France Passes New Anti-Piracy Bill Targeting Sports Streams

The French Senate approved a new anti-piracy bill this week that allows rightsholders to automatically block pirate websites without going through the country’s telecoms regulator Arcom.

This marks a significant shift in France’s approach to combating online piracy.

New Powers for Real-Time Blocking

The ‘Lafon’ bill amends Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, giving rightsholders the ability to use fully automated systems for blocking piracy targets like sports streaming sites.

Internet service providers must now implement these blocks “without delay,” speeding up the process for constantly updating livestreams of pirated sports content.

This automated approach puts France on par with similar blocking regimes already active in Italy, Spain, and the UK. Anti-piracy groups like the MPA are pushing for this in the U.S.

The bill doesn’t specify exact blocking methods but allows judges to target server IP addresses, paving the way for IP-address blocking at the network level.

Secret Agreement with Major ISPs

Sports rightsholder group APPS has reportedly reached a private agreement with major French ISPs including Orange, SFR, Bouygues Télécom, and Free.

This agreement, in development since 2023, covers technical implementation details and cost responsibilities for the new blocking system.

Xavier Spender from APPS, which represents beIN Sports, Canal+, and Eurosport, explained their goal:

“We want to bring ourselves up to the level of the English, Spanish, and Italians, by implementing IP blocking adapted to the French context.”

Fighting the “Piracy Mafia”

The push comes as an estimated 37% of Ligue 1 viewers currently watch football matches illegally. DAZN’s general manager noted that while England can block 10,000 links in two days and Italy blocks 18,000, France’s current system only manages 5,000 blocks per year through Arcom.

Spender described the piracy threat as “mafia groups at the head of a piracy economy, with a model that resembles drug trafficking.”

Final Thoughts

This automated blocking system represents France’s most aggressive anti-piracy effort yet.

While rightsholders claim safeguards will prevent overblocking, recent incidents in Spain and Italy show the risks of expanded blocking powers.

The “success” of this approach will depend on proper implementation and oversight to avoid collateral damage to legitimate websites.

For more information on this story refer to the article from l’Informé and the report from TorrentFreak.

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