VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV • Hacker News Board

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#21

Post by sidewndr46 » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:15 PM UTC

retrodaredevil wrote: post #19

space_firmware wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most likely they will be forced to implement IP level firewall rules. IE: Traffic from French users is not allowed to go to . This is one of the things the local ISPs already have to do.

It seems that the list of destination IPs would then be determined by whatever the domains listed resolve to (I assume). Since it's trivial to update DNS records, I wonder if they could lead to automated blocking of whatever IP those domains point to. With that in place, I wonder if that could ever be abused by these pirate sites. Imagine temporarily pointing your pirate site domain name at a valid IP address. When y…

Couldn't a VPN provider just start updating their DNS entries to respond with IPs of the French government around the time the block goes into place? So the ISPs would be forced to block access to the French government websites?

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#22

Post by AnthonyMouse » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:17 PM UTC

mitkebes wrote: post #14

Does double VPN get around these kind of blocks? My understanding is the VPNs are expected to block the websites for french users, but it sounds like people could use VPN #1 to appear as a non-french user to VPN #2. VPN #2 can then allow the user to access the blocked websites, because the law only applies to french users.

Is there some reason they wouldn't just use a VPN that isn't in France and therefore isn't subject to laws in France? There have to be VPNs in some other jurisdiction.

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#23

Post by isodev » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:19 PM UTC

space_firmware wrote: post #9

Really great that European courts have created all the legal tools for authoritarian control of the internet in the future, to prevent the scourge of watching sports streaming without paying. Before this, it was much easier for ISPs / DNS providers / VPN providers to push back against governments wanting to censor the internet because the companies wouldn't have the tools installed to do this kind of blocking. The co…

Is it just Europe though? Have you tried uploading something on YouTube including a remote semblance of a melody from a song? Or accessing porn in some parts of the US? And then there are the App Stores and walled gardens regulating apps, content and really every aspect of one’s digital life.

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#24

Post by ainiriand » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:19 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #12

space_firmware wrote: post #9

Really great that European courts have created all the legal tools for authoritarian control of the internet in the future, to prevent the scourge of watching sports streaming without paying. Before this, it was much easier for ISPs / DNS providers / VPN providers to push back against governments wanting to censor the internet because the companies wouldn't have the tools installed to do this kind of blocking. The co…

Copyright law has always been the most powerful force on the Internet. Which is why its collision with AI companies who pirate the whole Internet is very interesting.

Collusion one might say.

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#25

Post by AnthonyMouse » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:21 PM UTC

sidewndr46 wrote: post #21

retrodaredevil wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that the list of destination IPs would then be determined by whatever the domains listed resolve to (I assume). Since it's trivial to update DNS records, I wonder if they could lead to automated blocking of whatever IP those domains point to. With that in place, I wonder if that could ever be abused by these pirate sites. Imagine temporarily pointing your pirate site domain name at a valid IP address. When y…

Couldn't a VPN provider just start updating their DNS entries to respond with IPs of the French government around the time the block goes into place? So the ISPs would be forced to block access to the French government websites?

If they wanted to troll better they'd point them at the websites of the official streaming service.

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#26

Post by sidewndr46 » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:23 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #25

sidewndr46 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't a VPN provider just start updating their DNS entries to respond with IPs of the French government around the time the block goes into place? So the ISPs would be forced to block access to the French government websites?

If they wanted to troll better they'd point them at the websites of the official streaming service.

Yeah, good point. That could work as well.

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#27

Post by LunaSea » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:24 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #12

space_firmware wrote: post #9

Really great that European courts have created all the legal tools for authoritarian control of the internet in the future, to prevent the scourge of watching sports streaming without paying. Before this, it was much easier for ISPs / DNS providers / VPN providers to push back against governments wanting to censor the internet because the companies wouldn't have the tools installed to do this kind of blocking. The co…

Copyright law has always been the most powerful force on the Internet. Which is why its collision with AI companies who pirate the whole Internet is very interesting.

There won't be any collision. Some companies will get some cash, the same way that Google paid to make Google Search the default search engine and the issue will die down.

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#28

Post by Imustaskforhelp » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:27 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #12

space_firmware wrote: post #9

Really great that European courts have created all the legal tools for authoritarian control of the internet in the future, to prevent the scourge of watching sports streaming without paying. Before this, it was much easier for ISPs / DNS providers / VPN providers to push back against governments wanting to censor the internet because the companies wouldn't have the tools installed to do this kind of blocking. The co…

Copyright law has always been the most powerful force on the Internet. Which is why its collision with AI companies who pirate the whole Internet is very interesting.

when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object

One must only imagine the outcome.

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#29

Post by jaoane » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:31 PM UTC

Workaccount2 wrote: post #11

How about making access to the games fairly priced and easily accessible? Streaming services have dramatically reduced piracy by making it way easier and way cheaper than ever before to consume content. I don't live in Europe, but if it is like US sports, you need to jump through hoops, pay through the nose, and have 14 different accounts to watch all the sports you want.

Not defending them or what they are doing, but if you can’t afford to watch football you always have the option of not watching it. I don’t know why this is always framed as “make it cheap or it’s right to pirate it”

Re: VPN providers in France ordered to block pirate sports IPTV

#30

Post by netsharc » Fri, Jun 06, 2025, 5:31 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #22

mitkebes wrote: post #14

Does double VPN get around these kind of blocks? My understanding is the VPNs are expected to block the websites for french users, but it sounds like people could use VPN #1 to appear as a non-french user to VPN #2. VPN #2 can then allow the user to access the blocked websites, because the law only applies to french users.

Is there some reason they wouldn't just use a VPN that isn't in France and therefore isn't subject to laws in France? There have to be VPNs in some other jurisdiction.

I don't think e.g. NordVPN has any offices in France, but in theory the French authorities could tell French ISPs to block access to nordvpn.com (and all other Nord domains), though I'm not sure if the law applies to "secondary services" (instead of ordering ISPs to block domains that offer pirated sports streams, they'd be told to block domains that offer a service to circumvent the block).

I believe Russia is doing it like this, trying to connect to a VPN provider's website will fail - interestingly NordVPN's app uses SSO to login, so blocking their main site would block the app's ability to log in.