For once, we cannot accuse administrative slowness in France in view of the results published by ARCOM in the hunt against sports streaming sites.
The followers of these pirate sites have potentially realized this for themselves when looking for their usual platform, which has become untraceable.
ARCOM cleans up online…
The Authority for the Regulation of Audiovisual and Digital Communication (ARCOM) has been working hard since its establishment on 1er January 2022. At least, this public regulatory authority has reinforced powers which, according to its results after six months of existence, are being used effectively. It is particularly in the context of the fight against illegal sports streaming that ARCOM has worked throughout this year.
And during his hearing by the Committee for Culture, Education and Communication, the president of ARCOM, Mr. Roch-Olivier Maistre, welcomed the new legal framework available to this regulator. This simply allowed him, in one semester, to halve sports piracy in France. A formidable efficiency supported by a more effective legal framework, like article L333-10 of the Sports Code.
We can read in the II: The president of the judicial court may in particular order, if necessary under penalty, the implementation, for each of the days appearing on the official calendar of the competition or sporting event, within the limit of a period of twelve months, of all measures proportionate, such as blocking or withdrawal or delisting measures […] “. And among these so-called proportionate measures, there is the formidable weapon of dereferencing on the one hand, and the blocking of domain names on the other.
… and it is effectively helped by Google
Thus, between January and June 2022, no less than 800 domain names of sites illegally streaming sports content were blocked in France. A record result which can be explained in particular by the cooperation of Google. And this, without an injunction from a judicial authority.
Google’s voluntarism is explained in particular by the fact of saving time, since as soon as the illegal streaming is proven, the rights holder can seize the court, which will immediately order Google to cut the whistle to the culprit. As things stand, Google therefore accepts requests directly from broadcast rights holders, for example from Canal+ regarding the MotoGP world championships.
Google would not be the only search engine going in the direction of ARCOM since Bing would do the same according to TorrentFreak. And you, what do you think of the results obtained by ARCOM?
Sources: Article L333-10 of the Sports Code, TorrentFreak, Senate official website
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