La Liga using mobile phones to detect TV piracy in bars
June 11, 2018
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Millions of football fans’ mobile phones are being used by La Liga to spy on bars and other public spaces to uncover whether they are pirating TV football signals, according to a report by eldiario.es.
La Liga is using its app – which currently has over 10 million downloads – to access mobile phone microphones during live football transmissions to detect any possible pirate transmission. The app has an integrated geolocation service to know exactly where the users are.
Football fans who download the app enables La Liga to acess their phone when they give their approval to the conditions and terms in the install process.
In a press release La Liga said that “the sound (through the microphone) automatically becomes a signal, a binary code” that detects the piracy. The app is only used in Spain and is specifically against piracy in public places. La Liga estimates that piracy in public places amounts to €150 million a year.