Increasingly, countries, especially in Europe, have been applying strict measures lately to stop the propagation of the pirate content. However, Cloudflare, a leader of the DNS server, told Techradar that “the network block will never be the solution.”
DNS suppliers were the first to be attacked with blocking orders and demands by the French, Spanish and Italian authorities. However, these authorities have now begun to go to some of the best VPN services for similar reasons. However, technologists have warned for a long time that these tactics lead to disproportionate incidents of excess profit while undergoing people’s internet freedom.
“These types of network blocking efforts are having side effects and are ruining the Internet,” said Vice President and Chief of Global Public Policy of Cloudflare, Alissa Starzak, to Techradar, suggesting that we must think of any internet block as censorship.
Why DNS and VPN are the objective of d.
Short for the domain name system, a DNS acts as the Internet telephone guide. Essentially translates user requests into numbers (IP addresses) to connect them with the correct websites on the web. DNS servers are essential to navigate the Internet, which makes these services a target of censors and, as in this case, both dogs.
A virtual private network (VPN) is a safety software that masks the real IP addresses of users. While this ability is crucial to avoid strict Internet restrictions imposed by the Government, it can also be used as a solution for current tactics against piracy that involve blocking access to piracy sites based on the user navigation location. This is exactly what some European rightists want to prevent.
After successful legal action against DNS services last year, the French transmission giant Canal+ now also wants to block the use of VPN. It has been associated with the Professional French League Agency of France, Football League Professel (LFP), Issue judicial orders against the tastes of Nordvpn, Protonvpn, Cyberghost, Expressvpn and Surfshark.
Italy has also announced plans to update its infamous piracy shield system to extend Brugon requests against VPN and DNS public suppliers. Specifically, right -wing sholders may demand domain names and IP addresses related to piracy suspected of copyright infringement that are blocked in 30 minutes.
The Italian case shows how this action can lead to dangerous incidents of excess blocking, explains Starzak.
“They have blocked some of our IP addresses at various times and even Google Docs blocked [by mistake] In a moment, “he said, pointing out the lack of transparency and responsibility for these events.” If you agree that a certain piece of content can be directed and is blocking other things that should be legally problematic. “
The recently launched attack for the use of VPN is a greater escalation of these “aggressive” antipiratry measures in Europe, which has opened even more questions about the legality of these actions.
As Starzak told Techradar, the French demand is not based on numbers and facts, but simply on the idea that people could access pirated content through a VPN.
She said: “It could be argued that an Internet closure would also solve its problem. There would be no transmission if the Internet closes, right? That is where proportionality comes into play. It is not that every possible mechanism to avoid something is the correct answer.”
What follows?
While DNS servers are still in open litigation in France, the VPN Trust (VTI) initiative, whose directed members include Nordvpn, Expressvpn and Surfshark, confirmed to Torrentfreak, suppliers are considering leaving the country for blocking demands.
“We have seen this before in markets such as India and Pakistan, where regulatory requirements forced some VPN services to withdraw instead of committing to encryption standards or record maintenance policies,” said VTI Christian Dawson executive director. “The possible movement of France to force VPN suppliers to block the content could put companies in a similar position.”
DNS and VPN industries are also worried that these legal actions can create a plan for more countries to do the same.
Starzak believes that legislators and rights rights should find a more balanced approach to address online piracy where supervision, consistency and transparency go hand in hand.
“It does not mean that there is no paper to block the network in limited cases, but we have to start putting some controls instead of randomly blocking. We need to understand what is acceptable and what not,” he said. “Once you start marching along the network lock route, you can forget that there is this other path of possible solutions that has not been considered.”
