Quad9 DNS, one of the largest and most widely used DNS public DNS providers, has announced a major shift in their operations–they’ve moved to Switzerland. This major development in the world of global public DNS providers means that a major shift in the internet’s governance may have begun.

Prior to Quad9 making the move to Switzerland, a single court in Northern California governed all four of the world’s public DNS resolvers. For users, this meant that in the event of legal challenges that were to be brought against one provider, it would be subject to California and US law. In real terms, this means that Quad9 was subject to a lenient privacy regulation structure that didn’t guarantee something close to total privacy.

For users around the world this evolution at Quad9 means that now, Europeans and other users will be better positioned to have their privacy protected. In Europe, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) significantly improve the rules of which govern the relationship organizations have with data and should result in enforceable regulations to protect users’ privacy.

“Quad9 has always been fully GDPR-compliant. But from this day forward, that compliance will no longer be voluntary, it will be guaranteed by Swiss Law and our conduct will be overseen by the Swiss Data Protection Commissioner.” Bill Woodcock, Chairman of Quad9 Foundation Council

Besides moving the data center to Switzerland and moving their general operations, Quad9 went a step further to protect users. In the same announcement, Quad9 announced that they restructured their company to reflect their commitments.

“We have re-incorporated Quad9 as a Swiss public benefit foundation, operating purely non-commercially and operating purely in the public interest. And as we move to Switzerland, we improve the transparency of our governance.” Bill Woodcock, Chairman of Quad9 Foundation Council

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