📰 New article from TorrentFreak
Court Upholds Belgian Pirate DNS Blocking Order, OpenDNS Exit Looms
https://torrentfreak.com/court-upholds-belgian-pirate-dns-blocking-order-opendns-exit-looms/
If you thought your internet browsing was private, Belgium just threw a very expensive wrench into the gears.
A Belgian court has officially upheld a massive ruling that forces major DNS providers—the services that translate website names into IP addresses—to block pirate streaming domains. This isn’t just a general ban; it’s a precision strike aimed at sports rightsholders like DAZN.
To catch pirates off guard, the blocking is getting tactical. Instead of a permanent blackout, the blocklists will go live just 90 minutes before major football matches start. It’s essentially a digital “surprise inspection” designed to disrupt illegal streams right when fans are most eager to watch.
While Google and Cloudflare have found ways to comply, Cisco is playing hardball. They’ve warned that implementing such dynamic, localized blocking could compromise their service’s stability. Their solution? Pulling OpenDNS out of Belgium entirely.
The takeaway: Unless an appeal changes things, Belgian OpenDNS users are looking at a second “dark period” later this year. The battle between free content and copyright enforcement just got a whole lot more complicated.