8 ms·

Wait, so is this about censorship, or about copyright? If the latter, I don't see why CloudFlare is complaining about "global" censorship. The US would simply

by tomp 8mo ago

Wait, so is this about censorship, or about copyright? If the latter, I don't see why CloudFlare is complaining about "global" censorship. The US would simply seize the domains (which they have done so many times before), but I guess Italy doesn't have that power...

wmf 8mo ago
It's about copyright. Seizing domain names (registered outside Italy of course) can't be done in 30 minutes which is what the football overlords want.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- t0mas88 8mo ago
  What is it with Southern Europe and the football overlords? Spain is blocking half the internet, Italy is fighting Cloudflare. What's up? Are football leagues big political donors?
  - Fire-Dragon-DoL 8mo ago
    No usually the political figures are football league owners. Jokes aside, I don't know, the obsession with soccer is extreme in Italy. For people who don't care about soccer like I did, there is so much you have to endure just "because of soccer"
    - matwood 8mo ago
      It's not just Italy. The UK is also insane along with some cities in Spain. In the UK one of the rivalries supposedly goes back to the War of the Roses [1]. The way I describe EU football games to Americans is take the craziest student section at a US college football game and extrapolate that energy to the entire stadium. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_F.C.–Manchester_United_F.C._rivalry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_F.C.–Manchester_U...
  - kaoD 8mo ago
    As usual, cronyism. In Spain's case Telefonica (largest telecom, used to be state owned) is private but has a large State participation and the government literally appointed the latest CEO. Guess who sells the largest football games as part of their expensive TV package? Guess who asked a judge to order the other telecoms to also block Cloudflare IPs?
    - mlrtime 8mo ago
      If this is true, and seems likely. There is some satisfaction seeing corrupt cronyism agencies getting slapped with a hard "NO" when they are used to getting what they want.
  - nathanlied 8mo ago
    Football is extremely popular, and football clubs (and their owners) are quite influential (socially and politically). But it's a little bigger than that. EU is pushing for measures against live-event piracy[1], because they frame this as a systemic threat to cultural/economic systems, giving national regulators broad cover to act aggressively. While football is quite huge in Europe at large, the impact to GDP of these broadcasting rights is sub-1%; however, lobbyists have a disproportionate impact: you have the leagues themselves (LaLiga and Serie A for Spain and Italy respectively), you have the football clubs, and you've got broadcasters. Combined, they swing quite high, even if the actual capital in play is much lower than the total they represent. Add to this politicians who can frame these measures as "protecting our culture", get kickbacks in the form of free tickets to high profile games, see rapid action because blocks are immediately felt and very visible, and incentives for increased funding from regulatory agencies because "we need the budget to create the systems to coordinate this", and you can see how the whole system can push this way, even if it is a largely blunt instrument with massive collateral damage. [1] - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=intcom%3AC%282023%292853 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=intcom%3...
    - miohtama 8mo ago
      Football, the clubs, are also major driver of money laundering. Dirty cash buys a lot of politicians. https://www.comsuregroup.com/news/a-red-card-for-dirty-money-eu-targets-football-clubs-with-aml-rules-is-the-uk-falling-behind/ https://www.comsuregroup.com/news/a-red-card-for-dirty-money...
      - miki123211 8mo ago
        Yeah, in Europe, there tends to be an association between football fans and organized crime, just as there's one between unions and organized crime in the US. The kind of hooligans who love beating up the hooligans from the other team are also perfect from beating up the hooligans from the opposing drug cartel.
      - hexbin010 8mo ago
        A company that would profit from more regulations arguing for more regulations. No way !
  - HDThoreaun 8mo ago
    Spain especially but southern europe in general has a really crappy economy. Soccer teams are some of the wealthiest organizations in these countries, which means theyre the ones who are able to fund politicians which means they can get laws passed.
  - immibis 8mo ago
    Those football leagues are run by the literal Mafia
subsistence234 8mo ago
There's no accountability or due process. According to this brilliant law, if some crony with write-privilege adds your website to a list, the whole world has to ban your website within 30 minutes no questions asked.
- selfmodruntime 8mo ago
  Germany has an equivalent within the CUII, which is also a censorship branch of the government with no judicial oversight.
  - nkmnz 8mo ago
    There is no such thing as "no judicial oversight" in Germany.
    - ceejayoz 8mo ago
      That overstates things somewhat. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llglrd/2019671118/2019671118.pdf https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llglrd/2019... > To some extent, judges are subordinated to a cabinet minister, and in most instances this is a minister of justice of either the federation or of one of the states. In Germany, the administration of justice, including the personnel matters of judges, is viewed as a function of the executive branch of government, even though it is carried out at the court level by the president of a court, and for the lower courts, there is an intermediate level of supervision through the president of a higher court. Ultimately, a cabinet minister is the top of this administrative structure. The supervision of judges includes appointment, promotion and discipline. Despite this involvement of the executive branch in the administration of justice, it appears that the independence of the German judiciary in making decisions from the bench is guaranteed through constitutional principles, statutory remedies, and institutional traditions that have been observed in the past fifty years. At times, however, the tensions inherent in this organizational framework become noticeable and allegations of undue executive influence are made.
      - 8mo ago
yibg 8mo ago
Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the 2. In this case it sounds like copyright in name but the implementation is such that it's a big hammer that can also be used for censorship if followed.

by tomp 8mo ago

wmf 8mo ago

It's about copyright. Seizing domain names (registered outside Italy of course) can't be done in 30 minutes which is what the football overlords want.

