The battle against piracy in the world of football now has a new weapon. From today, the Piracy Shield is in operation, the new platform against illegal streaming that will serve to identify those trying to bypass subscriptions to official channels. In recent years, the Serie A League has sought to reduce this phenomenon by announcing a major battle. Now the first move has arrived, with the technological tool that will evaluate each case individually. How the new platform works, the rules and risks of those who break the rules.
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How the Piracy Shield works
From today, the new tool that has been welcomed with great enthusiasm in the Serie A League is in operation. In recent years, our championship has suffered estimated losses of about 300 million every season due to all those who decide to rely on illegal streaming sites. The new platform will allow the timely blocking of Iptv on the internet. The operation is rigid and leaves little room for illegal sites. From today, authorized providers, registered through a specific form on the platform, will receive an access address from Agcom. This will be hosted on a Microsoft Azure cloud and the connection will be protected by a Vpn (Virtual Private Network). A lawyer will have to verify that the authorized provider is actually the holder of the rights to a particular sporting event. Once the credentials have been received, the provider will be able to enter the production environment and then send the information in real time to the Guarantor, who will receive the reports and implement the block. This operation will be carried out by about 1800 Internet Service Providers, to which Google and Microsoft will also be added.
How reports are made
The shield against piracy will be activated based on the inputs provided by the providers authorized by Agcom. The effectiveness of the work teams called to identify the sites will be tested in the coming days, with the technicians who will confront before, during and after each event to analyze the reports. These, therefore, will be taken individually, with illegal broadcasts that will be intercepted from time to time by authorized operators. The action, however, must be as prompt as possible, as also hoped for by De Siervo in November 2023, when he spoke precisely of the Piracy Shield. The intervention must be as fast as possible because it can range from the 45 minutes of a MotoGp Grand Prix to the five hours of a tennis Grand Slam final. The authorized providers collect the evidence of the unauthorized flow and, accessing the shield can upload the Ip addresses of the illegal sites facilitating the evidence. At that point the report will arrive at the providers who will block the sites. Once the evidence has been ascertained, it will be Agcom's task to provide the Prosecutors with the data relating to the content disseminated, also identifying the managers of the platforms and those who use them.
What is risked with piracy
In recent years, penalties have been tightened precisely to counter this phenomenon. To date, in fact, all transgressors risk imprisonment from one to four years and a fine from 2,500 to 15,000 euros. These rules make Italian legislation one of the most advanced in this field.
The attempt by Assoprovider
Assoprovider tried to oppose this new tool, hypothesizing a presumed unconstitutionality of the platform related to the block implemented by Agcom. It was the fourth section of the Tar of Lazio that rejected the appeal on 24 January, explaining that even towards the smaller players the time of 30 minutes is not disproportionate, if compared to the contrast of the illegal transmission of the matches. Timing in these cases is fundamental, since, before this latest technological solution, the block did not take place before 48-72 hours.
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