The Italian Paradox “PornoAIDS” And The Boiled Frog

When some seemingly harmless decisions from above threaten our freedom on the Internet and our personal rights

I imagine that the boiled frog principle, which is the basis of many successful memes, is quite familiar to social media users. However, for those who have never heard of it, the technique has been well explained, in particular by Daniel Quinn (an environmental writer, not translated in our country), who devoted an entire chapter of his novel “Story B” to it .

If you put a frog in a pot of warm water, it will not feel uncomfortable and will not try to jump; if you gradually heat the water, the frog will remain calm until the heat limits its ability to move, making it unable to escape. It is interesting to note that, based on this principle, Wikipedia has pages in twenty languages, but not in Italian. Another clear signal about our country’s sensitivity to certain issues.

Football and Copyright Everywhere: The Birth of the Piracy Shield

“Law No. 93 of 14 July 2023, which entered into force on 8 August, grants new powers to the Agency to strengthen its functions in the fight against online piracy related to the live broadcast of events more effectively and promptly. Based on the legislative changes, the Regulation on the Protection of Copyright on the Internet was amended by Resolution No. 189/23/CONS of 26 July 2023, which introduces specific provisions to combat online piracy related to the live broadcast of sporting events. In particular, the new regulation establishes that the blocking of FQDNs and IP addresses specifically intended for the illegal distribution of protected content occurs within thirty minutes of notification to the owner through a single technological platform with automated functioning. On 7 September 2023, the technical table established pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 2 of the Law, was created by the Agency in cooperation with the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) in order to define the technical and operational requirements for the implementation of the aforementioned technological platform. The Piracy Shield platform, in force since 1 February 2024, allows for the automatic management of reports in accordance with the prudential regulations issued by the Communications Regulatory Authority pursuant to Article 1. 9 bis, paragraph 4 bis of the Regulation.

Translation and explanation of the typical bureaucratic dialect of “leguli”

This is what we can read on the AgCom (Italian Communications Authority) page dedicated to the new platform. I translated it for you from the anti-language bureaucracy in Calvin’s memory.

Since the DAZN group , a paid service that broadcasts sports events, bought the rights to most of the important football matches in Italy and charges high prices for its subscriptions; and given that this has led to the emergence of numerous pirate services that broadcast the same matches at much lower prices, damaging the interests of DAZN and the entire economic system related to sports, an online platform has been created in Italy that can force service providers to immediately block IP addresses without the express permission of the competent authorities.

An IP address ( Internet Protocol address ) is a numerical protocol required to connect to the Internet, a unique address that can be associated with a specific device (personal computer, smartphone, video camera) or with a server (a computer connected to the Internet to provide a specific service).

So, nothing bad, right? You, the bastard, stole football matches from me with your server, to which I have the rights, and profited from it. So it is true that I can quickly block you, without waiting for the judge to intervene. And also because its duration will definitely exceed the canonical 90 minutes.

The question is: ignorance, incompetence, carelessness or arrogance?

Unfortunately – or fortunately – the Internet is a very complex network. Often, an IP address serves more than one device.

So by blocking IP addresses without warning, dozens, hundreds of innocent internet sites and/or services are blocked. To quote a friend of Franco Soleri from Digitalia , an old and respected Italian-language podcast about technology (and related issues), it would be as if all the houses in a condominium were confiscated to punish the condominium owner for his dishonest behavior.

But the problem is even more serious: in order to protect the economic interests of one or more private individuals, one of the principles enshrined in our Constitution has been tacitly violated: the presumption of innocence. This is not the first time (for example, if you deal with Italian taxation, the opposite principle is often applied); but, to quote Franco Soleri again, it is as if a baker realized that someone had stolen a loaf of bread from him, ran out of the shop and forcibly arrested all passers-by, locking them in the basement until someone confessed. In addition to taking justice into his own hands.

And if it is surprising (but only to a certain extent) that such an important body as AgCom seems not to be aware of, or perhaps deliberately ignores, the fundamental characteristics of a network that has existed for over 40 years, it is even more surprising that no one, with the exception of companies like Digitalia, has denounced this problem decisively. Indeed, in Italy many people still believe that digital problems do not have much impact on real life. But they realize this too late: when the frog is already boiled.

The most interesting thing:… PornAIDS, not parental control

News of the day: to prevent minors from accessing sites considered harmful, the Communications Authority has announced rules that will ensure more controlled and secure access methods. In short, to view porn sites, starting in 2025 (Italy was one of the first countries to implement this rule), you will have to authenticate yourself using a system like SPID, which is closely linked to your identity, at least until your clever child borrows it from your smartphone.

Even in this case we see an unfortunate application of a sacred principle: the protection of minors.

Instead of creating a large-scale information campaign to educate parents (who, unfortunately, in Italy suffer greatly from computer illiteracy and seem unwilling to correct it) on the correct use of computers, parental control , which, as you have noticed, is present in all operating systems and is quite easy to set up, is best to raise the temperature of the water a little.

Do we believe that government should be able to control every aspect of our lives with the unprecedented efficiency that modern technology allows?

Privacy, Concern for the Future and Constitutional Rights

Gentlemen, we are not there. When the basic principles of the so-called “most beautiful Constitution in the world” are violated by the very bodies that represent it, and no one seems to rebel, it means that democracy is undergoing very bad changes. Because if it is true that nowadays all these compulsions can be avoided by using one of them, a VPN ( virtual private network ), then it is also true that someone can immediately say: “VPNs are used by criminals to avoid control by the authorities: let’s ban them” . Several countries have already done so: China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Oman, Belarus, North Korea.