Spanish court orders ISPs to hand over piracy users’ data
February 11, 2026
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The net is closing in on viewers of illegal pay-TV streams in Spain after a court judge ordered leading internet service providers to disclose the identities of customers suspected of watching pirate football.
In a ruling sought by Spain’s top-flight football body, LaLiga, the Commercial Court No. 1 of Córdoba has instructed seven telcos to provide the names, national ID numbers, and postal and email addresses linked to IP addresses allegedly used to access unauthorised broadcasts of professional matches via peer-to-peer (P2P) services.
The order, signed by Judge Antonio Fuentes Bujalance, grants LaLiga access to what the court describes as the “necessary information” to determine whether to initiate legal proceedings — and against whom. In effect, it arms the competition’s governing body with the data required to pursue individual consumers suspected of infringing intellectual property rights.
The ruling applies to Vodafone, MasOrange, Orange Espagne, Orange España Virtual, MásMóvil, Digi and Telefónica. They are required to hand over the data directly to LaLiga through a secure channel, without the need for prior submission in open court. The request covers IP addresses detected from the start of the current season on August 17th 2025 through to its conclusion on May 24th 2026, and extends to users identified as participating in so-called ‘mirror channels’ linked to Ace Stream.
Judge Fuentes argued that the court in Córdoba has jurisdiction on the grounds that online sports streaming is territorially “universal”. If a user accesses an illegal broadcast from Córdoba, he contends, the alleged infringement is committed there. The ruling also adopts a modern interpretation of the concept of an ‘illicit copy’, recognising the existence of ‘virtual copies’ distributed digitally rather than through physical media.
The decision comes amid mounting controversy over LaLiga’s aggressive anti-piracy strategy. In recent months, large-scale blocking measures — authorised by court orders — have resulted in hundreds of unrelated websites and digital services becoming temporarily inaccessible during matchdays, prompting criticism that the league is “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.
LaLiga has also started offering financial incentives for reporting establishments that screen pirated matches. With this latest judicial backing, however, the focus appears to be shifting firmly towards individual end-users.
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