[AusNOG] Telstra manipulating DNS to block botnets

[David Hooton]

Hi Burt,

On 15/06/2012, at 11:38 AM, Burt Mascareigne wrote:
> The Sky Hasn’t fallen,  isn’t a valid reason / justification

Like it or not, the sky has been falling for many, many years in one way or another on the internet.  Be it spam, botnets, state sponsored espionage or "NBN Hackers", there is a clear and present danger in plugging any device into the internet.

> Do you think they will stop at Interpol blacklist? What about Certain “repulsive” Porn, that’s OK to DNS manipulate right?  What about Fringe Group Political advocating violence? We Want to stop that right? What about… <Insert progressively less ‘dangerous’ topic here>

We are network operators not politicians. Sadly we live under the rule of both politicians and law, if you're unhappy with policy get involved in the development process, its surprisingly easy to do so and you'll be impressed how excited those who are writing it often are to have your help.

> DNS manipulation will not work, it’s SO easy to get around,  it will be by-passed by the culprits and the innocent will be abused. Sorry to add to a potential flame war, but, this logic infuriates me.

Theres an important distinction to remember here.. This particular exercise is not about censorship, its about security.  The bit that is important here is communication. Customers need to know what is happening to their data and they need to be made aware in the event that they have been compromised. They also need to be made aware of a way to opt out of anything that is interfering with their connectivity.  Wether it can be gotten around or not is not really the point of this exercise, in this instance its about providing customers and the greater internet with protection from malicious software - Telstra being a better internet citizen (High-Five Telstra).

Sadly wether we like it or not, most customers DO need to be protected from themselves and its our job to make sure they know when we are helping them do the thinking.

Cheers!

Dave
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