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ZOMG!!! Google Offers its own DNS SERVER!!!1! | ||||||||||
2009-12-06 | ||||||||||
This has got to be one of the silliest tech articles I have ever read, written as it was to "warn" readers about evil plans Google has in its kitten and baby duck laden drive for world domination. Disclosure: I regard google as liberal and therefore evil, not evil and therefore liberal, which is why I dislike them. But ultimately they are a tech company and tech companies are gonna do geeky things, and the top of the geeky things to do in terms of the complexity and sheer geekdom pyramid is establishing a DNS server. Google has entered the domain name resolution business, part of its ongoing effort to control just about everything you do on the net. This morning, the Mountain View Chocolate Factory unveiled the free Google Public DNS, a service that lets you resolve net domain names through Google-controlled servers. Those bastards! Trying to control us by allowing computers to resolve names to IP numbers!
Google's explanation makes some sense. If someone has poisoned a DNS cache, who is better equipped to handle countermeasures than a search engine? ISPs just sell access. Google using a DNS server can help quickly clear up poisoned caches.
A silly bit by Google: Redirects are handled by web servers, which require a DNS query each time. Google having a DNS server won't speed this process up much. A DNS system is actually pretty passive. It doesn't do anything but respond to requests. It can't deliver content and it can't redirect. Since 2005, a similar service has been available from a startup known as OpenDNS. One difference, Google says, is that its new service will not redirect you to landing pages if you mistype an address. "Sometimes, in the case of a query for a mistyped or non-existent domain name, the right answer means no answer, or an error message stating the domain name could not be resolved," the company explains. "Google Public DNS never blocks, filters, or redirects users, unlike some open resolvers and ISPs." Obviously, some DNS queries resolutions are run through a web server, which can then do redirects Yes, that would seem to be a reference to OpenDNS, which redirects users to ad-laden pages when names don't resolve. Google, it seems, carefully avoided even mentioning advertising in announcing its Public DNS - it merely says it doesn't do "redirection" - but the subtext is there. In his own blog post, OpenDNS founder David Ulevitch seems to have heard the "a" word. How totally evil. Ad. Those evil bastards! Engaging in a legitimate business. How awful! He's right, however, in pointing out that even if Google isn't redirecting users to ads through the service, it should hardly be viewed in the way Google would have you view it. "Google claims that this service is better because it has no ads or redirection. But you have to remember they are also the largest advertising and redirection company on the Internet," Ulevitch writes. "To think that Google's DNS service is for the benefit of the Internet would be naive. They know there is value in controlling more of your Internet experience and I would expect them to explore that fully." I would expect that, too, Google being a business and not a non-profit Among other things, this gives Google access to even more of the web's data. According to Google, it limits how long certain information is retained. Your IP address, it says, is stored but then deleted after 24 to 48 hours. "The temporary logs store the full IP address of the machine you're using. We have to do this so that we can spot potentially bad things like DDoS attacks and so we can fix problems, such as particular domains not showing up for specific users," reads its privacy page. Limits are de rigueur in a DNS server. Google would be no exception holding to an internet protocol, except that they could tighten or loosen the limit. After all, it's their server. Some geographic information and various other data is keep permanently. "We do keep some location information (at the city/metro level) so that we can conduct debugging, analyze abuse phenomena and improve the Google Public DNS prefetching feature."
We applaud Google for at least providing a detailed description of the service's data collection policy. But as we said, well, just last week: "Do we really want another monoculture?" To which the obvious answer is: Huh?
Who the hell wouldn't, but unless there is money in it and an idea that hasn't been encumbered by patents or copyright law, Google is the only game in town.
There are real life, perfectly acceptable reasons why Google would want to do this.
