Advanced Television

Italy: ‘Instant blocking’ of illegal streams

December 15, 2022

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom) plans to intensify its crackdown on online piracy by introducing instant IP blocking.

The regulator is aiming to modify resolution 680 dating back to 2013 that governs the blocking of illegal content. Currently, a precautionary order must be adopted by AgCom within three days of receipt of the complaint by the content licensees, while providers must implement a filter on the DNS within 48 hours.

However, pay-TV broadcasters and the Italian football clubs are seeking much faster blocking of content, mainly for football matches.

The proposal envisages a dynamic blocking procedure with a time limit of 30 minutes that must be performed on the IP. In practice, the regulator is asking providers to integrate a sort of system based on an M2M connection.

A task force set up by the Italian Football League would monitor all the web and IPTV servers that broadcast matches, also using covert subscriptions, and as soon as protected content is broadcast, the server itself, and the League will send the providers the notification to block that IP. All connections directed to that specific IP will be diverted to a server with information from AgCom that the illegal transmission was blocked and that all those who were watching could be reported to the judicial authorities.

Categories: Articles, Piracy

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