Court Expands Google and Cloudflare DNS Blocking to Combat Piracy

A highly controversial court order that required Cisco, Cloudflare, and Google to poison DNS earlier this year was just the beginning. To further combat sports piracy, broadcaster Canal+ sought several follow-up orders. Cisco had discontinued its OpenDNS service in France due to the legal restrictions, so only Google and Cloudflare put up a defense, but without the desired result.

 In May, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco to block access to several pirate websites by poisoning their DNS.

The order, issued under Article L.333-10 of the French Sports Code, compelled the tech giants to prevent users from accessing unauthorized streams of Champions League and Premier League matches.

Applicant Canal+ argued that the alternative DNS resolvers allowed people to bypass the “regular” blocking measures implemented by internet providers.

The tech companies opposed the measures, characterizing the blocking demands as overbroad. They presented a list of concerns and caveats, none of which convinced the court. A request to postpone the measures pending appeal was also denied.

As a result, Google and Cloudflare both implemented DNS poisoning measures in France. Cisco’s OpenDNS service, meanwhile, decided to leave France altogether, impacting all users of its service in the country.

The initial blocking efforts targeted a few dozen pirate sports streaming domains, including Footybite, Hesgoal, and Livekoora. While the additional DNS blocking order made it harder to access these sites, many other pirate sites remained accessible.

DNS Poisoning Spreads

To patch these holes, Canal+ returned to court multiple times in recent weeks, securing multiple DNS blocking orders that add many other pirate streaming domains to the blocklist.

This follow-up action initially went unreported, but Cloudflare recently uploaded three Paris Judicial Court orders to the Lumen Database to provide more transparency. These orders show that once successful, Canal+ continued to expand the scope of the blocking.

In September, the court granted Canal+’s blocking request for 15 domain names, including livetv.lol, sporttune.com, and crvsport.ru. These sites offered access to Formula 1 streams without permission.

Once again the court concluded that DNS resolvers are intermediaries that contribute to the illegal streaming activity. As such, they must take action.

At the time the order was published, Cisco’s OpenDNS service had already left France, so no action was required. Cloudflare and Google, on the other hand, were given just three days to comply.

Following the “Formula 1” order, Canal+ requested two additional orders that were granted last month. These targeted dozens of other sports streaming domains, through which pirated Champions League and Premier League matches were available.

These latest orders only target Cloudflare and Google, which were again required to block the domain names within three days.

Tech Companies Defense

Both tech companies presented a defense in court. Among other things, Cloudflare and Google argued that the blocking measures are disproportionate, costly, and ineffective.

There are simpler ways to block access, they noted, pointing out that the measures would not be effective because users could use VPNs or other DNS resolvers to bypass the blocks.

The Paris Court disagreed, insisting that blocking measures are proportionate and necessary. Canal+ could choose the blocking measures it deemed appropriate and the existence of alternative solutions is irrelevant, the court said.

Cloudflare and Cisco further argued that the legal justification for these blockades, Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, does not apply to DNS resolvers. They claimed that they do not provide a “transmission function” and therefore are not “intermediaries” under EU law.

Again, the Paris court disagreed. It asserted that DNS resolvers do play a role in transmitting content and can be considered intermediaries under EU law.

Google also mentioned that some pirate streaming domains are customers of Cloudflare’s CDN service, implying that its fellow defendant could take more proactive measures. However, the court ruled that this wouldn’t relieve DNS providers of their responsibilities.

While Cloudflare and Google must comply with the court orders, they will likely try to overturn the decisions on appeal. According to the tech companies, these orders fragment the global Internet, jeopardizing the trust and integrity of DNS as a core global infrastructure

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Copies of the three additional DNS blocking order issues by the Paris judicial court are available here (1, 2, 3, pdf)

A list of all affected domain names is available below. Some domain names such as livetv807.me, antenasports.ru, and sporttuna.sx, appear in multiple orders.

aliezstream.pro
antenasport.shop
antenasports.ru
antenasports.shop
antenatv.online
antenatv.store
antennasport.ru
aspoitv.shop
livetv802.me
toparena.store
emb.ap1357.me
embx224539.ap1357.me
1qwebplay.xyz
livetv807.me
cdn.livetv807.me
boxtv60.com
infinity-ott.com
vbn123.com
futbolenvivo.ru
centralareana.live
crvspoît.ru
livetv.lol
streameast.buffstream.io
sporttuna.sx
freestreams-live1se.nu
streamonsport.nî
26216.stunserver.net
viwlivehdplay.ru
bestmlb.buffstream.io
1.dlhd.sx
claplivehdplay.ru
sporttuna.com
sporttuna.site
livetv806.me
rojadirectahdenvivo.com
streamsthunder.tv
rojadirectenvivo.me
methstreams.me
antenasports.ru
asportv.shop
toparena.store
lshunter.net
tv1337.buzz
livetv.sx
sporttuna.pro
livetv807.me
embx224539.ap1366.me
cdn.livetv807.me
locatedinfain.com
tvhd.tutvlive.info
stream-24.net
speci4leagle.com
vl.methstreams.me
klubsports.fun
weblivehdplay.ru
buddycenters.shop
olalivehdplay.ru
Iqwebplay.xyz
sporttvls.com
euro2024direct.ru
librarywhispering.com
cdn.livetv808.me
watch.sporttuna.pro
sporttuna.sx
sporttuna.online
lewblivehdplay.ru
viwlivehdplay.ru
r365.city
finytv.com

Source

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