in his home. In the US, however, there aren’t nearly as many publicized efforts to combat illegal streaming on Amazon devices.
While Enders’ report accuses Amazon of contributing to the piracy problem, as the owner of its own streaming service, Prime Video, Amazon has an incentive to fight piracy. Amazon’s streaming business includes selling streaming hardware, but the business is more centered on getting people to sign up for Amazon services, data collection, and ad sales.
When reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson told Ars Technica:
Pirated content violates our policies regarding intellectual property rights and compromises the security and privacy of our customers. We work with industry partners and relevant authorities to combat piracy and protect customers from the risks associated with pirated content. Our Appstore prohibits apps that infringe upon the rights of third parties, and we warn customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources.
Amazon’s representative also told Ars that Amazon works with industry partners to break up piracy networks and has assisted law enforcement efforts, including the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit in London and UK IP Crime Group.
DRM limitations
Enders’ report also blamed poorly updated DRM systems, especially from Google and Microsoft, for contributing to streaming piracy. Google’s Widevine and Microsoft’s PlayReady "are now compromised across various security levels,” the report said, pointing to a lack of upkeep. Microsoft issued its most recent big update to PlayReady, version 4.6, in December 2022.
The report authors wrote:
Over twenty years since launch, the DRM solutions provided by Google and Microsoft are in steep decline.
A complete overhaul of the technology architecture, licensing, and support model is needed. Lack of engagement with content owners indicates this a low priority.
Outside of Enders' report, Google was criticized by the Italian government earlier this year for allegedly failing to block pirate websites identified by Italy’s communication regulator, AGCOM. In March, the Court of Milan ordered Google to poison its public DNS servers with the goal of blocking illegal soccer streams.
And beyond the aforementioned tech giants, earlier this month, France ordered five VPN providersto block illegal sports streaming sites. Unsurprisingly, the move has been slammed by VPN providers as setting “a dangerous precedent," per i2Coalition, an Internet infrastructure trade association that manages the international VPN Trust Initiative consortium of VPN providers.
A growing problem
As the Internet solidifies its position as the primary method for watching shows, movies, and, increasingly, live events, it presents new challenges to content distributors and owners seeking to curb online piracy.
In the case of sports, especially, the distribution of sports rights across various linear networks and streaming services often means signing up for multiple services in order to watch a single team’s season. For some fans—including NFL players themselves—that's financially and/or logistically impractical. Simultaneously, anti-piracy advocates argue that piracy could lead to higher subscription fees for streaming services.
As legislation and rights holders become more stringent about piracy, we can expect more effort from tech providers and law enforcement to block piracy, while hackers also seek new ways to enable illegal streams.
Scharon Harding
Senior Technology Reporter
Scharon Harding
Senior Technology Reporter
Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK.
114 Comments
#amazon #fire #sticks #enable #billions
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