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Quad9 quits France over DNS blocking fine

· Fact-checked before it aired. Unconfirmed claims from this segment are not shown.

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.

Quad9 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.

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.

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.

eMudhra, an Indian digital trust and certificate authority, is exiting the global SSL/TLS certificate business.

A jailbreak for the Nintendo Switch 2 has been published, allowing homebrew and unsigned code to run on the console.

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.

Fact-check

VERIFIED 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.

CSUF: California economy pumped up by AI, but weak hiring persists https://t.co/CZ4nTlkbcf

Original post · The Sun (@sbsun)

latimes.com NAMES: CSUF = California State University, Fullerton POST 2113421715284148229: NOCLAIM NAMES: DocketIQ = a compliance AI product for small businesse

VERIFIED TRUE

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.

Xbox wants you to pay 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you bought (arstechnica.com)

Original post · entryleveljobsc

arstechnica.com NAMES: Xbox = Microsoft's gaming brand

Sources

What the hosts said

CA DNS provider just told the entire country of France: we're out.
MQuad9. The nonprofit that runs a free, privacy-focused DNS resolver.
CThey're leaving France after a court fined them for contempt over a Sony Music copyright order.
MLet me guess — Sony used a VPN to prove the block didn't work.
CExactly. Sony connected from Germany, got around the geoIP block, and the court said Quad9 didn't comply.
MSo the court punished them for a block that was never going to work in the first place.
CQuad9's CTO, John Todd, was on Hacker News trying to explain the contradiction.
MWhat's the contradiction?
CThey've always said geoIP blocking is insufficient. But now they have to figure out how to block French users.
MAnd they can't. That's the point. A VPN defeats it every time.
COne commenter put it perfectly: they did everything possible to stop access, and still got fined for contempt.
MThis is the problem with DNS-level blocking. It's a blunt instrument that punishes the infrastructure, not the pirates.
CQuad9's argument is that this sets a dangerous precedent. If France can force them to block domains, what's next?
MAnd they're a Swiss nonprofit. They don't have to be in France. So they're leaving.
CThe bigger story: a court just pushed a privacy-focused service out of a major country.
MSony got its fine. France lost a DNS resolver. Great trade.
CSpeaking of exits — another certificate authority is pulling out of a business.
MeMudhra. The Indian digital trust company.
CThey're exiting the global SSL/TLS certificate business entirely.
MThat's a big deal. They issue certificates for websites, email, code signing.
CThe announcement is pretty bare. No reason given, just that they're winding it down.
MCertificate authorities don't usually walk away from a global business without a story.
CCould be consolidation. The CA market has been brutal for smaller players.
MOr regulatory pressure. India's been pushing hard on digital trust infrastructure.
CEither way, customers have to migrate to another CA. That's a headache.
MNothing says 'trust us' like suddenly not existing.
CDifferent world entirely: someone just jailbroke the Switch 2.
MAlready? The console's barely been out.
CA write-up on the pepsipu site details the exploit. Homebrew and unsigned code running on the Switch 2.
MNintendo's going to patch this fast. They always do.
CSure, but the cat's out of the bag. The homebrew community will build on it.
MNintendo's lawyers are already drafting the cease and desist.
CAnd here's one that'll start a fight: Xbox wants you to pay to stream games you already own.
MOh, come on. How much?
CArs Technica says roughly 24 to 40 cents per hour.
MThat's insane. You bought the game. Now you pay rent to play it?
CMicrosoft's argument is that cloud streaming costs money. Servers, bandwidth, maintenance.
MSo does every other service. Netflix doesn't charge per hour.
CNetflix also doesn't let you buy a movie and then stream it for free forever.
MBut that's the deal! I bought the game. The license should include streaming.
CThe license includes playing on your own hardware. Cloud is a different service.
MIt's the same game! The same save file! The same account!
CAnd the same server costs. Look, I don't love it either, but someone has to pay for the infrastructure.
MRight. The trillion-dollar company needs my 40 cents an hour.
CThey didn't get to a trillion by giving away server time.
MThe real problem: this is a terrible precedent. Buy a game, pay to play it. What's next?
CI think the market will decide. If people refuse, Microsoft backs off.
MOr they just make it the only option. That's the playbook.
CWe'll see. For now, it's a pricing experiment that's making a lot of people angry.
MAnd on that note, California's economy is booming thanks to AI. But nobody's hiring.
CCal State Fullerton's report says AI investment is pumping up the economy.
MAnd yet the state added only about 138,500 jobs in a year. Unemployment's at 5.1%.
CA full point above the national average.
MSo the economy's growing, but workers aren't feeling it. Classic.
CThe AI boom is real. But it's concentrated in a few companies and a few zip codes.
MMeanwhile, everyone else is waiting for the trickle-down.
CThose are the numbers that matter for anyone looking for a job in California right now.
MAnd that's a problem that no amount of AI hype can fix.

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