Anatel starts blocking Gatonet in Brazil

On the morning of this Friday (3), the National Telecommunications Agency informed that it started the process of hunting the catnet — the TV box that transmits TV channels with a pirated signal. In an interview with the portal Tilt, the Inspection Superintendent of the Anatel, Hermano Tercius stated that they have already begun to remotely deactivate the pirated devices used to digitally use pay TV signals and streaming platforms.

The agency had already announced at the beginning of last month that it would start a war to end the catnet in Brazil. Altogether, there are an estimated more than 7 million illegal TV Box sets across the country. Tercius also claims that customers have already begun to feel the impact of the action, but that it is impossible to put an end to the illegal use of paid audiovisual content 100%.

The process of deactivation of Gatonet by Anatel

In summary, the fight against pirated TV Boxes works through complaints, which are generally received by a working group with technicians from Anatel. Anyone can turn in information about piracy. The most well-received reports, in general, are those made by pay TV and streaming associations, since they have laboratories that work with device tests and provide more robust reports.

The Agency's Superintendent explains that they are not interested in complaints made about “a neighbor who uses pirated equipment”. The focus of the operation is on looking for device networks, therefore, when they receive complaints that manage to specify the manufacturer, model and servers of the products, the operators of backbone from Brazil are activated. By being able to connect the country's internet with the world's, they carry out the blocking by IP, protocols used by TV Box and other multiple techniques.

At first, IP blocking can be considered complex, since the vast majority of residential connections have dynamic addresses, making the process only temporary. This is explained by the fact that providers tend to assign changeable IP ranges to residential customers as they are more affordable. Only companies receive static and permanent IPs.

But why put an end to Gatonet?

As informed by Anatel, the action being billed as a war on gatonet is meant to ensure the integrity of home internet networks. In theory, equipment that has not been homologated poses a danger to computer networks and users.

In the past, closed signal piracy on cable TV was done by decoders, which are nothing more than devices that clandestinely break the code of channel or satellite operators. But nowadays things have changed and there has been a significant advance in the process. After all, now Brazilians have taken a liking to the little boxes that connect a TV to the internet.

As a result of inspections carried out by the Federal Revenue Service in ports and airports across the country, the number of TV Box apprehensions has risen considerably. To get an idea, in 2020 there were more than 400 thousand records of illegality. However, in 2021, this number jumped to 3,5 million.

It is true that the device fell in love with people due to its practicality and its content. Well, it allows access to a lot of paid channels, in addition to catalogs of the main streams. But not everything is perfect. A Anatel came to the conclusion between the years 2021 and 2022 that pirated TV Box models compromise people's safety.

An example of this compromise is the theft of data from devices that are on the same Internet network as the TV Box. In the meantime, screenshots of cell phones and computers are included. In addition, the use of the network to which these devices are connected offers the possibility of denial of service attacks, when a large number come together in order to bring down a platform by making simultaneous access requests.

Is it impossible to end Gatonet?

Hours after announcing the deactivation process of catnet in Brazil, and receiving criticism for it, Hermano Tercius stated that the Anatel does not intend to end 100% with piracy. For him, when a war against this type of illicit act is undertaken, there is a reaction on the part of fraudsters. That is, other ways of continuing to commit the crime are created, allowing access to paid content to continue to occur.

According to Anatel, this action is to raise consumer awareness and encourage them to seek financial compensation for the way they were supplied with the product, which is considered prohibited. The company hopes that after this attitude, people will no longer enter this type of market, since it is necessary to have a strong action to combat the legacy of the network before approaching a more effective sales ban.

See more:

Goodbye, Gatonet: Anatel starts blocking millions of pirated devices in Brazil

Sources: Anatel, IRS

reviewed by Glaucous