Google enters the war against IPTV and watching football matches for free.. This may be the beginning of the end
With the idea of continuing the fight against illegal IPTV and putting an end to piracy, the Italian telecoms regulator AGCOM has invited Google and Cloudflare to a meeting in September.
This call comes six months after the launch of the Piracy Shield system, which in fact did not achieve the expected results in combating piracy.
Simply put, the Piracy Shield system is designed to block access to pirated content. However, data suggests that major streaming providers have been minimally affected by these laws. Hackers have found ways to bypass the ban, using services like those offered by Cloudflare, which allow them to continue operating undetected.
With this as a basis, and above all, the meeting will take place in a complex context, as the Italian Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) has recently launched an antitrust investigation against Google.
AGCOM’s focus now is on companies like Google and Cloudflare, which ultimately have the power to influence the availability of pirated content. Google is under pressure to take action against piracy, especially after a pirated app was discovered on the Google Play Store.
Cloudflare has already been sued, for its part, including by the Italian football league Serie A. It alleges that Cloudflare’s services allow pirate IPTV providers to bypass Piracy Shield’s blocking. AGCOM expects Cloudflare to take effective action to prevent the illegal use of its services.
With all this on the table and September just around the corner, there is no doubt that if AGCOM achieves its goal on these companies, it may demand that other companies take the same action, increasing the pressure against piracy.