Would-be World Cup pirates warned 'you're being watched'

A London law firm has contacted an undisclosed number of ISPs and websites to warn them not to host any illegal streams of World Cup football matches.

Baker & McKenzie sent out letters to websites warning them they will be monitored throughout the World Cup in order to protect the interests of its client Infront Sports, which is licensed exclusively by Fifa to broadcast World Cup matches by all electronic media.

A spokeswoman for Baker & McKenzie told silicon.com: "On behalf of Infront, we have written to many ISPs and website owners around the world advising them that their services or sites might be used by unauthorised parties seeking to stream the matches or otherwise transmit images of the matches illegally."

She added the letter "seeks co-operation in preventing such illegal activity... and there has been widespread understanding among recipients of the letter".

However, the reaction of one popular US community site, Boing Boing, would probably not fall into the category of "widespread understanding".

One of the site's editors described Baker & McKenzie as "hideous", and added: "I don't even know what the Fifa World Cup is. I'm guessing it's soccer, which I hate."

The editor went on to make it clear that Boing Boing has no intention of hosting any streams of World Cup coverage - illegal or otherwise.

He added: "We would sooner stream a video of a crumpled-up paper napkin in the corner of a room than show some jackasses running after a ball."

In response, the spokeswoman for Baker & McKenzie said: "Our client has noted that Boing Boing has no intention of allowing such unauthorised use on its website."