War on football pirates: State shield against the piece

With the start of the new Serie A season, the complex battle against piracy, an epidemic that continues to threaten the world of football and beyond, has returned to the spotlight. Despite the efforts of football institutions and the competent authorities, the spread of illegal content seems far from being controlled, driven by new technologies that allow easier access to matches illegally.

In fact, smart TVs and other digital platforms have made it easier for many users to access matches without going through official channels, with relatively low risks. This phenomenon not only damages football leagues economically, but also threatens the entire sports ecosystem, which is largely supported by revenues from television rights.

According to today’s edition of La Repubblica, La Liga has recently suffered a major setback in its fight against piracy. The case in question involves a legal defeat against Cloudflare, the American tech giant. The league has tried to impose stricter restrictions through the Communications Guarantor Authority (AgCom), in an attempt to stop the phenomenon, but the results obtained have been disappointing.

Faced with this situation, AgCom requested the introduction of a new anti-piracy tool, which proved to be more effective than the one currently in use. The challenge was to develop a technology capable of preventing the spread of illegal content quickly and accurately, without compromising the freedom of use of digital tools by legitimate users.

As Calcio & Finanza wrote in these hours, AgCom checks some legitimate apps themselves, which end up in the wrong hands.These apps, which are usually used to protect online privacy, also allow users who access illegal content to watch pirated channels anonymously, thanks to a security technology known as a VPN, which has long been available on smartphones. The problem is that VPNs are now also spreading to smart TVs, offering protection similar to that used by armies, all at a very low cost.

In this context, AgCom has focused its attention on a specific application for smart TVs, developed by a company with a registered office in the EU. Starting in September, the agency will intensify its monitoring of two TV manufacturers, in an attempt to prevent the controversial application from being installed on their devices. However, this will be difficult to achieve, as the application itself is not illegal.

The complexity of the situation is illustrated by the order issued on July 27, 2024 by the Milan court. The Football League had filed an urgent appeal against Cloudflare, also supported by DAZN and Sky. The complaint focused on some of Cloudflare’s technologies, such as VPNs, CDNs, Authoritative DNS and reverse proxies, which are technically neutral tools but can also be used for illegal purposes, such as creating pirate channels. However, the court ruled that there was no evidence of deliberate complicity or direct responsibility on Cloudflare’s part towards the pirates.

Furthermore, Lega Calcio requested that Cloudflare be required to register with AgCom’s anti-piracy shield, which is used to quickly block illegal pay-TV channels during matches. However, the court made clear that Italian anti-piracy law does not give a judge the authority to enforce such certification.

The anti-piracy shield, which was activated on August 1, 2023, will soon be replaced by a more powerful platform. The current system has reached its limit, having blocked 18,000 illegal pay-TVs in one year, which is the maximum it can handle. Consip, on behalf of AgCom, will launch a tender to select a private supplier to create “Shield 2”. This new tool will cover current regulatory gaps and will be supported by the government’s recent Culture Decree, currently being converted, which includes a specific rule to address these gaps.