From May 18, France is testing real-time IP blocking against pirate IPTV during Roland-Garros, before the World Cup. If the technical device promises to be formidable, it is not completely without risk.
Roland-Garros will not only serve as a playground for tennis players. From May 18, the Paris Grand Slam tournament becomes the first full-scale test bed of a new anti-piracy system based on blocking IP addresses in real time. A small revolution in the fight against illicit IPTV services, these subscriptions sold between 50 and 100 euros per year which give access to all the channels and platforms without spending money. Details of this very sensitive device were revealed by The Informed.
From domain blocking to IP blocking: why it changes everything
Until now, French law only allowed the blocking of domain names of pirate sites. A cumbersome procedure, which can stretch over several days, perfectly incompatible with the broadcast of a 90-minute match. The new device directly targets the IP addresses of the source servers, theoretically allowing an interruption during the broadcast itself.
The system relies on a well-established trio. On the one hand, rights holders track pirate streams in real time. On the other hand, internet service providers (Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Free) are responsible for technically shutting off the floodgates. In the middle, the Arcom plays the referees and supervises everything. This strategy is led by the Association for the Protection of Sports Programs (APPS), an association which brings together the heavyweights of the sector, from Canal+ to the LFP via France Télévisions, beIN Sports and Eurosport.
Roland-Garros, training ground before the World Cup
The choice of tournament owes nothing to chance. Unlike an evening football match, Roland-Garros takes place during the day and over several weeks, which offers a much more comfortable testing window to refine the system. The objective is to break it in before committing it to a much more massive challenge: the Football World Cup, scheduled from June 11 to July 19.
Also read: New victory for Canal Plus: to watch Formula 1, Internet users will no longer be able to use VPNs and illegal IPTV
France, European red lantern in the fight against piracy
France’s delay in this area is considerable. Since 2022, the country has blocked around 15,700 illegal sports sites. The Spanish Liga blocks 30,000 IP addresses on a single day of the championship, according to The Echoes. Spain invests 12 million euros per year against piracy and claims a 60% drop in pirate streams during matches. The difference in speed sums up the gulf: six days at normal pace in France to block a pirate site, compared to a maximum of thirty minutes on the other side of the Pyrenees. It is precisely this inertia that the Roland-Garros test is supposed to begin to fill.
The risk of overblocking, blind spot of the device
Blocking by IP address poses a concrete technical problem: the same server can simultaneously host pirate sites and perfectly legal services. Blocking an IP therefore amounts to indiscriminately hitting everything running on the same infrastructure. To limit this risk, Arcom has provided several safeguards. A whitelist of untouchable addresses will be established, in particular those of the infrastructures of the ISPs themselves. Initially, it will also be impossible to block an IP corresponding to a shared server. Finally, the blocking windows will be limited to the duration of the broadcasts concerned, with the possibility of direct appeal.
Precautions that some observers consider insufficient. Zero risk does not exist when a server hosts mixed content, and a recent European report already concluded that this type of device is struggling to prove itself. If a rights holder mistakenly blocks legitimate addresses, it is he who assumes responsibility.
Also read: Streaming, IPTV, VPN: Arcom calls for automated and immediate blocking
The Lafon law in ambush
The Roland-Garros test takes place at constant law, without waiting for the vote on the Lafon bill in the National Assembly. This text, already adopted by the Senate and examined in the Cultural Affairs Committee on May 13, aims to automate and accelerate the process: after an initial court decision, rights holders and ISPs could directly exchange new pirate addresses via a system controlled by Arcom, without the intermediary procedures which currently slow down the reaction. The text must still go to plenary session on an undetermined date. Everything that will be learned during Roland-Garros will be used to prepare this future legal framework.
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