Quad9 Leaves France: DNS Resolver Shuts Down There Nov 24

The public DNS resolver Quad9 will stop working for users in France on November 24. The reason is a Paris court ruling that ordered it to block pirate streams of tennis matches and set a penalty of €1,000 for every day it fails to comply.

It is the second DNS resolver to leave the country over such demands. When a resolver is forced to block sites on a court order, a small service has two choices: comply or leave. Quad9 chose to leave.

The problem is bigger than one lawsuit. According to TorrentFreak, about 20 similar cases are still pending against Quad9 in France. A €1,000 daily penalty multiplied across that many cases quickly becomes more than a free service can pay. Quad9 says it has no other viable option left.

There is a catch. DNS blocking does not remove a site, it only hides its address. Courts used to aim this at internet providers. Now they aim it at anyone who simply answers the question “what is the IP of this domain”. Each such ruling leaves fewer independent resolvers available in the country.

Source: TorrentFreak