Cloudflare has launched a legal action against LaLiga over IP blocking action that it says blocked millions of users from accessing unrelated websites.
As reported in Broadband TV News, websites DazcFutbolios and RBTV77 were last weekend blocked in a joint action by the Spanish football league and local ISPs after illegally distributing LaLiga matches.
LaLiga said the two pirates were using technology provided by Cloudflare to conceal their identity and evade security controls. Together, the two platforms had more than 400,000 unique monthly users in Spain.
Cloudflare called the effort misguided and said LaLiga had left it with no other option than to pursue the legal action. “LaLiga secured this blocking order without notifying cloud providers, while concealing from the court the predictable harm to third parties and the public good. LaLiga’s actions pose a clear threat to the open Internet. Cloudflare has now filed a legal action to challenge the order and establish that LaLiga’s disproportionate blocking efforts are unlawful.
“Instead of addressing Spanish users’ concerns about excessive content blocking, LaLiga has attempted to deflect with baseless claims against Cloudflare while doubling down on its unlawful blocking practices. Cloudflare hopes this legal action helps prevent future indiscriminate blocking measures, and makes it clear that rightsholders cannot prioritise their commercial interests over the fundamental right of millions of consumers to access the open Internet.”
Like the majority of cloud providers, Cloudflare uses shared IP addresses to manage its network, meaning that thousands of domains can be accessed with a single IP address.
LaLiga claims more than 50% of pirate IPs illegally distributing its content are protected by Cloudflare.
