Movistar's blocks spread and now hit Champions League matches
Movistar has been granted the power to block IPs of any pirated Champions League broadcast, but the blocks hit legitimate websites. Users are turning to VPNs and Ace Stream.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Movistar extends blocks to the Champions League: collateral damage and pirate alternatives
A ruling by Commercial Court number 9 in Barcelona has granted Movistar Plus+ the power to block IP addresses streaming pirated Champions League, golf or tennis content. The problem is that those IPs often host hundreds of legitimate websites, which are knocked offline for hours. The debate, far from focusing on copyright protection, revolves around the collateral damage of a measure some describe as "totalitarian" and which could leave people without access to essential services.
Blocks that take down more than they protect
The main argument is that blocking an IP over piracy also takes down legal websites sharing the same address. It is not hard to imagine critical scenarios: a hospital unable to access medical records, or a 112 emergency call blocked. "We will see the day someone dies because of this," reads one of the analyses. The tech community points out that the workaround is to use a VPN, but that does not solve the underlying problem: the drift towards an internet throttled by private interests.
Football in decline and the flight to alternatives
At the same time, the declining audience for traditional football is being discussed. Generation Z no longer watches it, and many lifelong fans have been displaced by profiles that are not the advertising target. Meanwhile, the blocks have boosted the use of systems like Ace Stream, which offers better quality than the official platforms. Nobody misses the irony: "Thanks to Movistar, the pirate watches the Champions League in better quality than the subscriber."
The question nobody answers is how far this extension of censorship in the service of private interests will go. For now, the battle is fought between the firewall and the VPN, while football bleeds out and viewers look for alternatives.
Related discussions in the forum
A ruling by Commercial Court number 9 in Barcelona has granted Movistar Plus+ the power to block IP addresses streaming pirated Champions League, golf or tennis content. The problem is that those IPs often host hundreds of legitimate websites, which are knocked offline for hours. The debate, far from focusing on copyright protection, revolves around the collateral damage of a measure some describe as "totalitarian" and which could leave people without access to essential services.
Blocks that take down more than they protect
The main argument is that blocking an IP over piracy also takes down legal websites sharing the same address. It is not hard to imagine critical scenarios: a hospital unable to access medical records, or a 112 emergency call blocked. "We will see the day someone dies because of this," reads one of the analyses. The tech community points out that the workaround is to use a VPN, but that does not solve the underlying problem: the drift towards an internet throttled by private interests.
Football in decline and the flight to alternatives
At the same time, the declining audience for traditional football is being discussed. Generation Z no longer watches it, and many lifelong fans have been displaced by profiles that are not the advertising target. Meanwhile, the blocks have boosted the use of systems like Ace Stream, which offers better quality than the official platforms. Nobody misses the irony: "Thanks to Movistar, the pirate watches the Champions League in better quality than the subscriber."
The question nobody answers is how far this extension of censorship in the service of private interests will go. For now, the battle is fought between the firewall and the VPN, while football bleeds out and viewers look for alternatives.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (23 replies).
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