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
t0mas88 8mo ago
What is it with Southern Europe and the football overlords? Spain is blocking half the internet, Italy is fighting Cloudflare. What's up? Are football leagues big political donors?
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 8mo ago
  No usually the political figures are football league owners. Jokes aside, I don't know, the obsession with soccer is extreme in Italy. For people who don't care about soccer like I did, there is so much you have to endure just "because of soccer"
  - matwood 8mo ago
    It's not just Italy. The UK is also insane along with some cities in Spain. In the UK one of the rivalries supposedly goes back to the War of the Roses [1]. The way I describe EU football games to Americans is take the craziest student section at a US college football game and extrapolate that energy to the entire stadium. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_F.C.–Manchester_United_F.C._rivalry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_F.C.–Manchester_U...
- kaoD 8mo ago
  As usual, cronyism. In Spain's case Telefonica (largest telecom, used to be state owned) is private but has a large State participation and the government literally appointed the latest CEO. Guess who sells the largest football games as part of their expensive TV package? Guess who asked a judge to order the other telecoms to also block Cloudflare IPs?
  - mlrtime 8mo ago
    If this is true, and seems likely. There is some satisfaction seeing corrupt cronyism agencies getting slapped with a hard "NO" when they are used to getting what they want.
- nathanlied 8mo ago
  Football is extremely popular, and football clubs (and their owners) are quite influential (socially and politically). But it's a little bigger than that. EU is pushing for measures against live-event piracy[1], because they frame this as a systemic threat to cultural/economic systems, giving national regulators broad cover to act aggressively. While football is quite huge in Europe at large, the impact to GDP of these broadcasting rights is sub-1%; however, lobbyists have a disproportionate impact: you have the leagues themselves (LaLiga and Serie A for Spain and Italy respectively), you have the football clubs, and you've got broadcasters. Combined, they swing quite high, even if the actual capital in play is much lower than the total they represent. Add to this politicians who can frame these measures as "protecting our culture", get kickbacks in the form of free tickets to high profile games, see rapid action because blocks are immediately felt and very visible, and incentives for increased funding from regulatory agencies because "we need the budget to create the systems to coordinate this", and you can see how the whole system can push this way, even if it is a largely blunt instrument with massive collateral damage. [1] - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=intcom%3AC%282023%292853 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=intcom%3...
  - miohtama 8mo ago
    Football, the clubs, are also major driver of money laundering. Dirty cash buys a lot of politicians. https://www.comsuregroup.com/news/a-red-card-for-dirty-money-eu-targets-football-clubs-with-aml-rules-is-the-uk-falling-behind/ https://www.comsuregroup.com/news/a-red-card-for-dirty-money...
    - miki123211 8mo ago
      Yeah, in Europe, there tends to be an association between football fans and organized crime, just as there's one between unions and organized crime in the US. The kind of hooligans who love beating up the hooligans from the other team are also perfect from beating up the hooligans from the opposing drug cartel.
    - hexbin010 8mo ago
      A company that would profit from more regulations arguing for more regulations. No way !
- HDThoreaun 8mo ago
  Spain especially but southern europe in general has a really crappy economy. Soccer teams are some of the wealthiest organizations in these countries, which means theyre the ones who are able to fund politicians which means they can get laws passed.
- immibis 8mo ago
  Those football leagues are run by the literal Mafia

subsistence234 8mo ago

There's no accountability or due process. According to this brilliant law, if some crony with write-privilege adds your website to a list, the whole world has to ban your website within 30 minutes no questions asked.

selfmodruntime 8mo ago
Germany has an equivalent within the CUII, which is also a censorship branch of the government with no judicial oversight.
- nkmnz 8mo ago
  There is no such thing as "no judicial oversight" in Germany.
  - ceejayoz 8mo ago
    That overstates things somewhat. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llglrd/2019671118/2019671118.pdf https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llglrd/2019... > To some extent, judges are subordinated to a cabinet minister, and in most instances this is a minister of justice of either the federation or of one of the states. In Germany, the administration of justice, including the personnel matters of judges, is viewed as a function of the executive branch of government, even though it is carried out at the court level by the president of a court, and for the lower courts, there is an intermediate level of supervision through the president of a higher court. Ultimately, a cabinet minister is the top of this administrative structure. The supervision of judges includes appointment, promotion and discipline. Despite this involvement of the executive branch in the administration of justice, it appears that the independence of the German judiciary in making decisions from the bench is guaranteed through constitutional principles, statutory remedies, and institutional traditions that have been observed in the past fifty years. At times, however, the tensions inherent in this organizational framework become noticeable and allegations of undue executive influence are made.
    - 8mo ago

yibg 8mo ago

Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the 2. In this case it sounds like copyright in name but the implementation is such that it's a big hammer that can also be used for censorship if followed.