📰 New article from TorrentFreak
France Approves Automated, Real-Time Blocking of Pirate Sports Streams
https://torrentfreak.com/france-approves-automated-real-time-blocking-of-pirate-sports-streams/
France is turning up the heat on pirate sports streams, and it’s getting serious about speed. The French Parliament has officially approved a new sports law that grants ARCOM, the national media regulator, the power to block illegal live broadcasts in real time. No more waiting for manual checks.
Under the old system, rights holders had to get court orders for specific domains. If pirates swapped domains, it took days for regulators to verify and block the new ones. That lag time was a lifeline for streamers. The new law changes the game: ARCOM can now push freshly identified targets to ISPs instantly during a live match. Providers must act without delay, though ARCOM retains an oversight role to audit blocks afterward and prevent mistakes.
This move is clearly inspired by Italy’s controversial “Piracy Shield,” which allows rapid takedowns but has faced backlash for accidentally knocking legitimate sites offline. France is trying to walk a fine line—adopting the speed of the Italian model while keeping human supervision to avoid unconstitutional overblocking.
While the law is passed, implementation won’t happen until later this year. For now, the manual grind continues, but the automated future is just around the corner. It’s a bold step to protect broadcasters, though whether it stops the piracy cat-and-mouse game remains to be seen.