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Google Drive blocked: the challenges of Piracy Shield and the implications of accidental lockdown

How a simple technical error blocked Google Drive in Italy, highlighting the critical issues in a fight against piracy involving tech giants and national institutions

Google Drive was blocked by mistake by Piracy Shield, causing problems for users. The incident raises questions about the effectiveness of the protection system and the selection of safe domains. Discussions are now underway on how to improve these mechanisms to avoid future disruptions.

This pill is also available in Italian language

An incident of erroneous blocking has seen Google Drive hit by Piracy Shield, the Italian national platform designed to combat pirate streaming. Reports initially addressed to illegal sites led, at 6:56 p.m. on Saturday 19 October, to the blackout of the domain drive.usercontent.google.com, essential for the functioning of Google Drive. Users, including businesses and educational institutions, found themselves unable to download files, with an increase in reports on Downdetector on YouTube and on Drive itself. The incident highlights the difficulty of managing piracy reports and the importance of stricter criteria to avoid blocking resources not related to piracy. Google, in fact, has already proven to be a collaborative partner with Agcom in the fight against illegal content.

An inadequate whitelist

The whitelist used by Piracy Shield does not appear to include all critical domains, as demonstrated by Google's block. It currently numbers around 11,000 entries, but evidently does not include some of the most significant resources on the web. This incident has raised questions about the methods used to select domains to protect and prompts the question of what other resources may be excluded from such protection. Piracy complaints are forwarded to ISPs, who must act within 30 minutes to block reported sites; therefore, an automated system becomes inevitable, increasing the risk of errors. Only two service providers, Tim and Wind3, promptly changed their settings to restore access to Drive, raising further questions about the consistency of ISPs' actions in these cases.

Institutional reactions and consequences

Following the events, Giulia Pastorella announced a parliamentary question to Agcom to discuss the use of the Piracy Shield platform. Google, in the meantime, is evaluating the consequences and has not yet decided whether to file a formal appeal, although it is clear that a review of current policies will be necessary to avoid similar situations in the future. The current rules of the national authority allow five days for appeals, but the Google case highlights a clear need for more responsive and efficient processes, especially when dealing with tech giants.

An illogical system for the current context

The technology behind Piracy Shield has been criticized for its inadequacy for the needs of the modern web. Designed with the support of sports resources, the platform does not consider the complexity of shared addresses, wrongly penalizing legitimate sites. Recently introduced legislative amendments seek to expand the powers of Piracy Shield, allowing the blocking of IP addresses even if only a fraction of them are involved in illicit activity. It remains to be seen whether, following this significant error, corrective action will be taken to ensure that such powerful control tools do not cause further harmful disruption. The actual distribution of powers and oversight of their application remain critical points to be addressed.

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10/20/2024 08:56

Marco Verro

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