Dare Babalola
Following an allegation of piracy, the Federal Government through the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has suspended a free streaming platform, Moviebox.
The Director General of NCC, Dr. John Asein, made known in a statement he signed, commending the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) for its support to achieve the feat.
NCC vowed to eradicate piracy in Nigeria, warning the public to stay away from free streaming and downloads.
Asein said these sites not only infringe on copyrights but also target unsuspecting users exposed to malware, financial scams, identity theft and other fraudulent activities.
He noted that the suspension took effect from July 20.
The statement reads, “Following its renewed campaign against online piracy, the Nigerian Copyright Commission, with the assistance of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the Nigerian Registry for the country top level domain, has secured the suspension of MovieBox.ng, an online site known for streaming pirated copyright materials including movies, music and live sports from Nigeria and other countries.
“In a preliminary report issued by the Commission, it described the illicit operations as suggesting a coordinated attempt to sustain piracy operations through clone or fallback domains
“It also showed a coordinated effort by the website to evade detection and takedown by using multiple mirror domains to promote and gain access to copyright-protected content and a domain history that aligns with known piracy operations.
“The Commission thanked NiRA for being responsive and called on other role players in the online space, especially Internet Service Providers and intermediaries to always act responsibly and expeditiously to take down notices and blocking directives as required under the Copyright Act, 2022.
“In the meantime, the Commission is also taking steps to make sure that other mirror sites for the platforms are deactivated.
