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Court Orders Cloudflare's DNS Resolver 1.1.1.1 to Block Pirate Sites in ItalyErnesto Van der Sar, 19 Jul 10:08 AM Popular Internet infrastructure co

Court Orders Cloudflare's DNS Resolver 1.1.1.1 to Block Pirate Sites in Italy Ernesto Van der Sar, 19 Jul 10:08 AM Popular Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare has come under a lot of pressure from copyright holders in recent years. The company offers its services to millions of sites, including multinationals, and governments, but also some of the world's leading pirate sites. Rightsholders are unhappy with the latter and some have even accused Cloudflare of facilitating copyright infringement by continuing to provide access to illicit platforms. In Italy, these complaints have been followed by legal action from key music industry players, resulting in injunctions that require Cloudflare to block several pirate sites operated by its customers. Cloudflare fiercely protests these and other blocking demands. The company sees itself as a neutral third-party service that merely caches or passes on content. Even when Cloudflare blocks sites or customers, the associated sites remain operational. Music Industry Demands Cloudflare DNS Blockade Rightsholders agree that there's no silver bullet to stop piracy, but they argue that Cloudflare can and should do more to address the problem. In a case before the Court of Milan, they argued that Cloudflare should go even further. In court, anti-piracy outfit FPM and the music group FIMI pointed out that Cloudflare's DNS resolver is problematic too. This DNS resolver helps people to access pirate sites, even when the sites are not using Cloudflare's CDN services. As such, Cloudflare should be required to block problematic sites on its DNS servers too. After hearing these arguments the Milan Court agreed. It issued an interim injunction that requires Cloudflare to block three torrent sites: kickasstorrents.to, limetorrents.pro and ilcorsaronero.pro. These sites are already blocked by ISPs in Italy following an order from local regulator AGCOM. Landmark DNS Blocking Injunction This is the first time that Cloudflare has been ordered to make pirate sites unavailable through its public DNS resolver 1.1.1.1. This is an important expansion since many Italians switched to public DNS resolvers to bypass ISP blocking measures. With the court order, rightsholders can remove this shortcut. "We welcome the Court's decision which will further strengthen the ongoing infringing site blocking program performed by AGCOM in Italy, whilst also increasing the efficiency of the enforcement actions carried out by the rightsholders to protect their online content," says FIMI CEO Enzo Mazza. According to Mazza, the court order is an important next step in the protection of copyrighted content online. It recognizes the responsibility of third-party intermediaries under the EU's new Copyright Directive and clarifies that companies such as Cloudflare can be ordered to follow ISP blocking orders. Thus far, Cloudflare has refused to take action, even when AGCOM put sites on a blocklist. With the recent court order, the company will have no other option as there are potential sanctions on the line. Google and OpenDNS? In theory, similar injunctions could follow against other DNS providers as well, including Google and OpenDNS. "The ruling opens the door to others that offer similar services, such as Google," Mazza told local media. While this type of order is new in Italy, we have seen a similar injunction in Germany last year. A local court ordered DNS provider Quad9 to block a pirate site but the decision is still under appeal. Cloudflare is also expected to appeal the Italian injunction, which is only a preliminary ruling. For the time being, however, it is required to block the three torrent sites on its DNS resolver within 30 days. This also applies to any future domain names the sites may use. In response to earlier orders targeted at pirate sites operated by customers, Cloudflare has chosen to implement measures that are limited to Italy. The company hasn't commented publicly on the recent DNS blocking order, but we expect that this will only be enforced locally as well. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. US Lawmakers Want FTC to Crack Down on Overpromising and Dishonest VPNs Ernesto Van der Sar, 18 Jul 04:57 PM VPNs are valuable tools for people who want to use the Internet securely with decent privacy. They are vital for whistleblowers and people who rebel against Government oppression. VPNs have recently become a sensitive topic in United States mainstream media. U.S. anti-abortion laws have increased the interest in privacy services as potential criminal penalties come into play. One of the problems, however, is that not all VPN services take privacy seriously. This isn't a new revelation. At TorrentFreak, we first highlighted this issue more than a decade ago. This revealed that the privacy policies at some VPN services were rather weak. Things become even more problematic when VPN providers say one thing and do another. Lawmakers Urge FTC to 'Monitor' VPNs There is currently little regulation in the VPN industry, prompting Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Anna Eshoo to sound the alarm bell. In a letter, sent last week, they urge FTC chair Lina Khan to take action. "We write to urge you to use your authority to take enforcement actions against the problematic actors in the consumer Virtual Private Network (VPN) industry, focusing particularly on those that engage in deceptive advertising and data collection practices," the letter reads. "The VPN industry is extremely opaque, and many VPN providers exploit, mislead, and take advantage of unwitting consumers," the lawmakers add. Problems in the VPN industry have been highlighted in several reports and studies already. They are often the result of heavy competition. Many VPNs have the best interests of consumers in mind but others are simply interested in making profits. No Logs? This can lead to shady VPNs collecting and selling user data or promising not to log personal data but simultaneously handing 'logged' data over to the authorities. These are serious problems that have raised new concerns in response to the anti-abortion laws. "Leading groups advise women seeking abortions that VPN with 'no-log' policies can be trusted to protect their data. While many popular VPN providers aggressively market their 'no-log' policies which allow users to anonymously surf the web, it's nearly impossible to verify their claims. "In various cases, VPN providers that advertise a strict 'no-log' policy have provided user activity logs to law enforcement," the lawmakers add, pointing to a logging debacle at one of the larger VPNs. From the letter The letter provides a detailed overview of the various problems and concerns. This includes a study on several free VPN apps that collected and shared data, as well as a more recent Consumer Reports study that identified some hyperbolic claims, including a reference to "military-grade encryption." VPN Reviews VPN review sites are also put in the spotlight. These reviews often include affiliate links, which could lead to bias. That also applies to some of the bigger review sites that are owned by VPN companies. Senator Wyden and Representative Eshoo are not against VPN use. On the contrary, they believe it can be vital. However, the FTC should step in to remove the bad apples, where possible. Making people aware of the potential benefits and risks could also be helpful. "We urge the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take immediate action under Section 5 of the FTC Act to curtail abusive and deceptive data practices in companies providing VPN services to protect internet users seeking abortions. "We also urge the FTC to develop a brochure for abortion-seekers on how best to protect their data, including a clear outline of the risks and benefits of VPN usage," the lawmakers conclude. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2022 TorrentFreak | Office 21338 PO Box 4336 Manchester, North West M61 0BW United Kingdom Web Version   Preferences   Forward   Unsubscribe     Powered by Mad Mimi®A GoDaddy® company