{"id":"1792714335094-tech-segment","slug":"quad9-quits-france-over-dns-blocking-fine","title":"Quad9 quits France over DNS blocking fine","summary":"Quad9, the Swiss nonprofit DNS resolver, announced it will exit France. The decision follows a French court ruling that found Quad9 in contempt of a prior order requiring it to block DNS resolution for certain piracy-related domains at the request of Sony Music Entertainment GmbH. Sony demonstrated that Quad9's geoIP-based blocking could be bypassed with a VPN, and the court fined Quad9 for noncompliance.\n\nQuad9 has long argued that DNS-level blocking is ineffective, harms privacy, and sets a dangerous precedent for internet infrastructure. The company says the French legal environment has made it untenable to continue operating there, and it will stop serving French users rather than comply with what it considers an overbroad censorship order.\n\nCalifornia's economy is growing faster than the nation, boosted by AI investment, aerospace and defense spending, but job growth remains weak — the state added only about 138,500 jobs in the year ending August, with unemployment around 5.1%, a point above the national average.\n\nQuad9, a nonprofit DNS resolver, is exiting France after a court fined it for contempt over a Sony Music copyright-blocking order; Sony used a VPN to show geoIP blocking could be circumvented, and the court agreed.\n\neMudhra, an Indian digital trust and certificate authority, is exiting the global SSL/TLS certificate business.\n\nA jailbreak for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been published, allowing homebrew and unsigned code to run on the console.\n\nXbox is charging roughly 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you already own via its cloud gaming service, a pricing model that has drawn criticism.","publishedAt":"2026-10-23T00:12:15.094Z","channel":{"id":"tech","name":"Oncast Tech","language":"en"},"show":"Tech Tonight","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"TRUE","notes":"TRUE: California's economy is growing faster than the nation, boosted by AI investment, aerospace and defense spending, but job growth remains weak — the state added only about 138,500 jobs in the year ending August, with unemployment around 5.1%, a point above the national average.\nSource: latimes.com NAMES: CSUF = California State University, Fullerton POST 2113421715284148229: NOCLAIM NAMES: DocketIQ = a compliance AI product for small businesse (https://x.com/sbsun/status/2113421727816409469)\n\nTRUE: Quad9, a nonprofit DNS resolver, is exiting France after a court fined it for contempt over a Sony Music copyright-blocking order; Sony used a VPN to show geoIP blocking could be circumvented, and the court agreed.\nSource: quad9.net (via Hacker News) NAMES: Quad9 = a free, privacy-focused DNS resolver run by a Swiss nonprofit (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195959)\n\nTRUE: eMudhra, an Indian digital trust and certificate authority, is exiting the global SSL/TLS certificate business.\nSource: emudhra.com NAMES: eMudhra = an Indian company that issues digital certificates and provides trust services (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195110)\n\nTRUE: A jailbreak for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been published, allowing homebrew and unsigned code to run on the console.\nSource: pepsipu.com NAMES: Switch 2 = Nintendo's 2025 handheld/home console (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50192536)\n\nTRUE: Xbox is charging roughly 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you already own via its cloud gaming service, a pricing model that has drawn criticism.\nSource: arstechnica.com NAMES: Xbox = Microsoft's gaming brand (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50194009)","claims":[{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"California's economy is growing faster than the nation, boosted by AI investment, aerospace and defense spending, but job growth remains weak — the state added only about 138,500 jobs in the year ending August, with unemployment around 5.1%, a point above the national average.","sourceName":"latimes.com NAMES: CSUF = California State University, Fullerton POST 2113421715284148229: NOCLAIM NAMES: DocketIQ = a compliance AI product for small businesse","sourceUrl":"https://x.com/sbsun/status/2113421727816409469","claim":"CSUF: California economy pumped up by AI, but weak hiring persists https://t.co/CZ4nTlkbcf","author":"The Sun (@sbsun)"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Quad9, a nonprofit DNS resolver, is exiting France after a court fined it for contempt over a Sony Music copyright-blocking order; Sony used a VPN to show geoIP blocking could be circumvented, and the court agreed.","sourceName":"quad9.net (via Hacker News) NAMES: Quad9 = a free, privacy-focused DNS resolver run by a Swiss nonprofit","sourceUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195959","claim":"Quad9 (DNS Resolver) to Exit France (quad9.net)","author":"farrokhi"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"eMudhra, an Indian digital trust and certificate authority, is exiting the global SSL/TLS certificate business.","sourceName":"emudhra.com NAMES: eMudhra = an Indian company that issues digital certificates and provides trust services","sourceUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195110","claim":"eMudhra to exit global SSL/TLS certificate business (emudhra.com)","author":"bo0tzz"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"A jailbreak for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been published, allowing homebrew and unsigned code to run on the console.","sourceName":"pepsipu.com NAMES: Switch 2 = Nintendo's 2025 handheld/home console","sourceUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50192536","claim":"Jailbreaking the Switch 2 (pepsipu.com)","author":"ledoge"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Xbox is charging roughly 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you already own via its cloud gaming service, a pricing model that has drawn criticism.","sourceName":"arstechnica.com NAMES: Xbox = Microsoft's gaming brand","sourceUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50194009","claim":"Xbox wants you to pay 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you bought (arstechnica.com)","author":"entryleveljobsc"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://x.com/sbsun/status/2113421727816409469","name":"latimes.com NAMES: CSUF = California State University, Fullerton POST 2113421715284148229: NOCLAIM NAMES: DocketIQ = a compliance AI product for small businesse","kind":"x","verdict":"TRUE","author":"The Sun (@sbsun)"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195959","name":"quad9.net (via Hacker News) NAMES: Quad9 = a free, privacy-focused DNS resolver run by a Swiss nonprofit","kind":"hackernews","verdict":"TRUE","author":"farrokhi"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195110","name":"emudhra.com NAMES: eMudhra = an Indian company that issues digital certificates and provides trust services","kind":"hackernews","verdict":"TRUE","author":"bo0tzz"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50192536","name":"pepsipu.com NAMES: Switch 2 = Nintendo's 2025 handheld/home console","kind":"hackernews","verdict":"TRUE","author":"ledoge"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50194009","name":"arstechnica.com NAMES: Xbox = Microsoft's gaming brand","kind":"hackernews","verdict":"TRUE","author":"entryleveljobsc"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792714335094-tech-segment-quad9-quits-france-over-dns-blocking-fine","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/tech","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792714335094-tech-segment-quad9-quits-france-over-dns-blocking-fine","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1792714335094-tech-segment-quad9-quits-france-over-dns-blocking-fine and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Chris","text":"A DNS provider just told the entire country of France: we're out."