The barriers of the Web are growing. And the "surfers" take countermeasures. Effective but risky. Authoritarian regimes are placing barriers in the way of the Internet who fear the flow of information. But also, and for some reason they have it, streaming platforms that bind subscriptions to individual countries. But if technology blocks the way, technology finds the "solutions". Forcing web blocks is possible and simple too. There is TOR, the browser that hides both our identity and our geographical origin; there are VPNs, virtual networks that create a tunnel on the Internet as if it were an underground hole, protected and safe, to navigate wherever we want. But what is the boundary of the licit and the illicit, ethically understandable and simple fraud? Not everything is clear. Even the evolution of regulations shows many gray areas. A tutorial published by explains it FIRST Tutorials created thanks to the collaboration of a specialized law firm: Modo Legal.
If I use a VPN to watch Italian matches through a US platform, I am certainly committing an offence. "Why broadcasting rights are territorial and this means – explain the lawyers Gianluca Fera and Valerio Vicenzi – that I can use my season ticket exclusively on a national level, and for this I am liable for prosecution”. So much so that “agreements between the players of these services are recommended at European level, which ensure that VPN and TOR are used only on a territorial basis. We try to encourage lawful and virtuous behavior because prosecuting offenses in this sector is very complicated". However “technologies change and dictate the market. Siae is also investing heavily in blockchain technologies not to be left out. Authors' rights must be guaranteed, but surely we also need to rethink the logic of the law itself in this field”.
But can they track us if we use Tor or Vpn? “In fact, an answer is impossible. It is the classic case of an ever more refined technology, contrasted by equally refined and changeable technological means. From a regulatory point of view, then, the relationship between law and technology is like that between Achilles and the tortoise in Zeno's famous paradox, one chasing the other, without ever being able to catch up with it. The law pursues new technologies and hardly anticipates them”. And so using an off-the-job VPN at work to view otherwise blocked sites can also cause us problems. “Employees who violate the ban on the private use of company assets are therefore exposed to a disciplinary sanction the severity of which will naturally depend on the seriousness of the violation".
