Non-profit DNS resolver Quad9 reports that legal battles over pirate site blocking have become an "existential threat" to its service. In a recent blog post, the Swiss foundation argues that while tech giants like Google and Cloudflare can absorb the legal and engineering costs, smaller organizations cannot. The warning comes after Quad9 decided not to represent itself at a French court due to a lack of financial resources.
In May 2024, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco to block access to several pirate sports streaming sites.
The move was a major enforcement escalation by French rightsholders, but in hindsight it was only the beginning.
In the months that followed, additional rightsholders such as DAZN and beIN joined in on the action with similar requests, while more DNS providers were added as targets, including Quad9 and Vercel. This pitted notably smaller players against these billion-dollar companies in court.
An Existential Threat
Quad9 was no stranger to site blocking requests, having previously dealt with a similar legal battle in Germany. That said, for the small Swiss non-profit organization, these proceedings are more than a legal disagreement. They present an existential threat.
For billion-dollar tech companies Google and Cloudflare, dealing with these legal challenges is a nuisance, but they have the means to fight back. In a recent blog post, Quad9 explains that its foundation doesn’t have this luxury.
“For large commercial players such as Google, Cloudflare, or Cisco, these costs — legal, lobbying, or engineering — are absorbed as part of their business overhead.
“For small, mission-driven nonprofits like Quad9, they represent an existential threat,” the DNS provider adds.
Ideally Quad9 would like to defend itself in these blocking cases, as Google and Cloudflare have done. However, since it doesn’t have the financial resources to do so, it chose not to make an appearance in one of the recent site-blocking cases.
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