Increasingly, countries, especially in Europe, have applied strict measures lately to stop the spread of hacked content. However, Cloudflare, a main DNS server supplier, told Techradar that “network blocking will never be the solution”.
The DNS providers were the first to be targeted with blocking orders and prosecution in French, Spanish and Italy. However, these authorities have now started to target some of the best VPN services for similar reasons. Technologists, however, have long warned that these tactics lead to disproportionate exaggerated incidents while undergoing people’s internet freedom.
“These types of network blocking efforts have collateral and ruin internet effects,” Vice-President and World Director of Public Policy, Alissa Starzak told Techradar, suggesting that we should consider any internet block as censorship.
Why are DNS and VPNs the target of right-handers?
Abbreviation of Domain Name System, a DNS acts as the Internet telephone directory. It mainly translates user requests into numbers 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, as in this case, rights.
A virtual private network (VPN) is then security software that masks the real IP addresses of users. Although this skill is crucial to bypass strict strict internet restrictions, it can also be used as a bypass solution for current anti-piration tactics which involve blocking access to hacking sites according to the location of user navigation. This is exactly what certain European right boxes want to prevent.
After a successful legal action against the DNS services last year, the French streaming giant Canal + now wants to block the use of VPN. He joined the agency of the Professional Football League, Football Professionl League (LFP), To make judicial orders against NordVPN, Protonvpn, Cyberghost, ExpressVPN and Surfshark.
Italy has also announced its intention to upgrade its infamous hacking shield to extend the breakdown orders compared to VPNs and public DNS suppliers. More specifically, right -wing holders may require domain names linked to hacking and suspected IP addresses of copyright to block within 30 minutes.
The Italian affair shows how this action can lead to dangerous overlapping incidents, explains Starzak.
“They blocked some of our IP addresses at various times and even Google documents were blocked [by mistake] At one point, “she said, emphasizing the lack of transparency and responsibility around these events.” If you agree that a certain content can be targeted and that you block other things that should be legally problematic. “”
The newly launched attack on the use of VPN is an additional escalation of these “aggressive” anti-pirate measures in Europe, which has opened even more questions on the legality of these actions.
As Starzak said to Techradar, the French trial is not based on figures and facts, but simply on the idea that people could access the hacked content via a VPN.
She said: “You might say that an internet closure would also solve your problem. There would be no streaming if you close the internet, right? This is where proportionality comes into play. It is not that each possible mechanism to prevent something is the right answer.”
What is the next step?
While DNS servers are still in a dispute opened in France, the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI), whose targeted members include NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark, confirmed in Torrentfreak, suppliers plan to leave the country compared to blocking requests.
“We have already seen it in markets such as India and Pakistan, where regulatory requirements have forced certain VPN services to withdraw rather than compromise on encryption standards or newspaper hold policies,” said VTI Christian Dawson’s executive director. “The potential decision of France to force VPN suppliers to block the content could put companies in a similar position.”
The DNS and VPN industries also fear that these legal actions will create a plan for more countries to follow suit.
Starzak thinks that legislators and rights should find a more balanced approach to combat online hacking where surveillance, consistency and transparency go hand in hand.
“This does not mean that there may not be a role in blocking the network in limited cases, but we must start to put controls instead of blocking at random. We must understand what is acceptable and what is not,” she said. “Once you have started walking on the network blocking path, you can forget that there is all this other path of potential solutions that has not been considered.”
