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Belgium was relatively late to the site blocking party, but since a dedicated anti-piracy department opened its doors, the country has caught up quickly.<\/p>\nBelgium was relatively late to the site blocking party, but since a dedicated anti-piracy department opened its doors, the country has caught up quickly.<\/p>\n
The first blocking order<\/a> under this new regime, obtained by sports rightsholder DAZN in April 2025, started quite aggressively. In addition to major ISPs, it required Cloudflare, Google and Cisco to stop resolving pirate streaming domains through their public DNS services, under threat of \u20ac100,000 in fines per day.<\/p>\n Cisco\u2019s response was also aggressive, as the company pulled its OpenDNS service<\/a> out of Belgium entirely. Google and Cloudflare, meanwhile, complied in their own ways<\/a>, but all three companies challenged the order. <\/p>\n In July 2025, the court suspended<\/a> the DNS blocking requirement against Cisco pending a final ruling, after which OpenDNS<\/a> returned to Belgium. This also put additional DNS blocking orders on hold. However, that may very well change in the near future. <\/p>\n That final ruling has now arrived, and it\u2019s not what the DNS providers were hoping for. On August 20, the President of the French-speaking Business Court of Brussels rejected the core of their challenge. The DNS blocking requirement stands.<\/p>\n The order itself hasn\u2019t been published, but a new implementation decision from Belgium\u2019s anti-piracy department summarizes the outcome and explains how the blockade will work in practice.<\/p>\n According to the decision, the court ruled that it\u2019s technically possible for alternative DNS resolvers to block domains, and that the companies failed to show that the costs would be disproportionate. Worries that some users near the border could be caught by geolocation overblocking errors did not change that decision.<\/p>\n \u201cImposing a blocking measure on the main alternative DNS resolution service providers helps strengthen the effectiveness of the blocking injunction imposed on ISPs, which is regarded as a relevant measure,\u201d the decision reads.<\/p>\n \u201cThe combination of these measures is intended to discourage users seeking access to unlawful content, as their experience as consumers of football matches, which they are very attached to watching live, will be disrupted,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The court order also included some small wins for the DNS providers. For example, it scrapped the requirement to redirect users to a warning page, noting that this measure can\u2019t be imposed on DNS resolvers. <\/p>\n The penalties for non-compliance were also softened. The \u20ac100,000 per day fine remains, but it only counts on days that DAZN matches are broadcast live. There\u2019s a \u20ac20 million maximum per company, and fines don\u2019t apply to under-blocking caused by \u201can exceptional geolocation error.\u201d<\/p>\n The department\u2019s decision also explains how the blocking will work in practice. The order covers matches from Belgian football competitions, including the Jupiler Pro League. As the season continues, DAZN can submit one blocklist update per week, with a maximum of 100 new domains.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no fixed schedule. Instead, DAZN tells the department which matchday it wants the blocklist updated for, at least seven working days in advance. The DNS resolvers then get five working days to implement the changes. <\/p>\n The actual blockades should go live 90 minutes before a match starts, to catch pirates off guard.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is also with this effectiveness of the blocking measure in mind that it was decided that it should operate intermittently, and that it should only be implemented one and a half hours before the start of matches,\u201d the implementation order reads. <\/p>\n \u201cIn this way, users find it more difficult to anticipate the blocking and plan around it in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The evolving nature of the blocklist is apparent from the publicly shared data, which shows that the domains blocked under this order have grown from 58 to 258 after it was first issued.<\/p>\n As reported last year, Google and Cloudflare complied with the original order. The latest order doesn\u2019t change anything for them. However, for Cisco it\u2019s a different story.<\/p>\n During the hearing, Cisco informed the department that it will pull OpenDNS out of Belgium again. <\/p>\n The company stated that the public DNS system \u201cdoes not allow for the implementation of selective, geolocated and dynamic blocking as required by the order,\u201d and that enabling it \u201cwould compromise the performance, stability and security of that service.\u201d<\/p>\n Pulling out of Belgium is the only concrete measure Cisco is \u201ctechnically able\u201d to implement, the company added. The Belgian anti-piracy department accepts this drastic measure as compliance with the order.<\/p>\n The DNS resolvers have three months to implement the blocking measures. For now, OpenDNS remains available in Belgium and Cisco indicated it intends to appeal the ruling. TorrentFreak was told that a formal statement was still being finalized at the time of publication.<\/p>\n Unless the appeal changes anything, OpenDNS users in Belgium can expect the service to go dark for a second time later this year.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Update:<\/strong> Cisco did not go into most of our questions and released a short statement instead.<\/p>\n \u201cOpenDNS currently remains available in Belgium,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/em><\/p>\n A copy of the Belgian anti-piracy department\u2019s implementation decision of September 7 is available here (pdf)<\/a>.<\/p>\n From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\nCourt Upholds DNS Blocking<\/h2>\n
![\"order\"](\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ciscoordr.png\")
<\/center><\/p>\nEvolving Blocklist with a 90-minute Clock<\/h2>\n
![\"difficult\"](\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/intermittent.png\")
<\/center><\/p>\nOpenDNS Exit Looms<\/h2>\n