The fight against piracy has taken another step, and this time the protagonist is one of the most powerful technological giants in the world: Google. The Milan Court has ordered the search engine to block access to certain pirate web pages, in compliance with the demands of the Piracy Shield system.
A tool that the country is using aggressively to stop the illegal transmission of sports content, especially soccer matches of the A series that are offered free of charge through IPTV lists.
This measure joins another already taken against Cloudflare, a company known for offering CDN, DNS and Proxy inverse services. In December last year, the same court issued that This company had to block access to services that retransmitted content without a license.
The ruling indicated that the company’s refusal to collaborate was facilitating piracy, which justified its legal responsibility. In fact, the sentence warned that of not complying with the measures, Cloudflare would face fines of 10,000 euros a day.
Italy puts against Google with an order without the right to defense
Now, the focus is on Google, which has been forced to modify its public DNS system to prevent users from accessing websites that transmit pirate content. This mainly includes pages associated with offering free football through illegal IPTV.
The most striking thing is that This court order has been issued without Google being able to present its defensea situation covered by Italian legislation, specifically Law No. 93/2023, which allows AGCOM (the country’s telecommunications regulator) to request urgent blocking measures without prior court order.
This movement represents a considerable hardening of pressure on the so -called digital intermediaries. Platforms such as Google, Cloudflare or even VPN services are being forced by law to actively participate in the fight against piracy, assuming a role that until recently tried to avoid under the argument of being mere technical intermediaries.
What is Piracy Shield and why Italy bets on this tool
Behind these judicial decisions is Piracy Shield, A system launched in Italy to systematically combat access to pirate content. It is a technological platform promoted by AGCOM, which allows in less than 30 minutes to block any domain that is issued without license, even without the need to obtain a court order.
As already mentioned, this measure is part of Law No. 93/2023, which grants the Italian authorities the ability to act immediately against copyright infractions in the digital environment.
In practice, it works as an active surveillance network that monitors the illegal broadcast of content, with special attention to football, One of the industries most beaten by piracy in Europe.
The system identifies web pages that transmit live matches without authorization, automatically registers and issues blocking orders to all service providers involved: from network operators to companies such as Google, Cloudflare or DNS suppliers. These entities, under the new legal framework, They are obliged to execute the lock without margin for the delay.
The use of Piracy Shield has extended progressively, and its effects are already noticed. Hundreds of domains have been closed in recent weeksreducing mass access to illegal IPTV platforms.
For entities such as Serie A, which has led many of the complaints, the impact of this tool represents an important advance in the protection of its copyright. His pressure on the judicial system and regulators has been key to acting forcefully.
With this new stage, it is clear that Italy has decided to face the IPTV pirates frontally. And although the debate on the legal limits of these measures remains open – especially due to the risk of blockages without the possibility of prior defense for the companies involved – the message is clear.
Intermediaries can no longer stay out of the fight against piracy. The entertainment industry demands rapid responses, and Piracy Shield is presented as its most effective weapon to date.
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Tags: Piracy, IPTV