📰 New article from TorrentFreak
EU-Backed DNS Resolver Collects Pirate Site Blocklist, Which It Doesn’t Use
https://torrentfreak.com/eu-backed-dns-resolver-collects-pirate-site-blocklist-which-it-doesnt-use/
EU privacy advocates are breathing a sigh of relief after a peculiar data-sharing mix-up revealed that a major European DNS service collected pirate site blocklists it never intended to use. The drama began when BREIN, the Dutch anti-piracy group, automatically shared its extensive list of blocked domains with DNS4EU. BREIN operated under the reasonable assumption that this sovereign European resolver would use the data to help filter illegal content, a feature actually baked into the service’s original EU-funded design.
However, DNS4EU’s operator, Whalebone, confirmed that the list was never implemented. Why? Because BREIN isn’t a government regulator. According to their policy, DNS4EU only blocks domains when required by law or court order. Since BREIN’s list stems from voluntary ISP agreements rather than direct legal mandates against the DNS provider itself, the data sat unused. Transparency reports confirm zero blocks for copyright infringement, focusing instead on phishing and scams.
While this resolves the immediate concern about widespread censorship, it leaves an interesting question hanging in the air. If DNS4EU won’t block sites based on civil industry lists, does it block anything at all? For now, the pirate sites remain accessible, proving that even well-funded privacy projects have bureaucratic blind spots.