According to several job postings first spotted by TorrentFreak Roku is looking for a Director of Anti-Piracy and Content Security.
This is how Roku describes the jobs:
“The Director, Anti-Piracy and Content Security is responsible for defining the technology roadmap and overseeing implementation of anti-piracy and content security initiatives at Roku,” the application reads.
“This role requires ability to benchmark Roku against best practices (i.e. MPAA, Studio & Customer) but also requires an emphasis on maintaining deep insight into the evolving threat landscape and technical challenges of combating piracy.”
“In this role, you will be responsible for implementing anti-piracy and content protection technology as it pertains to Roku OS,” the application explains.
“This entails developing software features, conducting forensic investigations and mining Roku’s big data platform and other threat intelligence sources for copyright infringement activities on and off platform.”
So why is Roku hiring staff to fight piracy?
Recently Roku was banned from selling its devices in Mexico because of a lawsuit. Some cable companies recently sued some private Roku Channels and, as a result of the lawsuit, Mexican courts ordered Roku to stop selling its devices in Mexico. As best I can tell that ban is still in place and now Roku is looking to ban these piracy channels in response.
So now Roku is moving to distance itself from piracy services. It renamed Private Channels to Non-Certified Channels. It added a disclaimer letting anyone who adds a non-certified channel know that it could be removed at any time if it pirates content.
It looks like Roku is hoping to prevent any future legal issues and bans on their Roku players by being more aggressive in their anti-piracy efforts.
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