- I2coalition published a new report to mapping the security damage for DNS blocking and other Internet restrictions around the world
- Some European Governments and the United States actively discuss infrastructure level blocking as an anti-piracy solution
- Experts urge the global community to help them document these events
From stopping online dissent and illegal content to copyright infringement and child security, governments around the world have increasingly turned to blocking practices targeting core international infrastructure to pursue their political targets. Yet, even when they are deployed with the best intentions, these measures are meant not only to be ineffective, but also to lead to “unintended and in -depth” security damage.
This is the warning from a new report published by I2Coalition (Internet Infrastructure Coalition). The group wants to shed light on what it describes as a “alarming trend” of governments around the world that dissolve weapons and even the best VPN services as enforcement tools.
“This report is a wake-up call,” said Christian Dawson, CEO of I2Coalition. “DNS raises are neutral infrastructure-not censorship tools. When governments use them to enforce content policies, the result is overreach, disturbance and prolonged damage to the open internet.”
From DNS to VPN – Blocking – How Authorities Block the Internet
As the report shows, Internet blocking tactics from DNS-based restrictions, IP level enforcement and even AI-driven filtration range. Nevertheless, experts highlight DNS blockage as the most widely used mechanism.
Shortly after the domain name system we can think of a DNS as an Internet phone book. It translates user requests into strings of numbers – IP addresses – to connect them with the right sites.
DNS servers are at the heart of the Internet infrastructure as they allow users to navigate the Internet. This is precisely why these services have become a measure of censors such as Russia, Iran and China, first and now rights owners or legislators behind children’s security policy.
Some European countries, including Italy, Spain and France, have increasingly used such a blockage of infrastructure level against pirated or other harmful content. The United States is also currently discussing a bill to apply similar blocking methods against copyright infringement.
However, DNS blockage is not only according to experts who destroy the Internet but also ineffective. This is because these network-level blocks are only unclear rather than removing the content that remains online and available in other ways.
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Following a successful trial against DNS services in 2024, May 15, 2025, Paris Judicial Court Canal+’s request and ordered five VPN providers – NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN and Cyberghost – to block access to 203 domains associated with illegal sports.
Increasingly, more Internet users have learned to use virtual private networking tools that allow users to counteract their IP addresses and bypass these limitations. Therefore, VPNs are now becoming the next target for the authorities.
Russian authorities have been particularly active in cracking down the use of VPN services. A law enforced in March 2024 to criminalize the spread of information on ways to bypass Internet restrictions, especially led to an escalation of Russia’s fight against VPNs, with many apps being removed from official app stores.
In Europe, rights holders in Italy and France have so far targeted both DNS and VPN providers in their fight against online piracy.
Again, while the motivations behind are different, the unintended consequences seem to be the same. As I2Coalition notes in the report: “These measures are implemented too often without legal or technical precision, transparency or accountability, resulting in overpowering, fragmentation and security damage.”
In Italy, for example, the country’s piracy system caused widespread service breaks on other platforms such as Google Drive. Then after the decision about Require VPN and DNS providers to block pirated content, a VPN provider (AirVPN) had already stopped accepting new Italian subscribers.
The report examines this and other examples of overblocking and internet fragmentation throughout Europe (France, Spain, Austria and Portugal) together with case studies from Russia, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Myanmar, Venezuela and even the United States.
“The global internet depends on ordinary protocols, trust and neutrality in the infrastructure layer,” Dawson said. “This initiative shines a focus on where it breaks – and what we can do about it.”
Dawson is now calling on the global community to “help push back with evidence and clarity” by documenting these events. You can do this by going to natrix.org platform that the group has just created.
