This DNS over HTTP thing

Wed Oct 2 10:45:10 UTC 2019

>From a corporate standpoint, this is exactly correct. There are also some regulatory issues involved (FINRA, SEC, etc...)

We are required to block access to web based email (gmail, etc...) in our corporate network (please don't ask why, ours is not to reason why...), so every method to "bypass" normal network operations creates headaches for us.

-----Original Message-----
From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+mhuff=ox.com at nanog.org> On Behalf Of John R. Levine
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2019 4:06 PM
To: Aaron C. de Bruyn <aaron at heyaaron.com>
Cc: NANOG mailing list <nanog at nanog.org>
Subject: Re: This DNS over HTTP thing

I assumed my point was obvious but evidently I overestimated my audience.

While it is stupid to assert that the only reason to circumvent DNS filters is to look at child abuse material, it is equally stupid to assert that the only reason to filter is to lie, or to censor.

There are plenty of good reasons to filter DNS responses, with the most obvious being to block malware sites whose links are sent out in spam (a whole lot of spam these days.)  There are also reasons that enterprises filter DNS on their networks, to block stuff that creates a hostile work environment, or is obviously unrelated to what employees are hired to do (i.e., facebook.)

R's,
John

On Tue, 1 Oct 2019, Aaron C. de Bruyn wrote:

> "For the children!"
> "Stop resisting!"
> "I was in fear for my life!"
>
> The age-old cries of the oppressor. ...

> On Tue, Oct 1, 2019 at 11:33 AM John Levine <johnl at iecc.com> wrote:
>
>> In article <20191001074011.n4xjouqg6lhsvti7 at nic.fr> you write:
>>> Note that the UK is probably the country in Europe with the biggest
>>> use of lying DNS resolvers for censorship. No wonder that the people
>>> who censor don't like anti-censorship techniques.
>>
>> Most UK ISPs use the Internet Watch Foundation's advice intended to
>> block child sexual abuse material.
>>
>> Circumventing it enables people to access that material.
>>
>> We can shout CHILD PORNOGRAPHY just as loud as you can shout
>> CENSORSHIP so perhaps we should both stop now.  There are plenty of
>> valid reasons for a DNS resolver to block some results.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl at taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly