Massive Expansion of Italy's Piracy Shield Underway (techdirt.com) 21
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Techdirt: Walled Culture has been following closely Italy's poorly designed Piracy Shield system. Back in December we reported how copyright companies used their access to the Piracy Shield system to order Italian Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to all of Google Drive for the entire country, and how malicious actors could similarly use that unchecked power to shut down critical national infrastructure. Since then, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), an international, not-for-profit association representing computer, communications, and Internet industry firms, has added its voice to the chorus of disapproval. In a letter (PDF) to the European Commission, it warned about the dangers of the Piracy Shield system to the EU economy [...]. It also raised an important new issue: the fact that Italy brought in this extreme legislation without notifying the European Commission under the so-called "TRIS" procedure, which allows others to comment on possible problems [...].
As well as Italy's failure to notify the Commission about its new legislation in advance, the CCIA believes that: this anti-piracy mechanism is in breach of several other EU laws. That includes the Open Internet Regulation which prohibits ISPs to block or slow internet traffic unless required by a legal order. The block subsequent to the Piracy Shield also contradicts the Digital Services Act (DSA) in several aspects, notably Article 9 requiring certain elements to be included in the orders to act against illegal content. More broadly, the Piracy Shield is not aligned with the Charter of Fundamental Rights nor the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU -- as it hinders freedom of expression, freedom to provide internet services, the principle of proportionality, and the right to an effective remedy and a fair trial.
Far from taking these criticisms to heart, or acknowledging that Piracy Shield has failed to convert people to paying subscribers, the Italian government has decided to double down, and to make Piracy Shield even worse. Massimiliano Capitanio, Commissioner at AGCOM, the Italian Authority for Communications Guarantees, explained on LinkedIn how Piracy Shield was being extended in far-reaching ways (translation by Google Translate, original in Italian). [...] That is, Piracy Shield will apply to live content far beyond sports events, its original justification, and to streaming services. Even DNS and VPN providers will be required to block sites, a serious technical interference in the way the Internet operates, and a threat to people's privacy. Search engines, too, will be forced to de-index material. The only minor concession to ISPs is to unblock domain names and IP addresses that are no longer allegedly being used to disseminate unauthorized material. There are, of course, no concessions to ordinary Internet users affected by Piracy Shield blunders. In the future, Italy's Piracy Shield will add:
- 30-minute blackout orders not only for pirate sports events, but also for other live content;
- the extension of blackout orders to VPNs and public DNS providers;
- the obligation for search engines to de-index pirate sites;
- the procedures for unblocking domain names and IP addresses obscured by Piracy Shield that are no longer used to spread pirate content;
- the new procedure to combat piracy on the #linear and "on demand" television, for example to protect the #film and #serietv.
As well as Italy's failure to notify the Commission about its new legislation in advance, the CCIA believes that: this anti-piracy mechanism is in breach of several other EU laws. That includes the Open Internet Regulation which prohibits ISPs to block or slow internet traffic unless required by a legal order. The block subsequent to the Piracy Shield also contradicts the Digital Services Act (DSA) in several aspects, notably Article 9 requiring certain elements to be included in the orders to act against illegal content. More broadly, the Piracy Shield is not aligned with the Charter of Fundamental Rights nor the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU -- as it hinders freedom of expression, freedom to provide internet services, the principle of proportionality, and the right to an effective remedy and a fair trial.
Far from taking these criticisms to heart, or acknowledging that Piracy Shield has failed to convert people to paying subscribers, the Italian government has decided to double down, and to make Piracy Shield even worse. Massimiliano Capitanio, Commissioner at AGCOM, the Italian Authority for Communications Guarantees, explained on LinkedIn how Piracy Shield was being extended in far-reaching ways (translation by Google Translate, original in Italian). [...] That is, Piracy Shield will apply to live content far beyond sports events, its original justification, and to streaming services. Even DNS and VPN providers will be required to block sites, a serious technical interference in the way the Internet operates, and a threat to people's privacy. Search engines, too, will be forced to de-index material. The only minor concession to ISPs is to unblock domain names and IP addresses that are no longer allegedly being used to disseminate unauthorized material. There are, of course, no concessions to ordinary Internet users affected by Piracy Shield blunders. In the future, Italy's Piracy Shield will add:
- 30-minute blackout orders not only for pirate sports events, but also for other live content;
- the extension of blackout orders to VPNs and public DNS providers;
- the obligation for search engines to de-index pirate sites;
- the procedures for unblocking domain names and IP addresses obscured by Piracy Shield that are no longer used to spread pirate content;
- the new procedure to combat piracy on the #linear and "on demand" television, for example to protect the #film and #serietv.
Why aren't they going after the source? (Score:3)
If some computer out there is hosting and distributing copyrighted material, the copyright holders should be going after those computers to get them taken down instead of this site blocking BS. I would have thought it would be much easier to get content taken down at the source than having multiple countries block it through these site blocking mechanisms.
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If some computer out there is hosting and distributing copyrighted material, the copyright holders should be going after those computers to get them taken down instead of this site blocking BS. I would have thought it would be much easier to get content taken down at the source than having multiple countries block it through these site blocking mechanisms.
Except, of course, if the source is outside of your (legal) jurisdiction.
Few condone not respecting IP (copyright/trademark/patents). The Italian "privacy shield" is a blunt instrument. It likely is not the ideal solution. Those that think it is wrong need to offer alternatives that still respect IP.
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The only solution is to out-compete piracy. Offer a better product at a reasonable price. Ease of use, video quality, availability.
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Those that think it is wrong need to offer alternatives that still respect IP.
No. You cannot shift the burden like that.
Pointing out that murder is wrong does not mean I need to give you an alternative that respects your need to kill people. I can just say that it is wrong.
It is lawmakers job to make laws that function.
In American law, there is a requirement that laws be narrowly tailored to achieve their intended purpose, minimizing any unnecessary restrictions. I do not know if Italian or European law has such a requirement.
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The source may not be in a legally viable jurisdiction. With everything in life, even you will do what you "can" not always what you "want".
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If some computer out there is hosting and distributing copyrighted material, the copyright holders should be going after those computers to get them taken down instead of this site blocking BS. I would have thought it would be much easier to get content taken down at the source than having multiple countries block it through these site blocking mechanisms.
That would absolutely be the ideal—go after the infringing content at the source. But there are a few reasons why rights holders don’t (or can’t) rely on that alone anymore.
A huge chunk of infringing content is hosted in jurisdictions that either don’t recognize Western copyright law or are slow to enforce it. Trying to pursue takedowns or litigation across borders is expensive, slow, and usually ineffective—especially when the hosts are shady or nominally offshore.
Many pirate
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Are you that naive?
Once they establish ways to take down copyrighted material, they can use the same mechanisms to take down dissenting voices.
This is a mechanism for controlling the message.
It only can make things worse... (Score:3, Interesting)
Looks like they are forgetting what the US and other countries learned in the 1990s and 2000s. No matter what measures they use to forbid stuff, there will be workarounds. Scanning Google Drives? All it means is Cryptomator winds up being used, and perhaps someone makes a next-generation encryption layer to allow others to access shared files with their key. Blocking VPNs? It will take becoming like China. Chasing after people? It means everyone will get encryption layers, more than just BitLocker and FileVault, perhaps VeraCrypt or another filesystem, and now, the real criminals (the ones that hate the NCMEC) are now uncatchable.
Even if Italy does manage to lock their Internet down as well as North Korea, people will just go back to swapping stuff using USB drives, so the government either has to escalate to North Korean levels and assume guilt if someone has an encrypted drive, or back down. Governments don't win at this arms race unless they are willing to take every single human right of their citizens away.
How exactly would this work (Score:1)
Hollywood has the solution (Score:5, Funny)
In my opinion Hollywood implemented the best anti-piracy solution: Create such drab which you even wouldn't WANT to pirate.
Re: Hollywood has the solution (Score:3)
Italian soccer (football?) has implemented the same solution.
Re: (Score:2)
Except that this has nothing to do with Hollywood. In fact it may be made worse by Hollywood. Movies are so boring now that people seem to prefer watching a buch of tiny men run on a big green field kicking a ball around slowly.
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Except that this has nothing to do with Hollywood. In fact it may be made worse by Hollywood. Movies are so boring now that people seem to prefer watching a buch of tiny men run on a big green field kicking a ball around slowly.
Compared to American Handegg, the worlds 3rd most boring sport, where you have to stop every 20 seconds for a commercial and a game of 4 x 15 min quarters takes 3 hours to play, European Soccer, the worlds 4th most boring sport, is played at a positively lightening pace and at least you know it'll all be over within 2 hours max.
Neither have a patch on the worlds most boring sport, Cricket... a sport so boring both teams wear white, a game with all the boredom and tedium of baseball but it goes on all day
Re: (Score:2)
The reason for Cricket's popularity in the UK is related to alcohol and licensing laws.
How do they plan to block VPNs? (Score:2)
Cheerleading and Chicken-Littling. /heay sigh (Score:2)
AGCOM commissioner Massimiliano Capitanio just took to LinkedIn to applaud the latest expansion of Italy’s Piracy Shield system. It’s the kind of “hooray-for-our-side” post you’d expect from a public official: heavy on bullet points and self-congratulation, light on substance. Notably absent? Any acknowledgment of the serious legal and operational problems Piracy Shield continues to raise—like the lack of judicial oversight, the 30-minute takedown window, and the growing