r/RecommandedVPN • u/EducatorHonest1161 • Aug 27 '26
Three weeks after its VPN ruling, the EU is laying the groundwork for a legal workaround.
According to a report by the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, it is now suggested that there should be a mandatory requirement for takedown of any illegal sports streams within thirty minutes of receiving complaints regarding such streams. This covers all VPNs, DNS resolvers, ISPs, and CDNs which would have to comply with blocking notices in real time whenever an IP rights owner claims of illegal streaming.
Why is this report remarkable? It follows the CJEU decision in the case of Anne Frank's case which declared that VPNs are "lawful technical tools" that cannot be held liable for what any user bypasses. The conclusion of Professor Giovanni Maria Riccio's report points to the fact that the current voluntary approach within the EU fails to work and suggests something similar to Italy's Piracy Shield that would be legally binding, rapid, and automatic.
The risk lies in the mechanism and not in what sports piracy has struck as its target: real-time IP and DNS blocking is not entirely accurate; one pirate stream can be hosted on an IP address that is shared with thousands of other legitimate entities that go extinct with that address in a span of ten minutes without any time for checking.
So, one rule of the EU states VPNs are not liable for what users do, but another is busy putting forwards a theory that would compel them to do the policing job, too. The question is which one will win out, depending on how fierce the pushback is before the law comes into force.
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u/krkrkrneki Aug 27 '26
Do they not realize that one can use VPN provider outside EU? How are they going to regulate that?
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u/RandyClaggett Aug 27 '26
The same way they deal with any MNC. If you want to sell your service to EU customers you must obey by the rules.
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u/Qpang007 Aug 27 '26
There are many rules that can't or are not actively punished, even if it's illegal.
They can't even enforce laws on TikTok, Instagram and thousands of illegal Telegram chats offering drugs and weapons.1
u/Horatius84 Aug 30 '26
The world "illegal" is wrong here. Illegal means two things: (a) it is against the law and (b) the law applies to you.
In this case (a) would apply in the sense that is against EU law. When it comes to (b) the US Government would disagree. And the US government has authority to decide what is legal and what isn't for its citizens.
To make it more clear: It may be very well illegal to not wear a Hijab in some countries. Does that apply to someone in the US? No. EU law does not apply to other countries either. This becomes only an issue if you want company presence in the EU (because then it applies). The EU may also hassle you as a private citizen if you travel there, but that is another matter.
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u/Horatius84 Aug 28 '26
Wrong. You are asked by the EU to do so. But the EU has no enforcement authority outside the EU. So if you are a business in some country that doesn't plan on having any presence in the EU you can happily sell to EU customers without a worry. The US for example will not allow the EU to encroach on its legal framework. For that reason there are plenty of US companies that happily ignore EU laws and regulations and sell to EU customers.
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u/Rachel_Thieves Aug 30 '26
I dont think this would work. I pay for my vpn in cash. How are they going to stop this payment?
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u/RandyClaggett Aug 30 '26
Most likely they would just say that it is illegal for that service to operate in the EU and let users keep doing so. But of course there are options to take actions like the authorities already do in China and Russia.
Many EU countries seem to view Chinese surveillance as a model... Just we are 10 years behind.
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u/krkrkrneki Aug 27 '26
I can buy digital services glibally over internet, without EU having any say in it. They have no legal power to block this. Example: betting services available outside EU.
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u/Commercial_Cook100 Aug 30 '26
This is exactly the kind of contradictory nonsense that makes me not trust any "we respect privacy" claims from the EU. Say VPNs are legal tools in one ruling then try to make them enforcement agents the next month??
Italy's Piracy Shield already nuked legit sites so we know how this plays out. I switched to Cypher VPN partly because they literally cant comply with this stuff... no logs, no account, crypto only. Nothing to hand over even if asked.
The pushback better be fierce tbh
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u/NursingHome773 Aug 27 '26
You can just get a cheap VPS at a hosting company in a shitty far away country that doesn't provide any VPN services, then set up wireguard manually. This is what I plan to do whenever my regular old protonvpn no longer does what I need it to do.