Quad9 may leave France rather than block pirate streams for beIN
Quad9, the Swiss non-profit that runs the public DNS resolver 9.9.9.9, is considering leaving France rather than block pirate sports streams for beIN Sports. The broadcaster has asked a Paris court to fine the foundation 10,000 euros per day for each of 58 domains it has not blocked, up to 580,000 euros a day in total, TorrentFreak reported on October 5. The hearing took place last week, and a decision is expected in about three weeks.
A DNS resolver turns a site name into an IP address. Most people use the one their internet provider assigns, but anyone can switch to a public resolver such as Quad9, Google (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1). Quad9 also filters known malware and phishing domains and does not keep users' IP addresses.
What the court ordered
The case concerns women's tennis. beIN Sports France holds the French rights to the 2026 WTA tour, apart from matches played in France and the Grand Slams. On May 13, 2026, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Quad9 and Czech DNS provider Whalebone to block six sites and IPTV services that streamed WTA matches, within three days and until the last match of the season, currently set for November 14. The court held that DNS resolvers count as intermediaries that "can help remedy" infringements under Article L. 333-10 of the French Sport Code, so they can be ordered to block, just like internet providers.
The ruling also lets beIN report new pirate sites to the French regulator Arcom, which then passes them to the resolvers to block for the rest of the season. Quad9 says the list has grown from 6 to 58 domains through two updates. In May, the court refused beIN's request for a daily fine of 2,000 euros per domain, saying nothing yet showed that Quad9 would resist. Quad9 has not blocked any of the domains and calls that a conscious decision. beIN is now back in court asking for five times that amount.
Why Quad9 refuses
The order covers access "from French territory", and Quad9 says it cannot tell who that is. "There is no legally useful way for us to define a French user," the foundation said, explaining that it would have to rely on inaccurate IP geolocation databases or collect data it does not want to hold. Its broader argument is that "DNS recursive resolvers are the wrong place to counter the problem of online piracy." Blocking at the resolver does not take the stream offline, and a user can get around it by switching to another resolver.
According to Quad9, that leaves three options: block only users it believes are in France, knowing the guess will be wrong in some cases; block the 58 domains for everyone in the world, which would apply a French court order globally; or stop serving France, as Cisco's OpenDNS did in 2024 after a similar order won by Canal+. Quad9 says it has not yet discussed the choice with its Foundation Council.
Quad9 has been here before. In a case brought by Sony Music in Germany, courts found that limiting a block to German users was not enough, so Quad9 blocked the domains worldwide for a time before winning on appeal. France has since gone further: under a law adopted in July 2026, new domains can be added to a block during a live broadcast, with Arcom reviewing them afterwards. Quad9 calls that power "recklessly dangerous".
What it means for users
For now, nothing changes for people outside France. If Quad9 chooses a global block, users anywhere who rely on 9.9.9.9 would stop getting answers for the listed domains. If it leaves France, users there who set Quad9 by hand would have to switch to another resolver, and that resolver may already be blocking the same sites under the same order. Belgium went through a similar fight last month, when a court upheld pirate football blocking on public DNS resolvers. The site-blocking bill in the US Congress also covers resolvers.
