i2Coalition’s ‘VPNs at Risk’ Report Pushes Back on Piracy Blocking Duties for VPNs

Last Updated on October 23, 2026 by Dana Groves

An internet infrastructure coalition published a report on 22 October warning that court orders forcing VPN providers to block pirate sites push copyright enforcement into shared plumbing that businesses and remote workers rely on. The “VPNs at Risk” paper lands as French courts extend blocking duties to VPNs and two competing U.S. bills disagree on whether VPNs belong in the crosshairs at all.

Table of Contents

What Happened

The Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition), whose members include Amazon, Cloudflare and Google, released “VPNs at Risk” on Global Encryption Day. The group also runs the VPN Trust Initiative, with ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark VPN as founding members. Like last year's “DNS at Risk” report, the paper argues against turning neutral infrastructure into a copyright enforcement tool.

The report points to France as the clearest example. In May 2025 a Paris court ordered NordVPN, CyberGhost, Surfshark VPN, ExpressVPN and Proton VPN to block 203 pirate sports streaming domains at the request of Canal+. Rights holders brought those cases before French courts, the report says, and the obligations then moved from internet access providers to the VPN layer. The French fight is not settled: on 30 September the Paris Court of Appeal paused an appeal by NordVPN, Proton and CyberGhost against a similar order obtained by the LFP until the Cour de cassation rules on related DNS cases. A week later, the Paris court refused beIN's request for daily penalties against VPN providers and Cloudflare, which had not fully blocked the targeted sites.

Key Facts

Publisher: i2Coalition report “VPNs at Risk”, released on 22 October, Global Encryption Day.
Membership: Amazon, Cloudflare and Google sit in the coalition; ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark VPN founded its VPN Trust Initiative.
France 2025: a Paris court ordered five VPN providers to block 203 pirate sports domains for Canal+.
France 2026: the appeal is on hold pending the Cour de cassation, and a daily penalty request against VPNs and Cloudflare was refused.
U.S. bill A: the American Copyright Protection Act would let courts name VPNs with 100,000 or more monthly U.S. users.
U.S. bill B: the DEFEND IP Act explicitly excludes services that only offer VPNs.
Report scope: neither U.S. bill is mentioned; i2Coalition says it will revisit U.S. legislation in a future update.
Calendar: Issa retires at the end of the year and Tillis's term ends in January, so both bills must move before the session closes.

What It Means

The report's practical argument is about layers. Consumer VPNs and corporate networks lean on the same protocols, including OpenVPN and WireGuard, and Russia's attempts to block those protocols show how hard it is to separate a viewer hopping to another region from a company protecting payroll traffic. i2Coalition also cites the U.S. Supreme Court's Cox ruling from earlier this year, which held that providing a service while knowing some users may misuse it is not enough on its own to prove contributory infringement. The group does not ask for a blanket VPN exemption. It asks lawmakers to aim at the layer that can actually see and control the conduct, and to weigh the cost to lawful users before extending duties to general-purpose services. For viewers, the legal position has not changed: a VPN can change the country a service sees, it does not make piracy legal, and it does not guarantee anonymity. Check your local laws and the terms of the service you pay for.

Related Guide

For the French orders that put VPN providers on the receiving end of blocking demands, our report on Canal+ winning 14 blocking orders naming three VPNs covers who was targeted and what changed.

Source: TorrentFreak – “‘VPNs at Risk': Tech Coalition Pushes Back on Piracy Blocking Duties for VPNs”, 22 October.

This is a news report, not legal advice. VPNs are legal in most countries, but using one to access pirated content is not, and unblocking a service can breach its Terms of Service. Check your local laws and the terms of the services you use.