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   "Network blocking is never going to be the solution"  Cloudflare slams   
   anti-piracy tactics   
      
   Date:   
   Fri, 28 Feb 2025 14:07:10 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Amid European countries' ever-more aggressive tactics, Cloudflare suggests we   
   should think of any type of internet block as censorship and calls for more   
   transparency.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
      
   Increasingly, countries, especially in Europe, have been enforcing strict   
   measures lately to halt the spread of pirated content. Yet, Cloudflare, a   
   leading DNS server provider, told TechRadar that "network blocking is never   
   going to be the solution. "    
      
   DNS providers were the first to be targeted with blocking orders and lawsuits   
   by French, Spanish, and Italian authorities. However, these authorities have   
   now begun targeting some of the best VPN services on similar grounds.   
   Technologists, however, have long warned that these tactics lead to   
   disproportionate overblocking incidents while undermining people's internet   
   freedom.    
      
   "Those kinds of network blocking efforts are having collateral effects and    
   are ruining the internet," Vice President and Global Head of Public Policy at   
   Cloudflare , Alissa Starzak, told TechRadar, suggesting we should think of    
   any internet block as censorship.   
      
   Why are DNS and VPNs the target of rightsholders?   
      
   Short for domain name system, a DNS acts as the internet phone book. It   
   essentially translates users' requests into strings of numbers  IP addresses   
   to connect them with the right websites on the web. DNS servers are then   
   essential to navigate the internet, making these services a target of censors   
   and, like in this case, rightholders alike.    
      
    A virtual private network (VPN) is then a security software that masks    
   users' real IP addresses. While this skill is crucial to bypass strict   
   government-imposed internet restrictions, it can also be used as a workaround   
   to current anti-piracy tactics that involve blocking access to piracy sites   
   based on users' browsing location. This is exactly what some European   
   rightsholders want to prevent.    
      
   After a successful legal action against DNS services last year, French   
   streaming giant Canal+ now wants to block VPN usage , too. It has teamed up   
   with France's professional football league agency, Ligue de Football   
   Professionel (LFP), to issue court orders against the likes of NordVPN ,   
   ProtonVPN , CyberGhost , ExpressVPN , and Surfshark .    
      
   Italy has also announced plans to upgrade its infamous Piracy Shield system    
   to extend blackout orders against VPNs and public DNS providers.    
   Specifically, rightsholders can demand piracy-related domain names and IP   
   addresses suspected of copyright infringement to be blocked within 30    
   minutes.   
      
   The Italian case shows how this action can lead to dangerous overblocking   
   incidents, Starzak explains.    
      
   "They have blocked some of our IP addresses at various times and even Google   
   Docs got blocked [by mistake] at one point," she said, pointing out the lack   
   of transparency and accountability around these events. "If you agree that a   
   certain piece of content can be targeted and you're blocking other stuff   
   that's should be legally problematic."    
      
   The newly launched attack to VPN usage is a further escalation of these   
   "aggressive" anti-piracy measures in Europe, which has opened up even more   
   questions about the legality of these actions.    
      
   As Starzak told TechRadar, the French lawsuit isn't based on numbers and   
   facts, but simply on the idea that people might access pirated content    
   through a VPN.    
      
   She said: "You could argue that an internet shutdown would also solve your   
   problem. There wouldn't be any streaming if you shut down the internet,    
   right? That's where proportionality comes into play. It's not that every   
   possible mechanism to prevent something is the right answer." What's next?    
      
   While DNS servers are still in open litigation in France, the VPN Trust   
   Initiative (VTI), whose targeted members include NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and   
   Surfshark, confirmed to TorrentFreak the providers are considering leaving    
   the country over the blocking demands.    
      
   "Weve seen this before in markets like India and Pakistan, where regulatory   
   requirements forced some VPN services to withdraw rather than compromise on   
   encryption standards or log-keeping policies," said VTI Executive Director   
   Christian Dawson. "Frances potential move to force VPN providers to block   
   content could put companies in a similar position."    
      
   The DNS and VPN industries also worry that these legal actions could create a   
   blueprint for more countries to follow suit.    
      
   Starzak believes lawmakers and rightholders should find a more balanced   
   approach to tackle online piracy where oversight, consistency, and   
   transparency go hand in hand.    
      
   "It doesn't mean that there may not be a role for network blocking in limited   
   cases, but we have to start putting some controls instead of randomly   
   blocking. We need to understand what's acceptable and what's not," she said.   
   "Once you start marching down the network blocking path, you may forget   
   there's this whole other path of potential solutions that hasn't been   
   considered."   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/network-blocking-is-never-g   
   oing-to-be-the-solution-cloudflare-slams-anti-piracy-tactics   
      
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