Domain Registry Investigates Spain’s Piracy Overblocking Damage

Under a court order obtained by LaLiga and Telefonica, Spanish ISPs now conduct broad blocking of live pirated sports streams. These measures target shared Cloudflare infrastructure and have many third-party intermediaries concerned due to widespread overblocking. The Catalan (.cat) domain registry is actively monitoring domains for fallout and says it reserves the right to take legal action.

cat cageIn recent months, piracy-related overblocking concerns in Italy and Spain have reached new highs.

Rightsholders successfully advocated for broader blocking measures. While these may indeed be more effective, they have also resulted in a noticeable increase in overblocking reports.

For example, Italy’s “Piracy Shield” blocked access to Google Drive, CDN providers, and other legitimate sites and services. Meanwhile in Spain, overblocking is now the de facto standard, as the result of continued disagreement between football rightsholder LaLiga and Cloudflare.

Tensions remain high. Major tech companies have chimed in with calls for a more balanced approach, while some rightsholders see broader blocking action as the best way forward. Meanwhile, gestures to limit overblocking have reportedly found themselves stranded in a black hole.

.Cat Domain Registry
While it’s near impossible to cover all developments, our attention was recently drawn to a response from an organization that hasn’t raised its voice before; the Catalan domain name registry ‘PuntCAT foundation’, which manages the .cat TLD.

The PuntCAT registry allows organizations and individuals to associate with and promote the cultural Catalan identity. This includes the prominent football club Barcelona, which is currently leading the LaLiga championship.

The FCBarcelona.cat domain name doesn’t use Cloudflare and has not been inadvertently caught up in piracy blocking activities. However, other .cat domains have been affected, the registry recently confirmed.

Registry Alerts Customers and Tracks Abuse
PuntCAT reportedly heard from several customers whose websites were blocked by local ISPs, even though they have no association with football or piracy. In response, the registry alerted all customers who use Cloudflare to warn them about potential future problems.

“In recent weeks, some .cat domain holders have informed us that access to their pages, which have no connection to the broadcast of football matches, have been restricted during the broadcasts of La Liga matches,” the email begins.

Email sent to .cat Cloudflare users

catalan
PuntCAT launched an investigation following these reports and, with help from experts, found that 2,294 .cat domains use Cloudflare as a proxy to improve the security and accessibility of the associated websites.

All at-risk customers were sent an email notification and via its website, the registry informed the public that in February alone, sites with more than 400,000 visitors were affected.

Registry Doesn’t Rule Out a Legal Response
While the registry is not yet directly involved in the dispute, it decided to step up and actively monitor .cat domains for overblocking issues. This real-time monitoring allows it to take swift countermeasures if needed, potentially including legal action.

“If these undue blockages are confirmed, we commit to acting decisively to protect the quality of the service we offer our users, reserving the right to take legal action and to collectively represent the owners of the affected domains,” PuntCAT wrote in the email.

Thus far, the registry hasn’t taken action. However, the fact that core Internet services, including ICANN-accredited domain registries, are concerned about the escalating blocking measures shows that these issues impact the broader ecosystem.

Ironically, these problems come at the worst possible time, as the United States is currently considering its own site blocking legislation. Opponents of the U.S. plans, including EFF, will likely use these overblocking examples to show how site-blocking can spiral out of control.