Cloudflare has been ordered by Italy's communications regulatory agency, AGCOM, to block pirate sites on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service after failing to comply with the country's controversial Piracy Shield law. The fine of €14.2 million (approximately $17 million) has been issued for Cloudflare's refusal to disable DNS resolution of domain names and routing of traffic to IP addresses reported by copyright holders.
The law, which was adopted in 2024, aims to tackle live sports piracy by blocking piracy-related domain names and IP addresses within 30 minutes. However, Cloudflare argued that installing a filter applying to the roughly 200 billion daily requests to its DNS system would significantly increase latency and negatively affect DNS resolution for sites that aren’t subject to the dispute over piracy.
Despite the fine, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has stated that his company will fight the penalty and may even consider removing all servers from Italian cities as a measure of protest. He also plans to discuss the matter with US government officials next week.
The Piracy Shield law has been criticized by various groups, including the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which represents tech companies such as Cloudflare and Google. The CCIA argues that the law raises significant concerns about overblocking legitimate online services and lacks transparency.
In recent years, AGCOM has disabled over 65,000 domain names and approximately 14,000 IP addresses under the Piracy Shield law. Google was also previously ordered to block pirate sites at the DNS level.
Critics of the law argue that it is an example of the conflict between individual freedoms and copyright protection. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes," Prince wrote in a statement, highlighting the importance of free speech on the internet.
The law, which was adopted in 2024, aims to tackle live sports piracy by blocking piracy-related domain names and IP addresses within 30 minutes. However, Cloudflare argued that installing a filter applying to the roughly 200 billion daily requests to its DNS system would significantly increase latency and negatively affect DNS resolution for sites that aren’t subject to the dispute over piracy.
Despite the fine, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has stated that his company will fight the penalty and may even consider removing all servers from Italian cities as a measure of protest. He also plans to discuss the matter with US government officials next week.
The Piracy Shield law has been criticized by various groups, including the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which represents tech companies such as Cloudflare and Google. The CCIA argues that the law raises significant concerns about overblocking legitimate online services and lacks transparency.
In recent years, AGCOM has disabled over 65,000 domain names and approximately 14,000 IP addresses under the Piracy Shield law. Google was also previously ordered to block pirate sites at the DNS level.
Critics of the law argue that it is an example of the conflict between individual freedoms and copyright protection. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes," Prince wrote in a statement, highlighting the importance of free speech on the internet.
like seriously though, €14.2 million is a crazy amount for not blocking pirate sites 
. I get it, Cloudflare is all about free speech and online freedom, but come on Matt Prince you can't just play dumb with the law 
. AGCOM's Piracy Shield law might have its flaws, but at least it's trying to tackle the problem of live sports piracy, which affects innocent people who just wanna watch the game 
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. If they start blocking pirate sites left and right, it could lead to overblocking legit services too 
. It's a slippery slope my friends! 
. Italy's Piracy Shield law is a bit wonky if you ask me, blocking pirated content is one thing but overblocking legit sites? That's just not cool 
. And yeah, I can see why Cloudflare wouldn't want to install a filter that'd slow down their entire DNS service 
. It's a tough spot for them, but they need to stand up for what they believe in too 
. The whole thing just highlights the complexity of balancing online freedom with copyright protection 
. And €14.2 million is pretty steep, especially considering how many legit sites would get blocked too 
. It's all about finding a balance between piracy protection and free speech online, right? 
I mean, I get it, they're trying to protect their customers' freedom online, but at the same time, you gotta respect the law, right? 
And what's with the €14.2 million fine? That's like, a lot of euros! 
. I mean, they're not just some big corp trying to avoid paying a fine, they're actually standing up for what they believe in - free speech online 
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. Maybe they could've found another way to comply with the law without giving up so much 
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. As someone who loves browsing online without any issues (mostly), I can see both sides – you don't want pirates ruining your favorite shows or movies, but you also don't want to stifle free speech on the internet 
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. But at the same time, you can't just block out whole websites or domains without having a good reason to do so 
. I mean, we're talking about 200 billion daily requests here – that's a lot of traffic! 
If they just installed some filter and BAM! you're blocked, that's just not cool 
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. And what about the US government officials? Will they come in and sort things out for everyone? 
... like, what's next? Italy gonna start blocking everything just 'cause some people claim it's piracy? 
cloudflare is literally standing up for what they believe in and i love it 
they shouldn't have to pay that kinda money just to follow the rules, thats like extortion 
. I'm not sure removing servers from Italy is an extreme measure, though 
. Can we just have some nuance here? Maybe there's a way to find a balance between protecting copyrights and preserving online freedom of expression 
cant believe they went to war w/italy over dis! CEO Matthew Prince is all like "we're gonna fight dis penalty and maybe even shut down our servers in italy as a protest" 
. I mean, if you're hosting a legit site, you should be able to do your thing without some regulator breathing down your neck 
. The whole thing feels like a power struggle between the tech companies and the government 
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. But at the same time, we can't just let freedom of speech get watered down to nothing 
. It's not that simple, I know, but I think we gotta keep pushing for transparency and finding ways to balance those competing interests 
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