Cloudflare Asks Court to End LaLiga’s ‘Illegal’ Blocking Response to Encrypted Client Hello

• Cloudflare decided to challenge LaLiga’s measures for blocking piracy-enabling websites.
• The football league believes Encrypted Client Hello technology hinders traditional domain and URL-blocking methods.
• The company is arguing that these measures undermine the open internet and harm third parties. 

Cloudflare has filed a legal motion in Spain to challenge the "disproportionate" piracy site-blocking measures enforced by LaLiga, Spain's top football league, seeking a ruling to declare these practices illegal. 

LaLiga, through previous court authorizations, has instructed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block pirate streaming sites and IPTV services. This blocking process involves targeting domains, URLs, IP addresses, and even tampering with DNS entries. 

Cloudflare has described LaLiga’s actions as a threat to the open internet, asserting that the blocking orders harm public interest by inconveniencing people trying to access lawful websites. 

The primary source of the conflict is LaLiga's response to adopting Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) technology. ECH, a protocol supported by companies like Cloudflare and Google, enhances internet privacy by encrypting sensitive data in web traffic, making it difficult for ISPs to use traditional domain and URL blocking methods. 

While ECH strengthens privacy for legitimate internet users, LaLiga argues that it also hinders their ability to stop piracy effectively.

"LaLiga obtained this ruling without addressing the cloud service providers, thereby concealing from the Court the foreseeable harm to third parties and the public interest. LaLiga’s actions pose a clear threat to the open Internet." the company stated. 

Cloudflare added that it routinely works with rights holders to combat piracy but will not tolerate indiscriminate measures that overstep ethical or legal boundaries.

Through its motion to annul the ruling, Cloudflare aims to establish a precedent limiting excessive and overreaching measures by rights holders. The company hopes the court will revoke LaLiga’s authorization and create a framework ensuring that future piracy-blocking methods do not infringe on broader internet rights.

This month, a coalition of rightsholders, including Canal+ and Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), has filed legal proceedings in France to compel major VPN providers to block access to pirate sites and services.