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In recent years, French rightsholders have expanded their domestic site blocking efforts through the courts. <\/p>\nIn recent years, French rightsholders have expanded their domestic site blocking efforts through the courts. <\/p>\n
Traditional blocking measures have been in place for years. They require ISPs to block subscribers\u2019 access to popular pirate sites. The aim is to deter piracy by making sites more difficult to find, but these measures are only partially effective. <\/p>\n
In response to blocking orders, many \u2018pirates\u2019 resort to workarounds; third-party DNS resolvers, for example, or VPNs that enable access websites from locations immune to ISP-based blocking.<\/p>\n
These workarounds are a source of frustration for copyright holders, including Canal+ and French football league LFP. These companies own the rights to popular sports content including the Premier League, the Champions League, Ligue 1, and the Rugby Top 14.<\/p>\n
To address blocking workarounds, the rightsholders took the matter to court, requesting DNS resolvers including Google, Cloudflare, Cisco<\/a>, and Quad9<\/a> to block dozens of pirate sites.<\/p>\n In a landmark judgment last year, the Paris Judicial Court granted its first DNS blocking order<\/a> in favor of Canal+. This was followed by several others<\/a>, gradually expanding the blocking measures and placing pressure on circumvention options.<\/p>\n The court orders were all issued under Article L.333-10 of the French Sports Code and mark a broadening of Canal+\u2019s legal strategy. Despite fierce criticism from major tech companies, French rightsholders are not holding back. On the contrary, they have already moved on to the next set of targets.<\/p>\n To maintain and increase their momentum, Canal+ and LFP recently summoned several of the largest VPN providers to court.<\/p>\n The legal paperwork is not available to the public but Marc Rees, a journalist at l\u2019Inform\u00e9, reports<\/a> that NordVPN, Cyberghost and ProtonVPN are being targeted by Canal+ and LFP. Canal+ additionally lists ExpressVPN and Surfshark as respondents.<\/p>\n These parties are confirmed by a public record, shown below. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n VPN services typically hide users\u2019 traffic from their Internet providers, rendering any blocking efforts useless. As a result, rightsholders want these VPN companies to comply with the blocking measures as well. <\/p>\n Similar to the DNS resolver cases, the legal paperwork cites Article 333-10 of the French Sports Code. This allows rightsholders to demand \u201call proportionate measures\u201d against entities that are \u201clikely to contribute to remedying\u201d copyright infringement.<\/p>\n The two cases against VPN providers are aimed at denying access to sports streaming platforms. Canal+ lists IPTV services including boxtv60.com and fmytv.com, and streaming sites such as Ishunter.net, Antenasports.ru, and Rojadirectahdenvivo.com. Several of these targets have already been blocked through other court orders. <\/p>\n The LFP complaint identifies dozens of additional targets such as Popcorn IPTV, Net IPTV, Facto IPTV, Movie Live IPTV, DINO TV, and WhishIPTV.<\/p>\n TorrentFreak reached out to several of the mentioned VPN providers who did not immediately respond to our request for comment. LFP confirmed the legal action, telling l\u2019Inform\u00e9<\/a> that they are taking action against VPNs to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to protect their rights. <\/p>\n Hearings for both cases are scheduled for next month, as shown below, so it will likely take a while before an eventual ruling some in. <\/p>\n Update:<\/strong> The VPN Trust Initiative (VTI), which represents ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark and others, released a statement which is available in full here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile VTI members unequivocally oppose the misuse of VPNs for illegal activities, this move not only misplaces blame but also threatens to undermine cybersecurity, privacy, and digital freedom for millions of French residents,\u201d the group writes.<\/p>\n From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\nNew Target: VPN Providers<\/h2>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nFortifying Existing Blockades<\/h2>\n