DNSSEC and ISPs faking DNS responses

Sat Nov 14 09:05:23 UTC 2015

> On Nov 13, 2015, at 21:28 , Roland Dobbins <rdobbins at arbor.net> wrote:
> 
> On 14 Nov 2015, at 11:32, Owen DeLong wrote:
> 
>> Go out onto the street and ask a random number of people over 30 if they know what a URL is  and how to enter one into a browser.
> 
> They don't know what URIs are, nor do they enter them into browsers.  They type words into a search engine and then click on the resulting links.

If that were true, billboards wouldn’t look like this:

http://worthwhileadvertising.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Sandstone-billboard.jpg <http://worthwhileadvertising.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Sandstone-billboard.jpg>

(Note randomly chosen billboard image from google image search, not at all tech related and not in silicon valley.)

> 
> [I was shocked when I realized this is how non-specialists access Web sites, about 15 years or so ago.]

I’m not surprised… It’s how I access about 30% of the websites I visit. Another 50% or so come from bookmarks/browser history completion.
The remaining 20% are URLs I type.

> 
>> Today, the average 6 year old can operate a DirectTV satellite system with a relatively high degree of facility.
> 
> And has no idea how it actually works, and can't do anything with it beyond the obvious.

Sure, but that’s also true of lots of VPNs that people use every day too.

The marketing people at Akamai use VPNs routinely. IT has it boiled down to Clicking an ICON in the menu bar and selecting “Akamai->Connect”.

Lots of VPN services out there like the ones mentioned earlier in the thread have made it nearly as simple to install and operate a VPN.

> 
>> What the average person knows changes over time.
> 
> Yes, but not in the way you're thinking.  If anything, specialized technical knowledge tends to decrease over time, as technology goes from being used by a relatively few self-selected enthusiasts to becoming more mainstream and accessible to the masses.
> 
> Auto mechanics is one example from the physical world.  Cooking is another.  Handwriting is yet another.

Sure, but it used to be that setting up an internet connection on the average computer was a complex technical process that only a few could handle.

Today, we take having an internet connection on a system for granted.

Why couldn’t things get to a point where we take using VPNs for granted? It’s just a combination of software development and user acceptance.

I’m not saying everyone is going to learn how to configure an IPSEC SA set with tunnels on a Juniper. I’m saying that people will learn to use point-click-VPN software which already exists for the most part.

> 
>> Assuming that it does not strikes me as either (1) ignoring history
> 
> See above.

Most people know how to operate a microwave while few are gourmet chefs. 

I would argue that VPN technology is evolving (has evolved) to a point where it can be more like a microwave.

> 
>> or (2) underestimating the general public even more than I do, which is saying something.
> 
> Among the population of Internet users, the knowledge of how the Internet actually works has decreased tremendously in the last 20 years, as that population has expanded to include non-specialists - e.g., the majority.

Sure… Not particularly relevant to the discussion at hand, however.

> Most computer users have no idea how computers actually work.  They certainly don't know what a VPN is, or how (or why) to set one up.  This state of affairs will continue until VPN technology becomes subsumed into applications and is enabled as a default, if it ever does.

Or until users discover that they can achieve something they want by installing a VPN application and using that, such as happened in New Zealand.

Will the understand how said VPN application works or why it makes what they want possible? No. Nor will they care. But they will care that it solves the problem of reaching their gambling sites despite the government interference or that they can use it to get to the Netflix version they want rather than no service in their locality or…

Many ways to skin a cat.

Owen