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Alphabet's Intra App Encrypts DNS Queries To Help Users Bypass Online Censorship (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Catalin Cimpanu, writing for ZDNet: Jigsaw, a technology incubator created by Google and operated as a subsidiary under the Alphabet brand, has released today an Android app named Intra that can encrypt DNS queries as a protection against DNS manipulation at the ISP (internet service provider) level. DNS manipulation is one of the most common forms of online censorship used by oppressive regimes or unscrupulous ISPs, used to block access to news sites, information portals, social media platforms, undesirable software, and more. Intra protects against DNS manipulation by keeping DNS traffic hidden from third-parties with state-level surveillance capabilities, such as internet service providers in countries with autocratic regimes. Reports suggest that Alphabet tested the app with a few dozen political activists in Venezuela before the global roll-out.

2 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Google Tracking by khchung · · Score: 3, Interesting

    To be fair, unless you're running your own DNS server, someone is already processing, and probably tracking, all your DNS requests, be it Google, Cloudflare (another thing to disable in Firefox - thanks Mozilla), your ISP, etc ...

    This is NOT a fair comparison.

    Your ISP already knows the destination of every IP packet you sent out, using the ISP's DNS only provide a little bit more information (the hostname you used) to them.

    Most ISP do not have the analytics capabilities of Google, nor would most ISP correlation your internet activities across all your devices, INCLUDING THOSE NOT USING YOUR ISP'S LINK, such as your mobile phone.

    Claiming "someone" will get the data anyway is obscuring the fact that Alphabet's main business as a data broker. My data scattered around 10 different companies gave me better privacy than having the same data collected by Google.

    --
    Oliver.
  2. At least you can change DNS Servers by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the article:

    "Intra is easy to install and run right away, and comes pre-configured to funnel encrypted DNS queries to Google's DoH-capable DNS servers by default. Users can also switch to Cloudflare's DNS system, or use a custom DoH-capable server as well."

    Though only two browsers support this so I don't know why you would use it. Just use a VPN and everything from every app would be hidden.