Google has rolled out a new service that they claim will improve DNS resolution speed for end users. All you have to do is use their DNS for everything. Oddly, traditional DNS systems shun this centralized approach; preferring to distribute DNS servers at ISPs where local caches are maintained to reduce overall traffic. Maybe, by having a larger requester pool, the Google cache will reduce traffic to authoritative servers for domains; but the overall amount of DNS traffic leaving ISPs to hit Google’s servers will increase across the general Internet. So, as a technical approach to improving the Internet, this seems dubious.
Leaving the technical, the privacy ramifications are truly frightening. Google already tracks when you search for something on their site, and when you click the links in the results. (You think you are clicking on www.weirdstuffyouwouldnotwantknowninpolitecompany.com, but you are really clicking on a google link that records the activity and then forwards you to the page you wanted to visit for ‘research purposes’.) If you use Google DNS they can now track the places you go when you don’t use Google to search. The places you have bookmarked. The places that aren’t even web pages. Every time your computer needs to resolve a name to an IP address, Google will be listening. SSH, Skype, chat… All logged. Think your torrenting is safe from spying because all those peer connections are only IP addresses? Well, not anymore! Every time your computer automatically reverse maps those IP addresses Google will be listening. Those expert data miners at Google will probably be able to cross-reference your lookups with thousands of others. Google doesn’t list major torrent sites in their top results anymore, but you know they are monitoring them. Combine that with reverse DNS queries and Google will probably be able to tell which episode of Gossip Girl you are downloading while your wife is at work.
Configuring your network settings to use Google Public DNSWhen you use Google Public DNS, you are changing your DNS "switchboard" operator from your ISP to Google Public DNS.In most cases, the IP addresses used by your ISP's domain name servers are automatically set by your ISP via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP. To use Google Public DNS, you need to explicitly change the DNS settings in your operating system or device to use the Google Public DNS IP addresses. The procedure for changing your DNS settings varies according to operating system and version Windows, Mac or Linux or the device computer, phone, or router. We give general procedures here that might not apply for your OS or device; please consult your vendor documentation for authoritative information.
via Using Google Public DNS.
Google’s motto may be ‘Do no evil’, but Google is a publicly traded company that is beholden to their shareholders. How can they truly do no evil when they really don’t control their own destiny anymore, and they just plain have so much power that absolute corruption is at this point inevitable?
-Chris
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