Pirate TV Box permanently banned by Anatel; And now?

The National Communications Agency (Anatel) is a Brazilian regulatory agency created by Law No. 9472 of July 1997. Anatel was created through a process of reformulating Brazilian Telecom that began with the enactment of Constitutional Amendment 8/1995.

The aim of the constitutional amendment in question was to eliminate the exclusivity in the exploitation of public services by the company under the control of the state joint stock, in order to allow privatization to take place and to introduce a competition system. Currently, Anatel intends to organize the telecom sector to contribute to the country’s development.

Thus, Anatel is responsible for regulating telecommunications in Brazil and is now banning pirated TV sets, also known as gatonet.

Pirate TV box

The National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) has announced that it has already started implementing the blocking process aimed at making it difficult for the illegal practice of gatonet in the country. Hence, some users are already complaining that their TVs are not working.

Last Friday (3), Anatel confirmed that it will begin the process of deactivating TVs that use Gatonet. Hackers have been stealing pay TV signals to gain access to streaming platforms.

According to the agency, there are about 7 million devices currently active in Brazil and the devices are not approved, that is, they arrive on the market without undergoing any type of certification and are not subject to quality and safety tests.

However, the number of users is much higher. It is estimated that around 20 million Brazilians consume content through pirated devices. Anatel did not disclose the exact number and models of phones that will be banned. However, the inspectors revealed that some users had already posted on hacking forums and were therefore banned.

Anatel Inspection Supervisor spoke about the importance of blocking to reduce hacking of this type of device and to raise awareness among the population. Thus, the intention is to make the block provide the illegal signal less and less.

Also check: Find out now if Anatel will block your TV; Check which models will be affected

Anatel seeks to establish more security in networks

According to Anatel, the measure was also adopted with the aim of ensuring the security of local Internet networks. The agency stated that pirated TV Boxes can be used by criminals with the aim of stealing data from devices connected to the same network.

According to the head of Anatel, Carlos Baigorri, the equipment can be controlled by malicious people, who are able to carry out cyberattacks that compromise user data. He noted that the blocking is done by Anatel technicians and that the device receives several complaints from device networks associated with illegal distribution of signals.

After this procedure, Internet operators are called upon to block devices using the IP address. From this point of view, access to the servers that distribute the pay-TV signal is prohibited for “small boxes”.

know more: Pirate Box TVs Banned and Customers Complain to Anatel: Can I Request a Refund?