A young man in the streets of Freetown’s Susan’s Bay, or Allen Town neighborhoods, might dream of escaping his circumstances by becoming a media star. Perhaps he lives for the day when he can become a TV sports presenter, an actor, a director, or a screenwriter.
His dreams may be shared by many other young people in Sierra Leone, looking for ways to build fulfilling careers in the media and creative industries.
But, sadly, their prospects of such a life are unrealistic, as long as the scourge of content piracy continues to affect our country. Across Freetown, and other areas of the country, criminal syndicates are illegally sharing content from legitimate content providers using a method commonly known as cable piracy.
Cable piracy might involve the feed from a single legal decoder being rerouted to numerous households in a particular neighborhood, using cabling – often illegally make use of electricity poles and other infrastructure. This robs legitimate creators and exhibitors of the income they are entitled to from the content business, ensuring that the industry will struggle to provide an income for more than a few media workers in Sierra Leone.
Yet, there is hope. In a bid to protect the content industry in Sierra Leone, authorities have begun to prosecute criminal syndicate members that rob African creatives of a livelihood, launching operations across the capital. Recently, a joint enforcement operation between the Ministry of Energy officials and investigators from digital content providers helped to uncover/identify a cable pirate operation operated by a criminal syndicate in Freetown.
A criminal syndicate was allegedly using decoders and connected households in several neighborhoods using an elaborate cable network. Cables from the cable pirate operation were attached illegally to the electricity poles of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) allowing them to steal content from legitimate channels without paying subscription fees. Two suspects were arrested, and electronic equipment was seized. Equipment seized includes DStv Nigeria, beIN Sports and Star Times decoders.
The suspects will be charged criminally for illegal utilizing EDSA power distribution infrastructure for content piracy and electricity theft. The decoders seized will be analyzed by the relevant operators, all decoders identified and seized will be flagged and disconnected.
The raids followed a tip-off to the Union of Sports Centers, which alerted the Ministry of Energy, launched the raid and supported the Police to make the arrests. These enforcement actions conducted by Government Agencies is the first action taken to address cable piracy in Sierra Leone.
“An endeavor much needed and long-overdue” says Natalia Abboud, CEO of Transnational SL DStv Sierra Leone “We want to reassure the public that we are working closely with legal operators to continue in identifying and raiding more cable pirate operations in Sierra Leone and in doing so to create a piracy free culture, It will not be tolerated. We are working to create a decent, safe environment where business can legally help to build a better country for our people.” While the Ministry of Energy helped to direct the raids, anti-piracy campaigners hope to partner with the Information and Communications Ministry in future raids.
“Content piracy falls under the Ministry of Information and Communications area of responsibility,” said Abboud. “The ministry is tasked with developing and administering ICT standards, and building the capacity of mass media and ICT. We look forward to seeing the role the ICT will take in future enforcement actions in the fight against content/cable piracy.” The Union of Sports Centers represents the interests of cinema owners, who are legally entitled to showcase movies and sports content.
However, content piracy through illegal connections has severely impacted their business. However, a spokesman for the anti-piracy campaign Partners Against Piracy (PAP) said the impact on the economy was felt across both the private and public sectors.
“Illegal connections encourage tax evasion, while actively affecting the health and business growth of legal and licensed operators. Moreover, with the formal sector accounting for only 20% of the economy, such illegal activities perpetuate the dominance of the informal sector whilst encouraging the black market to thrive,” said the spokesperson.
The piracy operation raided during the enforcement operation was sophisticated, with a control room managing housing the decoders of the various operators. In addition, several channels were made available, at a cost of only a few thousand Leones per month. While the operation has struck a blow against piracy, many similar syndicates are operating across Sierra Leone and the rest of the region.
“Content piracy is made possible through smuggled decoders, partnerships with EDSA staff and the willingness of citizens to break the law in a way that ultimately harms their own wellbeing,” said the spokesperson. “We are slowly breaking down these operations, but it is a work in progress. We call on citizens to report piracy operations – they are destroying the creative industry in our country.”
