Internet Society: Italy’s “Piracy Shield” Failures Are a Warning Against “Blunt” Piracy Blocking

Although completely blocking piracy sites may seem like the most immediate solution, it may not be the wisest choice for legislators, according to a recent policy brief by the Internet Society, the US-based international organization promoting Internet use and access.

In the PDF mentioned above, the organization shared its opinion on this extremely topical and increasingly widespread issue. Completely blocking sites containing pirated content is not a beneficial solution in the long term, as it does not eliminate the original source of the materials. On the contrary, this choice inevitably hides the content in question, making even potential legitimate content inaccessible.

As an example of the problem described, the Internet Society mentioned the famous Italian “Piracy Shield,” a platform that, following its implementation in recent years, has repeatedly and erroneously blocked Google domains, sites hosted by Cloudflare, and Google Drive, all of which are completely legal.