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Posted
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msmash
ry 12, 2026 @09:42AM
from the play-stupid-games-win-stupid-prizes dept.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has threatened to withdraw free cybersecurity services from Italy's Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics and potentially exit the country after Italy's telecommunications regulator fined the company approximately 14 million euros for failing to comply with anti-piracy blocking orders. The penalty equals 1% of Cloudflare's global annual revenue but exceeds twice what the company earned from Italy in 2024.
Prince called Italy's Autorita per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni a "quasi-judicial body" administering a "scheme to censor the Internet" on behalf of "a shadowy cabal of European media elites." The fine stems from Cloudflare's refusal to comply with Italy's Piracy Shield law, which requires internet service providers and DNS operators to block sites within 30 minutes of receiving blocking requests from copyright holders. Prince said Cloudflare may discontinue free services for Italian users, remove servers from Italian cities and cancel plans to build an Italian office.
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
bySnotnose ( 212196 ) writes:
I can't think of a bigger world wide stage than the Olympics. If Cloudflare takes their ball and goes home then their internet coverage goes to hell.
On the other hand, it would also show companies are bigger than countries and no longer have to follow their laws.
On the gripping hand, I'll just grab my popcorn and watch.
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bydrinkypoo ( 153816 ) writes:
On the other hand, it would also show companies are bigger than countries and no longer have to follow their laws.
It wouldn't change anything at all, as companies already don't have to follow a country's laws if they don't do business there. It would show that Italy can chase a company out of their country if they don't like the way they do business, which also wouldn't change anything. It would be a massive victory for... the status quo.
bySebby ( 238625 ) writes:
It would be a massive victory for... the status quo.
And the mafioso companies/organizations that create such stupid laws in the first place.
bymadbrain ( 11432 ) writes:
Which laws did companies create ?
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byJoe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) writes:
and when they FINE google for hosting?
bythegarbz ( 1787294 ) writes:
If Cloudflare takes their ball and goes home then their internet coverage goes to hell.
Cloudflare is not the internet, they are just one major player. Akamai or someone else is likely to fill any void.
byzoid.com ( 311775 ) writes:
Yes, do it!
byZ00L00K ( 682162 ) writes:
Leaving Italy would tell us if Cloudflare is necessary or not.
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bydunkelfalke ( 91624 ) writes:
I am sick and tired seeing cloudfare captchas. The sooner they are gone the better.
byAnamon ( 10465047 ) writes:
I don't like them either, but in a time of wanton scraping for LLMs, their value proposition is that the alternative would be the website not being reachable at all, or going offline entirely because the traffic becomes too expensive.
And who knows, they may even be right. I don't think it's unplausible when I look at the analytics of my own tiny static (unprotected) site, which is less than 500 kB total and barely indexed by search engines, yet generates hundreds of megabytes of traffic per day from LLM sc
bysmooth wombat ( 796938 ) writes:
On the other hand, it would also show companies are bigger than countries and no longer have to follow their laws.
Because that is an outcome we want. /s
byKisai ( 213879 ) writes:
Honestly, I'm just gonna say "do it". Cloudflare refuses to remove piracy from it's platform, not matter how blatant it is, and the most they will ever do is remove CSAM with any urgency.
byschwit1 ( 797399 ) writes:
If the UK wants to force Apple to backdoor their systems, Apple should shutdown Apple accounts and devices for UK government officials AND their families. Tell them to use Android.
The outcry would get the government to back off SO quickly.
Set a precedent.
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bydrinkypoo ( 153816 ) writes:
If the UK wants to force Apple to backdoor their systems, Apple should shutdown Apple accounts and devices for UK government officials AND their families.
Yeah, courts famously love it when corporations are actively hostile to lawmakers!
bydrinkypoo ( 153816 ) writes:
produce something and then maybe the world will care what you think.
You don't even have a name, nobody even knows who you are. You're a coward and no one will even have to forget you when you die because no one knows you now.
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bygreytree ( 7124971 ) writes:
Da, da, tovarish.
I'm sure everyone is Europe is miserable and spends all day dreaming of living in Putinstan.
byAnamon ( 10465047 ) writes:
The EU is not a state. The fact that you think it is makes me assume you're from the US, and that this is your way of somehow trying to cope that you're country is in the progress of rapidly passing them by... on the way down :)
byAnamon ( 10465047 ) writes:
*your
(How about an edit function, /.? 2026...)
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byAlworx ( 885008 ) writes:
Italy is not opening backdoors on any private personal system.
Italy wants to defend copyright holders and block pirate streaming services. Is that an absurd request?
byMrMacman2u ( 831102 ) writes:
The line between the two is blurrier than you think.
That's the issue, how much does it take before italy decides a start up competing with youtube is a piracy site because a user posts a chunk of pirated content?
The issue is that instead of following the existing due process of law to get sites like that removed the correct way; they're looking for easy, blanket attacks to apply with minimal effort and time. It's not about protecting copyright holders, it's about the money of a few corps taking over the law... because this is all that is.
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byMalc ( 1751 ) writes:
What's the existing due process of the law to do this in Italy?
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byjonwil ( 467024 ) writes:
The problem with takedown notices or other legal processes is that the soccer matches will be over before you can even start the proceedings.
byBaloroth ( 2370816 ) writes:
Congratulations! You just used "false dichotomy"! It's... not very effective. The situation isn't "follow the Italian law or copyright will be completely invalidated". The Italian law allows certain rightsholders (certain very rich ones, primarily the football industry) to apply immediate blanket IP bans with no judicial oversight or appeals process. It doesn't exist to protect the GPL. I doubt it even does, since only certain organizations can actually issue the takedown requests (I can't find details on how the law is implemented, but it certainly doesn't allow random rightsholders like you or I to issue blocking requests).
