Transcript Chapter2_dnsa.pptx

The Arab Spring
 Internet shutdowns in Egypt originally
attributed to govt. shutdown/redirection
via DNS
 Later reported to be a more brute-force
approach

Powered down the routers at major ISPs
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Operation “In Our Sights II”
 US Dept of Justice targets “sale and
distribution of counterfeit goods and
illegally copyrighted works.”
 Criminal Division, the Department of
Homeland Security, and nine U.S.
Attorneys’ Offices
 “Seized” 82 domain names of websites

By requiring U.S. DNS servers to hide/redirect
those domains
 Most recent high-profile case (NinjaVideo)
pled guilty in mid-Sept, 2011
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Operation “Protect Our Children”
 US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) aimed at child pornography sites
(2010-2011)
 DSN records redirected seized sites to an
ICE banner
Proclaimed that the site had been seized for
trafficking in child pornography
 Sites seized with minimal judicial involvement

 Spectacularly failed by seizing overly-
broad domains
E.g., Popular domain mooo.com seized, thus
flagging over 84,000 sites as pornographers
 Embarrassing congressional hearings2: Application Layer

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PROTECT IP Act
 Legislation currently (9/2011) before
Congress

“IP” = Intellectual Property
 Would codify the legal basis for “In Our
Sights”

Make it easy for law enforcement to request
DNS “seizures” of sites violating copyrights
 Controversy: allows a “right of private
action” whereby publishers can allege
violation of their copyright and get a site
seized with no judicial hearing.
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Should We “Uproot” DNS?
 Arguably, the hierarchical structure of
DNS concentrates too much power in the
hands of a few govts and corporations
 Periodic attempts have been made at
creating alternate DNS roots

Except for a few supposed small “black nets”,
unsuccessful
 Not to be confused with so-called Open
DNS

A commercial service providing faster DNS via
massive caches
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DNS via P2P
 Idea has been floated in academic papers
since 1996
 Gaining momentum in 2011

Project headed by co-founder of Pirate Bay
 Serious issues:
 Trust – if not by hierarchy, then by encryption
• 2011 hacking of certificate issuer DigiNotar raises
questions

P2P networks over time concentrate traffic in
the fastest, most reliable nodes
• Google or similar server farms could dominate
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