It seems that U.S. law enforcement authorities have seized several domain names belonging to the live sports streaming site Streameast, which is especially popular in America. A seizure banner accuses the operation of criminal activity and warns of potential prison sentences. However, the site’s operators have already restarted the service and are determined to continue until sports streams are affordable for everyone.
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What is the Issue with Streameast?
The Streameast website is a piracy site that offers free streams of sporting events to all users. In recent years, the owners of major sports events have repeatedly expressed concerns about the increasing issue of live sports piracy.
They would like to see updates to current laws to address the problem more effectively. Site-blocking is one of the preferred options, especially in the United States.
Even though ISP blocking is still being debated among U.S. lawmakers, the authorities have a more direct option – domain name seizures. With the right legal paperwork, the Department of Justice’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has occasionally targeted ‘pirate’ domain names for over a decade.
Streameast Domain Names Seized
This past weekend, law enforcement authorities targeted the pirate sports streaming site Streameast and seized its domain names, including the main one, thestreameast.to, as well as popular backup options like streameast.io, streameast.xyz, and streameast.live.
The site, which usually catered to over 15 million monthly visitors with a focus on American sports, displayed a domain seizure banner following the operation. The banner announced that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) had seized the domain names pursuant to a warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, warning against the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted material, including sporting events, and mentioning criminal prosecution under Title 18 for those who violate these laws.
Streameast Returns
Following the domain seizures, the site’s operators informed their followers on Discord that the site will remain available through alternative domain names. Streameast admin ‘Quick’ stated, “As you may know, many of our domains were seized by the US government last night.” The team mentioned having hundreds of domain names ready to deploy, some of which were deployed this weekend, with more to follow.
Streameast added, “We will never give up the fight. Our fight will continue until sports become affordable for everyone. We promise that once this is achieved, we will permanently shut down all Streameast services.”
The updated link can be found on our Free Sports Websites page.
Wrapping Up
It’s unclear why Streameast was targeted this particular weekend. Normally, U.S. law enforcement coordinates domain seizures around major sporting events, like the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup. While there was a big UFC PPV event over the weekend, such events occur each month. The Paris Olympics took place earlier this month, so these seizures seem a bit late for that.
As far as we know, there are no indictments against individuals associated with the site. However, it’s still early, and more information may surface later in the week. Considering Streameast’s resistance, we anticipate continued enforcement efforts in the future.
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