Quad9 Pulls Out of France Over Court-Ordered Site Blocking

Quad9, a nonprofit free DNS resolver focused on privacy, has announced that it will stop serving users in France on November 24. The company says the decision was a reluctant one. It follows a French court order requiring Quad9 to block access to websites accused of infringing the copyrights of a sports broadcaster.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sees the outcome as predictable: if infrastructure providers are forced to act as copyright police, responsible services will start leaving even major markets.

Why an independent resolver matters

A DNS resolver translates a domain name a user types, such as eff.org, into a numerical IP address used to route data across the internet. Because a resolver can see which sites a person connects to, its privacy policy matters a great deal. Quad9 is incorporated as an NGO in Switzerland, partly to shield its users from data demands. It also blocks known malicious domains, protecting users from malware and phishing.

Services like this offer an alternative to the resolvers run by local ISPs and wireless carriers, which are vulnerable to law enforcement demands, censorship, and commercial surveillance.

A choice with no good options

In a blog post, Quad9 explains that the court order forces a decision that hurts users either way. It could "extend French law to the whole world" by blocking globally. Or it could try to identify and block only users in France, which it cannot do reliably, and any imperfection could expose it to massive fines. Quad9 says it faces about 20 other lawsuits in France seeking similar blocking orders.

EFF acknowledges that the withdrawal is a real loss for French users. Still, the group calls it the right call: the alternatives were making promises Quad9 couldn't keep or abandoning users' rights worldwide.

The infringing content stays put

The allegedly infringing material won't disappear. Quad9 doesn't host websites, and anyone seeking a blocked site can simply switch to another DNS resolver. The content rights holders object to will remain online and accessible, while France loses a privacy-protecting service.

A warning for the U.S.

EFF urges U.S. lawmakers to take note. Congress is considering several bills that would require ISPs and other intermediaries, including DNS resolvers, to block websites in the name of copyright protection. In EFF's view, such proposals threaten free speech and access to information and invite abuse.

Worse, if neutral services like Quad9 are forced to build blocking systems for copyright holders, it becomes far easier for other powerful interests, including repressive governments, to demand those same systems for global censorship. EFF calls on Congress to reject site-blocking bills.

Source: EFF Deeplinks