Illegal streaming of sports events may well become a thing of the past in Kenya if a proposed bill gets to see the light of the day.
The Copyright and Related Rights Bill proposes that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) be compelled to take down any such sites within 48 hours of notification lest they incur fines.
"A person whose copyright or related rights are infringed by content hosted, transmitted, or cached by an online intermediary may request, by a takedown notice, that the intermediary removes or disables access to the content," article 82(1) of the bill reads.
Article 82(4) of the bill further indicates: "An intermediary shall, within twenty-four hours of receiving a valid takedown notice, notify the person responsible for the content and provide a copy of the notice."
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Details that will be included in such notice will include complainant's full name and address, description of the copyright work infringed, and specification of the content to be removed, among others.
The takedown request will be sent to the proposed Copyright Disputes Tribunal as well as the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK).
ISPs that fail to comply may be liable to a fine of Ksh 200,000, or Ksh 500,000 should they repeatedly fail to takedown any illegal streaming sites.
"An intermediary that fails to comply with subsection (4) is liable to an administrative fine not exceeding two hundred thousand shillings (KES 200,000), imposed by the Authority," article 82(5) of the bill states.
Article 83(5) adds: "An intermediary that repeatedly fails to comply with valid
takedown notices is liable to an administrative fine not exceeding five hundred thousand shillings (KES 500,000) for each subsequent violation, imposed by the Authority."
The bill portends the death of illegal streaming sites, which have been source of joy for many Kenyan sports fans who have been able to watch top matches at a low fee -- money for buying Internet bundles.
The English Premier League and the Uefa Champions League are some of the competitions usually streamed on such sites, where fans flock in their numbers to watch their favourite teams in action.
Many countries across the world, especially in the United States and United Kingdom, have tough laws to constrict the proliferation of illegal streaming sites.
Whereas these laws have majorly targeted and netted operators and distributors of such sites, there are cases where users have also incurred the wrath.
In 2014 in the U.S. for example, a fan was sued for $12,000 (approximately Ksh 1.6 million) for watching UFC matches on an illegal pay-per-view stream.
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In the UK, police officers have begun door-to-door searches to issue cease-and-desist notices to individuals identified to be accessing content through such sites.
