Goodbye to free football? Piracy Shield is activated, the beginning of the end of IPTV lists
Free football could be on the way to extinction. Italy, as a pioneer in the fight against piracy, has presented Piracy Shield, a revolutionary system aimed at ending illegal IPTV lists
IPTVs have been the epicenter of free access – not always legal – to sports content, but now they face their biggest challenge. With the launch of Piracy Shield, Lega Serie A is armed with a tool capable of blocking illegal streams in a record time of 30 minutes after their detection.
This initiative, led by Serie A and managed by the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority (AgCom), is emerging as a masterstroke against the illegal broadcasting of sporting events.
The system not only covers more providers, but also automates report managementpointing to both IP addresses and fully qualified domain names.
Piracy Shield, the end of IPTV lists?
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The outlook becomes even more discouraging for IPTV users with the new regulations. Starting January 8, 2024, AgCom will have the power to request the removal of harmful content on video platforms, even those based outside Italy.
Pay television stations may report pirated sports content in real timewhile Internet service providers will be responsible for blocking access.
According to TorrentFreak, this measure extends to all DNS and VPN providers, significantly increasing their reach. The platform addresses piracy on search engines, social networks and messaging applications, including sanctions such as fines and imprisonment.
Piracy Shield’s impact is not just limited to Italy. This model could be adopted by other countries in their fight against piracy, perhaps in Europe, radically changing the sports streaming landscape.
Other global actions against IPTV piracy
In recent times, there have been carried out several significant anti-piracy operations, particularly in the field of IPTV. One of these operations was carried out by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which managed to shut down various piracy websites located in Egypt.
Brazil managed to block approximately 80% of pirate IPTV devices in the country and in Spain the National Police, in cooperation with Europol, dismantled a large pirate IPTV network that operated from Malaga and distributed audiovisual content illegally to more than 500,000 users .
In this sense, in our country an important legal precedent has been established with a ruling that imposes fines of up to 15,000 euros for selling and promoting pirated IPTV devices,
The question now is: Will this be the beginning of the end for IPTV lists? Time will tell, but what is certain is that free access to sporting events, such as football, could be coming to an end.
