The Italian digital landscape is once again shaken by a story centered on Piracy Shield, the well-known anti-piracy platform managed by AgCom in collaboration with SP Tech. This system, previously at the center of controversy for having mistakenly blocked IP addresses of legitimate sites, is now facing a much more serious challenge: the theft and publication online of its source code. The leak, which saw the light on GitHub, includes a wide range of sensitive information, from the user interface to data models, through storage management, filesystem, up to the API and internal documentation. The entity behind this act has not yet been identified, however, the action has raised a wave of criticism towards Piracy Shield, accused by many of acting more as a tool of censorship than a solution to online piracy.
The situation becomes further complicated considering recent reports that the platform is responsible for blocking 15 IP addresses belonging to Akamai, the largest Content Delivery Network in the world. This discovery, made through Piracy Shield Search, further fueled the debate on the legitimacy and effectiveness of this tool. MP Giulia Pastorella, a member of Action, expressed strong concern about the latest developments, urging immediate intervention to resolve the problems highlighted and prevent potential abuse. Her request follows the revelation that hundreds of providers had received credentials to access Piracy Shield in early February, underscoring the difficulties encountered by the platform.
The publication of the Piracy Shield source code on GitHub represents a serious blow for AgCom and SP Tech, who find themselves having to manage not only the possible request for removal of the code but also the legal and security ramifications that derive from it. The author of the leak, who uses the pseudonym “Fuckpiracyshield”, seems to want to send a clear message of protest, denouncing Piracy Shield as a dangerous vehicle of censorship rather than an effective anti-piracy tool.