Italy should demand that VPN and DNS suppliers block access to hacked content within 30 minutes – whether it is a football or any other live event, films and television series at demand.
The Country Communication Regulator AGCOM approved the new anti-piration measures on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, in a major boost to the existing anti-piration system. Italy applied the so-called hacking shield at the beginning of last year specifically to combat the hacking of live sports mainly via IP blocking.
The news comes while the French streaming giant Canal + plans to block the use of VPNs to prevent citizens from bypassing the country’s anti-piration tactics. However, some of the best VPN suppliers on the market argue that targeting their services were likely to undermine people’s internet freedom rather than resolving online hacking.
What is the hacking shield of Italy?
Italy applied its piracy shield in February 2024 to prevent citizens from accessing live sporting events via pirate sites, in particular football matches. To do this, right -handers can require domain names related to hacking and suspected IP addresses of copyright violation are blocked within 30 minutes.
Although the Italian anti-pirate system has proven to be effective so far, technological companies have raised concerns to EU authorities concerning several excessive incidents.
However, industry criticism was not sufficient to stop Agcom’s mission. The country’s communication regulator now wishes to further extend the scope of its piracy shield system to combat hacking plague affecting the film and audiovisual industries.
Like the Agcom commissioner, Massimiliano Capitanio, wrote Tuesday in a LinkedIn article: “With the resolution voted today, the fight against hacking takes another step forward.”
Online hacking and VPNS
Among the new AGCOM measures, “the extension of the blocking order to VPNs” is surely the one that has been the most discussions.
A virtual private network (VPN) is security software that encrypts all Internet connections and usurpation of the real IP address of users. While most people use VPNs in Italy and beyond to increase their online confidentiality, their IP usage capacities also allow users to bypass anti-piracy restrictions.
This is exactly why French right -handers presented people like ProtonVPN, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfhsark and Cyberghost with legal action, seeking to block VPN access to people who seek to break the laws on copyright of the copyright of the copyright of the copyright country.
The targeted VPN companies plan to retaliate against the demand for the streaming giant of France, judging the “illogical” trial and warning that it would have “radical consequences” for the security and confidentiality of the Internet of people in France.
For its part, Italy did not explain how VPN suppliers should meet the new requirements. It is not clear if this would be technically possible for companies that exploit VPNs without Log-Log, which cannot see what users do when they are connected to their service.
We have contacted some of the most popular VPN suppliers requesting comments and update the page accordingly.
