In the face of piracy, Italy is tightening the screws and imposing unprecedented measures. Access providers, DNS services, hosting providers, and even VPNs are now affected. The latest target: Google, ordered to block access to certain pirate sites by court order... without even having been able to defend themselves.
For several months, Italy has been conducting a rigorous campaign against illegal streaming. An automated system, called Piracy Shield allows authorities to order the blocking of sites broadcasting protected content, particularly sporting events such as Serie A football matches. The system relies on a centralized platform, accessible only to rights holders and operators, who must react in less than 30 minutes. Initially focused on Internet service providers, this method is now extending its scope to a whole chain of actors.
After Cloudflare in December 2024, it is Google's turn to be targeted. The Milan court ordered on March 11 that the company block sites listed by AGCOM, the Italian telecoms regulator. More specifically, the American company must intervene on its public DNS service, used by millions of Internet users in Italy and around the world, to prevent the resolution of domain names linked to piracy. This is therefore not a simple local filtering, but a large-scale modification of the service. This measure is based on Italian Law No. 93/2023, which now requires technical intermediaries to actively cooperate in the fight against copyright violations, even if they consider themselves neutral.
Google is targeted without having been heard and joins the list of actors forced to cooperate
This judicial decision follows a complaint from the Italian football league, Serie A, which accuses Google of not having applied the requested blocks. According to AGCOM, the platform took no measures to limit access to certain sites despite repeated reports. The court therefore ruled without a prior hearing of the company, considering the facts sufficiently clear to impose immediate action. A subsequent hearing will allow The court has given the American company the opportunity to assert its position, but in the meantime, the measure remains applicable.
The court relies on the same arguments as in the Cloudflare case, citing an "indirect contribution" to the dissemination of illegal content. For AGCOM, this new decision validates a unique approach in Europe, which seeks to hold all the links facilitating access to pirated content accountable. In addition to ISPs, DNS services, hosting providers, and VPNs may be required to cooperate, even if they are not directly involved in the broadcast.
0 Comments