In a recent presentation, Google said it is intent on expanding this infrastructure between one million and 10 million servers, encompassing 10 trillion (1013) directories and a quintillion (1018) bytes of storage. All this would be spread across "100s to 1000s" of locations around the world. "The implications are a little disturbing," one Reg reader said in response to Google Public DNS. "This could easily be a valid attempt by Google to deal with certain holes in the extant DNS infrastructure. However it could just as easily be a bridge too far." What happens, he asked, if Google starts preconfiguring Chrome OS and Android for its Public DNS service? So deconfigure it. Jeez, do I have to think of everything? The company will tell you - time and again - that it's merely interested in making the web a better place for netizens everywhere. But as it works towards this ostensible goal, it's also doing its best to control, yes, just about everything. Google wants to turn a buck, which is their Gawd given right to do. Which is only what you'd expect from a Fortune 500 company.
Only the Good Lord is morally superior to everyone else. If Eric, et al have said or hinted they are morally superior to everyone else, then they are wrong and they should told they are wrong, and why. For some, claims of saintliness are reason enough to wonder if the company has gone much too far. ® | ||||||||||
Posted by:badanov |
#8 A DNS system is actually pretty passive. It doesn't do anything but respond to requests. It can't deliver content and it can't redirect. It can return an IP to a slow, ad-ridden 'helpful' page if the url you're trying to access is non-existent. I remember when Verisign did that, I was pounding the table waiting for the timeouts just because I mistyped the last character of a url and hit Enter. It can notice common url typos and sell them to cybersquatters for registration. It can track frequency of access to particular urls. It can do "appropriate" re-directs and blocks in a "cyber emergency". Hm, didn't O just set something up? What happens, he asked, if Google starts preconfiguring Chrome OS and Android for its Public DNS service? So deconfigure it. Jeez, do I have to think of everything? Hm, another cyber emergency. Blocked again, darn it. Now, how do I fix this Chrome thingy? Change the DNS server IP in my network setup? What's a network setup? Hint: Just check with Badanov in the O club, he'll walk you through it. Nuts, can't reach Rantburg for some reason.... Google wants to turn a buck, which is their Gawd given right to do. Microsoft could have used your support back in the day when they were dealing with that silly lawsuit brought by the DOJ. |
Posted by: KBK 2009-12-06 23:08 |
#7 Wow, love the colors! Prettiest article I've seen here :) |
Posted by: One Eyed Slins3386 2009-12-06 15:17 |
#6 It's altogether possible that Google just had it's very first Microsoft Bob moment. We shall soon see. And if so, we should celebrate. Sorry for the semi doop |
Posted by: badanov 2009-12-06 15:03 |
#5 It's altogether possible that Google just had it's very first moment. We shall soon see. |
Posted by: badanov 2009-12-06 15:02 |
#4 Why would you use a DNS server many hops away when you could use a more local one. When you use a DNS server for queries those queries can be logged. An ISP can track your online activities through those queries. Google wants to do this for their own business purposes, advertising As it is, you don't have to use your ISPs DNS server. You can make use of any DNS server on the worldwide internet as long as it accepts your queries and as long as the ISP's provisioning rules permit it. In the example of ATT, their DNS servers are all over the US. Your DNS server may be located in California, Dallas, TX or anywhere ATT has a network. The number of hops don't matter in any meaningful sense to them. Google is likely going to enter into the ISP business before long providing broadband in competition with others such as ATT, verizon, etc. Having a DNS server setup would go a long way towards that goal. It is nearly impossible to provide a lot of network services without your own DNS setup. |
Posted by: badanov 2009-12-06 14:55 |
#3 Why would you use a DNS server many hops away when you could use a more local one. This makes zero sense to me. |
Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-12-06 14:40 |
#2 I'm sure that's a terrible thing. What is it? All DNS systems have a second node that stores ( caches) information on previous successful DNS queries, on the theory that such caches help speed up DNS queries in case a main node goes down or takes too long to respond. A coupla years back BIND, the largest free DNS server software, had a bug which permitted false queries to be entered and stored in caches, which would then cause DNS servers to relay a false resolution. These caches were called poisoned caches since the data was poisoned by falsely entered resolution requests. |
Posted by: badanov 2009-12-06 13:08 |
#1 !!!11!!!!1 !!!eleventy!!1! |
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-12-06 12:40 |