Thread

1. nottorp · 1789896214 · focus · HN ↗

   Apparently all of south western europe blocks half the internet in the name of football. Besides Spain there's also Italy, France, Portugal and surprisingly the UK somewhat.

   1. chronogamous · 1789898756 · focus · HN ↗

      Your comment has got me genuinely intrigued. Would you care to elaborate how football has anything to do with the internet at all? (I'm writing this from northern Europe & as someone who has been avoiding football like the plague most of his life)

      1. OtherShrezzing · 1789899412 · focus · HN ↗

         The UK’s premier league tv rights are worth a little bit over £1bn/yr. The rights holders are tv companies who also run most of the UK’s domestic telecoms, so they lobby incredibly hard and effectively to have pirate match streaming sites blocked.

         1. mitxela · 1789904912 · focus · HN ↗

            There was a movement in the US over the past decade or so for media companies to buy up ISPs for the sole purpose of being able to apply blocking.

            1. TitaRusell · 1789910510 · focus · HN ↗

               At least in theory the blocking in EU has to go through a judge.

               Blocking itself is ofcourse not at all controversial in Europe. Aside from some free speech maximalists people have no problem with shutting down criminal operations.

               1. mitxela · 1789911734 · focus · HN ↗

                  How do you know it's illegal if a judge hasn't ruled? In parts of Europe it's illegal to call someone's operations illegal if a judge hasn't ruled it.

                  1. nottorp · 1789912767 · focus · HN ↗

                     In this case a judge who clearly does not use the internet for anything has ruled.
            2. lotsofpulp · 1789969170 · focus · HN ↗

               Comcast (an ISP) purchased NBC Universal in 2013, ATT (also an IPS) purchased Time Warner in 2018. But that was it, and both of those deals ended up being bad for the ISPs, with ATT already divested of Time Warner and Comcast trying to get rid of NBC Universal or whatever is left of it.

               I do not think blocking websites was a goal in either of those mergers, they were just trying to become big like Apple/Amazon/etc and not just be a dumb pipe like ISPs should be.

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