Sky secures computer fraud ruling on card-sharing

Sky has secured a legal ruling in Germany confirming that card-sharing – one of the most common forms of pay TV piracy – constitutes computer fraud under Germany law.

The second criminal division of the Higher Regional Court of Celle confirmed with some revisions an earlier ruling from the Regional Court of Verden.

The legal ruling followed the conviction and sentencing to one year in prison of a 53 year-old man from Lower Saxony for card-sharing. The individual had operated a card-sharing server and sold access to Sky’s online TV offering.

Sky said the ruling – which is final and not subject to appeal – was the first time that card-sharing had been identified as computer fraud.

Andreas Rudloff, vice-president of platform services and security at Sky Deutschland said that the ruling was victory for Sky and clear message to criminals.