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April 27, 2020 Seventeen Telegram channels, which have released pirated copies of newspapers and books online, have been seized by the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Bari side guard, on the order of the assistant prosecutor Roberto Rossi. The power of attorney hypothesizes the crimes of money laundering, receiving stolen goods, abusive access to an IT or telematic system, theft and violation of copyright law against persons being identified. The seizure was notified to five legal representatives of the company that manages Telegram and to Agcom.

Thousands of files in pdf format have been stolen from the computer systems of numerous publishing companies of magazines, newspapers and books protected by security measures. The material was then unlawfully transferred to numerous Telegram channels, to allow a widespread as well as abusive free-to-air distribution of thousands of magazines, newspapers and books. The Guardia di Finanza has been given a mandate to contact the managers of Telegram to inhibit the channels that have allowed the pirated copies to be placed on the net. The investigation was born from the complaint of the Fieg (Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers), presented on April 10 to the Agcom (Authority for guarantees in communications), which had asked for the intervention of the judicial authority, for a more incisive action by contrast to the phenomenon of digital piracy.