5 ms·

I have CF DNS and the website works correctly for me in Italy so the answer is yes, changing DNS works, even Google's DNS should do it. But the default ISP one

I have CF DNS and the website works correctly for me in Italy so the answer is yes, changing DNS works, even Google's DNS should do it. But the default ISP ones all block some websites related to piracy, and sadly for most people that’s enough to deter them or worse, it leads them to visit suspicious websites and download viruses.

denton-scratch 3y ago
DNS "blocking" doesn't impress me much; it only works if you rely on the ISPs DNS servers. I think personal computers should simply ship with a local recursive resolver installed and configured. The resource burden is tiny, and it's likely to be faster than most ISP's resolvers. And it'll tell you the Truth about what's in the DNS tree. I understand that many ISPs use slow DNS servers as a way of throttling their users.
- miki123211 3y ago
  Some places forcibly redirect all port 53 traffic to your ISP's DNS server, some British ISPs do this if I'm not mistaken. If popular operating systems started doing this, more countries would follow. DNS over HTTPS would solve the problem, but some countries might outlaw browsers that ship with it if it became too much of a problem.
  - denton-scratch 3y ago
    What kind of "place" can redirect a port-53 request to localhost to my ISP's DNS server? DNS-over-HTTPS is a move in the wrong direction, if you ask me. There aren't many DOH servers, so it concentrates control even more than traditional DNS. But if you are running your own recursive resolver, the only ways to control the results are to control the authoritative servers (nope), or to control the roots (most of them are physically in the USA, and run by corporations, so that's sort-of possible).
    - sp332 3y ago
      Do you mean you're running a DNS server locally? Wouldn't the DNS block apply when your local server tried to resolve the name upstream?
      - denton-scratch 3y ago
        I am running a recursive resolver locally. When it resolves a name, "upstream" means the root servers, not some DNS cache such as my ISP offers. A recursive resolver chases the name down the DNS tree to the authoritative server. To block that, you have to either tamper with the root servers, or get control of the authoritative servers.
        gkbrk 3y ago
        > To block that, you have to either tamper with the root servers, or get control of the authoritative servers. I don't think so. The ISP can just reply to the DNS packets itself, without sending them to the root servers. Your local recursive resolver will think the response is from other DNS servers but in fact they would all be from your ISP.
        networkchad 3y ago
        [dead]
    - jagged-chisel 3y ago
      They can't redirect things going to localhost. But how does your local resolver talk other authoritative DNS servers? UDP on port 53. The instant that kind of packet hits your ISP, it's not routed outside their network and is answered by their DNS. Unless you have DNS-over-HTTPS.
      - denton-scratch 3y ago
        Well, I didn't know they did that. They'd have to use a packet filter to do that; in the normal case, I send my UDP query to the authoritative server via its IP address, and if my ISP doesn't forward the query, then it's not providing internet service, it's simulating it. My resolver respects DNS signing, so I think I'd get errors rightaway if my ISP tried to substitute a forged answer. My (niche) ISP is rather benevolent; as far as I'm aware they don't block at all, and they brag about providing "real internet service". At any rate, I'm not aware that my recursive resolver has ever encountered an answer that was forged by my ISP.
  - zzo38computer 3y ago
    Another way is to ask someone else what is the correct IP address and then add it to a local file on your computer and use that instead of the DNS.

denton-scratch 3y ago

DNS "blocking" doesn't impress me much; it only works if you rely on the ISPs DNS servers. I think personal computers should simply ship with a local recursive resolver installed and configured. The resource burden is tiny, and it's likely to be faster than most ISP's resolvers. And it'll tell you the Truth about what's in the DNS tree. I understand that many ISPs use slow DNS servers as a way of throttling their users.

miki123211 3y ago
Some places forcibly redirect all port 53 traffic to your ISP's DNS server, some British ISPs do this if I'm not mistaken. If popular operating systems started doing this, more countries would follow. DNS over HTTPS would solve the problem, but some countries might outlaw browsers that ship with it if it became too much of a problem.
- denton-scratch 3y ago
  What kind of "place" can redirect a port-53 request to localhost to my ISP's DNS server? DNS-over-HTTPS is a move in the wrong direction, if you ask me. There aren't many DOH servers, so it concentrates control even more than traditional DNS. But if you are running your own recursive resolver, the only ways to control the results are to control the authoritative servers (nope), or to control the roots (most of them are physically in the USA, and run by corporations, so that's sort-of possible).
  - sp332 3y ago
    Do you mean you're running a DNS server locally? Wouldn't the DNS block apply when your local server tried to resolve the name upstream?
    - denton-scratch 3y ago
      I am running a recursive resolver locally. When it resolves a name, "upstream" means the root servers, not some DNS cache such as my ISP offers. A recursive resolver chases the name down the DNS tree to the authoritative server. To block that, you have to either tamper with the root servers, or get control of the authoritative servers.
      - gkbrk 3y ago
        > To block that, you have to either tamper with the root servers, or get control of the authoritative servers. I don't think so. The ISP can just reply to the DNS packets itself, without sending them to the root servers. Your local recursive resolver will think the response is from other DNS servers but in fact they would all be from your ISP.
      - networkchad 3y ago
        [dead]
  - jagged-chisel 3y ago
    They can't redirect things going to localhost. But how does your local resolver talk other authoritative DNS servers? UDP on port 53. The instant that kind of packet hits your ISP, it's not routed outside their network and is answered by their DNS. Unless you have DNS-over-HTTPS.
    - denton-scratch 3y ago
      Well, I didn't know they did that. They'd have to use a packet filter to do that; in the normal case, I send my UDP query to the authoritative server via its IP address, and if my ISP doesn't forward the query, then it's not providing internet service, it's simulating it. My resolver respects DNS signing, so I think I'd get errors rightaway if my ISP tried to substitute a forged answer. My (niche) ISP is rather benevolent; as far as I'm aware they don't block at all, and they brag about providing "real internet service". At any rate, I'm not aware that my recursive resolver has ever encountered an answer that was forged by my ISP.
- zzo38computer 3y ago
  Another way is to ask someone else what is the correct IP address and then add it to a local file on your computer and use that instead of the DNS.