Italy Approves New ‘Piracy Shield’ VPN/DNS Proposal, ISPs Face Prison for Lack of Reporting

• Italy’s anti-piracy blocking system “Piracy Shield” is gaining momentum with the approval of the new proposals.
• The legal proposals force VPN and DNS services everywhere to block pirated content flagged by rightsholders.
• Up to one year of prison time is also mentioned for service providers who fail to report pirated content.

Italy's Senate Budget and Finance Committees have approved significant amendments to existing anti-piracy legislation, introducing new obligations for VPN and DNS services, reports say. The proposal is set for a vote and could become law shortly, pending approval from Italy’s Chamber of Deputies.

The expanded blocking requirements apply to VPN and DNS services and ISPs, which are compelled to bar pirated content. The increased mandatory blocking demands also impact ISP server resources.

Blocking can include both infringing and non-infringing sites if shared resources are primarily used for infringement. Besides, service providers must report "known" criminal conduct to judicial authorities or face penalties, including up to one year in prison.

These changes aim to combat online piracy by enabling these services to block pirated content flagged by rightsholders. Italy’s anti-piracy blocking system, Piracy Shield, recently removed previously blocked domains and IP addresses due to a lack of capability and plans an upgrade funded via public money.

This move, spearheaded by Senator Claudio Lotito, aligns with efforts to protect Serie A football league interests and raises concerns about excessive surveillance and infringement on legal content.

The Italian Internet Provider Association (AIIP) has criticized these amendments as contradictory to previous agreements and potentially harmful to industry cooperation efforts.

Giovanni Zorzoni, president of AIIP, describes the amendments as “an initiative that betrays two years of commitment and loyal collaboration in the sector,” highlighting the tension between regulatory actions and industry expectations.

Starting with October 2023, AGCOM publicly declared being happy with some IPTV providers’ decision to make VPN use mandatory, saying VPN users flag themselves as piracy-inclined by default and VPN and open DNS service providers would have to execute the blocks requested by the agency. 

The AGCOM currently studies legitimate apps that can be used for piracy, such as VPNs, and focuses on an unnamed VPN app on smart TV app stores that has an office in the E.U.