Italy's financial police, at the request of the prosecutor's office of the city of Bari, sequestered 17 Telegram channels on Monday for distributing newspapers, magazines and books in violation of copyright law and warned about the messenger's full blockage unless it suspended the pirate channels
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th April, 2020) Italy's financial police, at the request of the prosecutor's office of the city of Bari, sequestered 17 Telegram channels on Monday for distributing newspapers, magazines and books in violation of copyright law and warned about the messenger's full blockage unless it suspended the pirate channels.
The financial police's Col. Pierluca Cassano told Sputnik that Italian communication watchdog AGCOM would request Telegram earlier on Monday to block the pirate channels.
"If Telegram fails to stop the distribution of this information, AGCOM can order Italian providers to block access to it [Telegram]," he added.
He stressed that "the problem is not with the messenger itself," but with the pirate resources. They must be removed, otherwise Italy would block Telegram
According to the financial police, the move came after Italy's federation of newspaper and magazine publishers (FIEG) asked to urgently block Telegram, complaining that Italian newspapers lose 670,000 Euros ($727,000) daily due to its pirated channels. In total, they say, their annual losses may amount to 250 million euros.