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byrta ( 559125 ) writes:
All I see here is that CloudFlare will defend a company to pirate Linux and other open source projects because they refuse to enforce copyright blocks.
who "pirates linux" ? i mean arguably you could say Android, Netgear, and the majority of IoT and networking device companies because like most of them don't even publish code, and those that do it tends to be old and hard to compile...
But i don't think anyone's asking CloudFlare to block those sites or all retailers to not sell those products.
Anyway... CloudFlare and especially their DNS is about as "infrastructure" as companies get and they need to be protected from willy nilly meddling in their ope
byserafean ( 4896143 ) writes:
Depends on the way it's done. If you want to see the Internet stop being a Common Carrier and have only approved content, then root for the Italian way.
bypeppepz ( 1311345 ) writes:
It's the law that is absurd, though. Italy's "piracy shield" forces all service providers (including DNS and VPN vendors) to block any IP address or domain name that they put on a blacklist, within 30 minutes from publication. Only Italy's equivalent of the MPAA are allowed to add to that list: you can't use the system to protect your own copyrighted works, only the media oligarchs can. There is no appeal procedure if you are unjustly blocked.
Last year "piracy shield" disabled Google Drive in the whole country for a day because someone had shared links to watch football matches on a Google Docs document.
That said, it's not lost on me that Cloudflare expect themselves to be above the law, and that they don't want anyone to rule the internet because they want to be the gatekeepers themselves.
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byDamnOregonian ( 963763 ) writes:
Italy wants to defend copyright holders and block pirate streaming services. Is that an absurd request?
Ironic question given the birthplace of fascism.
Of course the request isn't absurd. The implementation is.
After all- wanting the trains to run on time isn't an absurd goal. Jailing people until they do is, however, an absurd implementation. Something Italy is (in)famous for at this point.
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byZ00L00K ( 682162 ) writes:
And Apple will lose a lot of customers while the UK will see it as a reason to not allow roaming for any Apple devices.
bySumDog ( 466607 ) writes:
They do allow doxing .... but it's for public figures. They also do not tolerate harassment or calls for violence. Most of the people who end up getting doxed are terrible people who have abused others, talked openly about rape, advocate for sexually abusing children or adults ... like, they're lolcows. Should terrible people be protected from their own statements being archives forever and their actions? .. I mean, you can make the case for that. Hackernews actively defends Drew Devault, locking and flaggi
byCharlotte ( 16886 ) writes:
They're not as big as people think, they're just the loudest.
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byabulafia ( 7826 ) writes:
Cloudflare has entirely too much control over the internet.
Italy is a censorious, protectionist crab.
Let them fight.
(To be fair, Prince is not the sort of crazy asshole chasing unstated goals that you'd expect to be in his role. I've disagreed with several of his choices, but I've never seen much of a hint of hidden motives or short-sighted greed. But he's human, and even if he stays perfectly aligned with the "forces of good", whatever that means, he won't be there forever. And they have too much power now.)
(As far as Italy goes, my first statement was fair.)
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byalantus ( 882150 ) writes:
Arrivederci CloudFlare! Won't miss you!
Not that I support blocking anything.
byArsenneLupin ( 766289 ) writes:
Music and Film Industry Association Europe?
bydavidwr ( 791652 ) writes:
Cutting customers off on less than a month's notice is very bad for your own reputation.
Better option from a PR standpoint:
* Pay the fine, then appeal it. Paying first make you look like a good corporate citizen in the eyes of the rest of the world.
* Immediately stop accepting new customers in Italy.
* Tell all existing customers in Italy that you are declaring Force majeure and ending their services in 90 days.
* Let it be known that the above notices will be rescinded if you reach an amicable agreement with the government that allows you to provide services without the risk of cost-prohibitive fines, including a reduction of the fine to something that you consider reasonable.
In other words, leave Italy but do it on terms that don't make your non-Italian customers worried that you may cut them off on short notice.
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byroman_mir ( 125474 ) writes:
Why pay it, who cares about looking good in anyone's eyes, especially to look good as a 'corporate citizen', whatever t.f. that means? putin can start a land grab war and his minions are absolutely clear https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] that they want to destroy Ukraine as a nation and to make sure there are no such people as Ukrainians. Trump attacks countries with force to kidnap presidents (and not putin, notice, he didn't kidnap a mass murderer) and he is open about using Venezuela for his own purpose
bythegarbz ( 1787294 ) writes:
Cutting customers off on less than a month's notice is very bad for your own reputation.
But it's Italy's fault. That's the play here. That's always the play when a company fights a government with such a threat. Cloudflare will claim they were forced to do this, and in a twisted view of the situation they were.
In other words, leave Italy but do it on terms that don't make your non-Italian customers worried that you may cut them off on short notice.
I don't know about that. I actively applaud companies who remind the world that business continuity plans need to exist, and that end users should fight against ridiculous laws by the government. Non-Italian customers may think twice about letting their governments pass fascist laws if i
byclivedon ( 10477540 ) writes:
You must have missed the part where the fine is more than twice what CloudFlare made from Italy in a year. If Italy threatened my company with such a fine, I'd pull out of there, too!
byallo ( 1728082 ) writes:
If Cloudflare wins, it shows companies can shit on local laws.
If Cloudflare loses, it shows DNS censorship can be enforced and pressuring more DNS providers will follow.
byJoe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) writes:
can they sue private toll roads? trucking firms?
for moving
Knock off goods?
Items that are not licensed?
Stuff sold in secondary markets?
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