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Firefox Turns Encrypted DNS On By Default To Thwart Snooping ISPs

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday February 26 2020, @02:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the and-everyone-else-on-the-network dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Firefox will start switching browser users to Cloudflare's encrypted-DNS service today and roll out the change across the United States in the coming weeks.

"Today, Firefox began the rollout of encrypted DNS over HTTPS (DoH) by default for US-based users," Firefox maker Mozilla said in an announcement scheduled to go live at this link Tuesday morning. "The rollout will continue over the next few weeks to confirm no major issues are discovered as this new protocol is enabled for Firefox's US-based users."

DNS over HTTPS helps keep eavesdroppers from seeing what DNS lookups your browser is making, potentially making it more difficult for Internet service providers or other third parties to monitor what websites you visit. As we've previously written, Mozilla's embrace of DNS over HTTPS is fueled in part by concerns about ISPs monitoring customers' Web usage. Mobile broadband providers were caught selling their customers' real-time location data to third parties, and Internet providers can use browsing history to deliver targeted ads.

Wireless and wired Internet providers are suing the state of Maine to stop a Web-browsing privacy law that would require ISPs to get customers' opt-in consent before using or sharing browsing history and other sensitive data. The telecom companies already convinced Congress and President Trump to eliminate a similar federal law in 2017.

Also at:
Mozilla Blog
The Register

Previously:
Firefox Begins Enabling DNS-over-HTTPS for Users

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2020, @02:56PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2020, @02:56PM (#962864)

    As explained by firefox. When the option is first enabled, you get a warning popup and the option to disable the feature. If you click without reading, you can go to about:config and set network.trr.mode to 0 or 5.

    If you forget this, you can go to your preferred search engine and query with this string "disable firefox dns over https". The first link should take you to the page I used to find this information.

    Starting Score:    0  points
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2020, @09:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 26 2020, @09:23PM (#963096)

    In other words, it provides an initial option to do it easily. After that you require Google or specialized knowledge to make it happen.
    So the default answer is No.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @08:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @08:16PM (#963706)

    Great, override in the options. Until they delete the option. Then you are stuck with this crap.
    Oh, Firefox. Not chrome.
    Never mind.