2024-07-23 00:11:55
After being released, Ezequiel Poncethe young man from Mendoza arrested for illegally broadcasting football matches, broke his silence and said that he uploaded the transmission links “so that people could watch the matches as I did.”
Through a video posted on his social media, the 21-year-old from Mendoza, who used the pseudonym “Kahsad,” told his version of events: he said he did not belong to the Fútbol Libre platform, that he never received any financial benefit and that his search was to emulate something similar to Fútbol Para Todos, when the matches were broadcast on Public TV.
As Ponce explained, He generated the links and “due to an error, Fúbol Libre took them and reproduced them massively on its platform”. In that sense, he added that “I don’t consider that I did anything illegal, since I didn’t break anything in computer terms.” “I’m not a cracker and much less do I have sophisticated means. I didn’t get any financial gains from it and I just did it as a hobby”Ponce stressed.
Among the reasons that prompted him to create these “pirate links”, the young man admitted to being a big football fan and said that “I suffer that Football for All is not available, and I understand people’s anguish for the same reason.”
Ponce was arrested in a mega operation in Mendoza, during which around 50 websites that reproduced pirated content were closed.
“It was around 7 in the morning, when officers from the Argentine Federal Police and Mendoza police broke into my home.“I, of course, did not understand anything about this situation and was bewildered by it, since they asked to check my electronic devices, to which I agreed because I had no problem,” the young man recalled.
After a few days in detention, last Monday, the Justice decided to release him, considering the collaboration of the accused with the research of others online piracy sites and in the absence of a criminal record.
“I did not generate anything with these addresses, it was a hobby and nothing more,” reiterated Ponce, who is accused of violating the intellectual property law, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison, and will remain under investigation.
And finally, he closed with a message of thanks: “I am grateful for all the support people have given me on social media.“I’m still in shock and all I want is to be at home, enjoying my family and loved ones.”
The origin of the case
The investigation originated from a complaint filed by the Alliance Against Audiovisual Piracy, a non-profit organization that claims to be dedicated to regulating the distribution of online content, but when you look closely at who its members are, it is clearly an organization funded by the companies that hold the broadcast rights.
With the complaint filed in the City of Buenos Aires, the Buenos Aires Police carried out a follow-up that culminated in the operation in Godoy Cruz, Mendoza. There they arrested Ponce and revealed that the young man not only managed Fútbol Libre and Megadeportes, but also provided programming tools to other pirate operators.
Now, with Ponce’s words, the question of whether he was actually in charge of Fútbol Libre and whether he received any money is being raised. What the 23-year-old highlights is probably beyond the media’s logic: that everyone can watch football matches.