Forcing web blocks, perhaps to access our movie streaming subscription while we're on another continent? Possible, but almost certainly illegal. On the other hand, it is difficult not to understand the reasons of those who do it in the name of the fight against those who obscure the network by denying any democratic expression. There is no shortage of examples: during the Arab Spring a few years ago there were numerous testimonies from young demonstrators who entrusted their requests to the web, overcoming the strict censorship on the Internet operated by the regimes where they live. After all, it is precisely in this way that the technologies that allow for browse virtually anonymously on the web, making tracking and control very difficult and at the same time allowing you to reach otherwise banned sites. Just think that in China it is still not possible to use Facebook, Whatsapp and other social applications to understand how the phenomenon of online censorship is always current.
More trivially, using the techniques that hide the starting address, or allow you to overcome blocks to some sites, can also be useful for us who live in democratic regimes: the classic example concerns watching sporting events while staying abroad, or when you want to navigate from computers that are not strictly personal without it being possible to track what we do. The big question mark is: is all of this legal?
Tor and VPN, what they are and how they work
There are currently two tools used by the vast majority of people who want to safeguard their privacy online: TOR and VPNs. TOR is one anonymous network, which uses a global network of protected nodes widespread on the planet also with the collaboration of private individuals. It has a structure similar to a layered cobweb (TOR is the acronym of The Onion Router) and allows you to protect your data as long as you use Tor Browser on its network, which among other things allows you to reach Also hidden sites (with all the legal questions that should also be asked in this case) not reachable with normal browsers.
In practice, using the TOR browser, free and derived from the "normal" Mozilla Firefox browser, you can navigate in peace, hiding your tracks from any checks and interceptions, thanks to the modified browser and protected network. It is the preferred method of those who, within totalitarian regimes, seek to consult, exchange information and data.
Usage is extremely simple: just download the TOR browser from Official site of the project to be able to immediately start browsing in perfect anonymity, even if browsing is often slow, due to the path of our data which takes very complex routes precisely to overcome geographical blocks. In any case, messaging and mail systems can also be used, remaining within the protected network.
VPN, an acronym for Virtual Private Network, is sort of private network, not interceptable, which is established between the sender and the recipient. The basis of how a VPN works is the alteration of the VPN address, which will appear to come from the VPN server address and not from the current location. In practice, using a VPN you can connect to a site making it believe that you are calling from a location that is not the real starting point.
The VPN is very often used in working environments, to create a secure tunnel between the user and your office for example, and thus allow you to use the office services exactly as if you were connected from the internal office network. In this way, for example, all the applications of the internal intranet can be used, applications that are normally not reachable from the outside and from the Internet. Using a VPN is also a way to bypass site blocks, and it's the only way to use apps like Whatsapp in China, which are blocked as we mentioned above. You connect to the VPN from within China, but making the Chinese internet believe you are connected from other countries, perhaps Germany, from which access to social networks is free.
Using a VPN is very easy, just install a software on your PC or phone and select the country from which you want to believe you are connected. At that point the virtual tunnel is established and the connection continues securely. There are some VPNs that you can install for free, but it's highly recommended that you use a paid VPN, like VPN Express.
The heart of the matter
As football and sports enthusiasts well know, watching games in streaming, in a legal manner, is always bound to a subscriber linked to the territory: if you move to another country it will not be possible to watch sporting events, as usually the subscription allows viewing only from the country of origin. Streaming cinema, for example Netflix, is also linked to the territory where the subscription is made.
And this is where VPNs can come in handy. But is their use allowed or not? If of course this is not a question to ask when the need is to overcome censorship in authoritarian regimes, the use of these systems in countries like ours, where a VPN (free or paid) can be installed without problems, the question raises (must ask) more than one question. For orientation, here is a guide created with the collaboration of the lawyers Gianluca Fera and Valerio Vicenzi, of the Modo Legal studio, experts in the rules governing the use of new technologies.
Am I committing an offense if I use a VPN to watch Italian matches through a US platform?
Yes, because the broadcasting rights are territorial and this means that I can only use my subscription in a national context, and for this I am liable for prosecution. “Tor and Vpn – says the lawyer. Fera – are like lockpicks capable of undermining the principle of territoriality of audiovisual rights. Sports event organizers sell audiovisual broadcasting rights on multiple platforms (so-called bundles) which are then resold on a territorial basis. With Tor and VPN bypasses this limit. At European level, agreements between the players of these services are recommended, 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".
Do international regulations come into play?
Fera: “The European Parliament is pushing for territoriality and geoblocking, therefore control on a territorial basis. The important thing is that the rights of third parties are not violated. One solution is that VPN and Tor can only work on a territorial basis, like Raiplay, but it would be a contradiction for the "libertarian" applications of these technologies. Or you could think of one territorial portability but on a subjective basis, i.e. whoever has territorial rights should be able to take them around the world on the basis of end-user license agreements”.
Vicenzi points out: “technologies change and dictate the market. Siae is also investing heavily in blockchain technologies so as not to be left out. The rights of the authors must be guaranteed, but surely we also need to rethinking the logic of law himself in this field”.
They can track me if I use TOR o VPN?
In fact, an answer is impossible. It is the classic case of an ever more refined technology contrasted by equally refined and changing 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 chases the other, without ever being able to catch up with it. The law follows new technologies and hardly anticipates them; he photographs reality in a given moment, trying to provide answers to the new needs that technology poses, and when it succeeds, technology has already churned out new and completely unsuspected solutions, which have to give a new answer.
Does using a VPN at work to view otherwise blocked sites, or even just private mail on your home PC, constitute an illegal practice?
According to Atty. Vicenzi “any employee who violates the ban on the private use of company assets is exposed to a disciplinary sanction, the severity of which will naturally depend on the seriousness of the violation. To stick to your examples, using the company PC to visit banned sites, even if using a tool (the VPN) owned by the employee, is certainly more serious than to consult one's personal mail, but obviously it also depends on the moment and the duration of the denied access. For example if I do it for eight hours a day during working hours, or if I just connect for two minutes to check if I have received an email. The fact that the VPN is paid for by the employee is irrelevant. If I use the company fuel card and telepass reserved only for work missions to go on holiday with the family, I am committing an offence, even if the car is mine. Naturally, if the illicit activity of the employee were to constitute a type of crime, he would also be liable for it criminally. For example, if I use the company credit card to purchase personal goods, I commit the crime of embezzlement provided for and punished by art. 646 of the penal code.
But are these ultimately technologies to help the oppressed or to favor the clever?
Technology is a tool, it doesn't have its own positive or negative value: it can be used to spread repressed voices in dictatorial regimes or to watch broadcasts without paying for the rights. Think of a spade: created for noble intentions, however, it can also be used as an offensive weapon.
Technologies and regulations are in constant evolution, and also adapt to the needs of the times. According to the lawyer Vicenzi “Covid has made us anticipate the times thanks to the fact of having to rethink a world that can work remotely and via video call. The future developments that must be taken into account are the areas of artificial intelligence, which is developing a lot, and new interests such as electronic sport”.