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Quad9. The nonprofit that runs a free, privacy-focused DNS resolver."},{"host":"Chris","text":"They're leaving France after a court fined them for contempt over a Sony Music copyright order."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Let me guess — Sony used a VPN to prove the block didn't work."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Exactly. Sony connected from Germany, got around the geoIP block, and the court said Quad9 didn't comply."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"So the court punished them for a block that was never going to work in the first place."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Quad9's CTO, John Todd, was on Hacker News trying to explain the contradiction."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"What's the contradiction?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"They've always said geoIP blocking is insufficient. But now they have to figure out how to block French users."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And they can't. That's the point. A VPN defeats it every time."},{"host":"Chris","text":"One commenter put it perfectly: they did everything possible to stop access, and still got fined for contempt."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"This is the problem with DNS-level blocking. It's a blunt instrument that punishes the infrastructure, not the pirates."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Quad9's argument is that this sets a dangerous precedent. If France can force them to block domains, what's next?"},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And they're a Swiss nonprofit. They don't have to be in France. So they're leaving."},{"host":"Chris","text":"The bigger story: a court just pushed a privacy-focused service out of a major country."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Sony got its fine. France lost a DNS resolver. Great trade."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Speaking of exits — another certificate authority is pulling out of a business."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"eMudhra. The Indian digital trust company."},{"host":"Chris","text":"They're exiting the global SSL/TLS certificate business entirely."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"That's a big deal. They issue certificates for websites, email, code signing."},{"host":"Chris","text":"The announcement is pretty bare. No reason given, just that they're winding it down."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Certificate authorities don't usually walk away from a global business without a story."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Could be consolidation. The CA market has been brutal for smaller players."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Or regulatory pressure. India's been pushing hard on digital trust infrastructure."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Either way, customers have to migrate to another CA. That's a headache."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Nothing says 'trust us' like suddenly not existing."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Different world entirely: someone just jailbroke the Switch 2."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Already? The console's barely been out."},{"host":"Chris","text":"A write-up on the pepsipu site details the exploit. Homebrew and unsigned code running on the Switch 2."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Nintendo's going to patch this fast. They always do."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Sure, but the cat's out of the bag. The homebrew community will build on it."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Nintendo's lawyers are already drafting the cease and desist."},{"host":"Chris","text":"And here's one that'll start a fight: Xbox wants you to pay to stream games you already own."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Oh, come on. How much?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"Ars Technica says roughly 24 to 40 cents per hour."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"That's insane. You bought the game. Now you pay rent to play it?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"Microsoft's argument is that cloud streaming costs money. Servers, bandwidth, maintenance."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"So does every other service. Netflix doesn't charge per hour."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Netflix also doesn't let you buy a movie and then stream it for free forever."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"But that's the deal! I bought the game. The license should include streaming."},{"host":"Chris","text":"The license includes playing on your own hardware. Cloud is a different service."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"It's the same game! The same save file! The same account!"},{"host":"Chris","text":"And the same server costs. Look, I don't love it either, but someone has to pay for the infrastructure."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Right. The trillion-dollar company needs my 40 cents an hour."},{"host":"Chris","text":"They didn't get to a trillion by giving away server time."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"The real problem: this is a terrible precedent. Buy a game, pay to play it. What's next?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"I think the market will decide. If people refuse, Microsoft backs off."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Or they just make it the only option. That's the playbook."},{"host":"Chris","text":"We'll see. For now, it's a pricing experiment that's making a lot of people angry."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And on that note, California's economy is booming thanks to AI. But nobody's hiring."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Cal State Fullerton's report says AI investment is pumping up the economy."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And yet the state added only about 138,500 jobs in a year. Unemployment's at 5.1%."},{"host":"Chris","text":"A full point above the national average."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"So the economy's growing, but workers aren't feeling it. Classic."},{"host":"Chris","text":"The AI boom is real. But it's concentrated in a few companies and a few zip codes."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Meanwhile, everyone else is waiting for the trickle-down."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Those are the numbers that matter for anyone looking for a job in California right now."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And that's a problem that no amount of AI hype can fix."}]}