[AusNOG] Telstra manipulating DNS to block botnets

[Burt Mascareigne]

I find this line of though dangerous.

The Sky Hasn't fallen,  isn't a valid reason / justification

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>

But it does open the door to censorship, saying it isn't doesn't make it not.....(triple negative score!)

When we talk $$, we're talking about Spikes in traffic and elevating that to investigations.  That's preservation of $$.  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.

Regards


[cid:priority-computer-solutions_logo_01]

Burt Mascareigne
Technician
Mob: 0414 450 962


[cid:priority-computer-solutions_logo_03]       [cid:priority-computer-solutions_logo_04]





From: ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net [mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net] On Behalf Of Eric Pinkerton
Sent: Friday, 15 June 2012 9:25 AM
To: ausnog at lists.ausnog.net
Subject: Re: [AusNOG] Telstra manipulating DNS to block botnets

I think that as Rod has elegantly demonstrated, simply contacting the registrars dosen't cut the mustard, any more than Spamhaus et al's attempts to get ISP's to disconnect known spammers have made SPAM disappear in the last decade.

Even in an ideal futuristic utopia where registrars were held to account, spammers will come up with any number of ways to sidestep such controls in minutes, until such time people stop clicking on links.

So at risk of a good old flaming, I think this is a bold move by Telstra, and actually quite commendable.  Also let's face it they have been 'tampering with DNS' for years now  with sponsored adds for nxdomain, and more recently the Interpol blacklist, and to my knowledge the sky hasn't actually fallen down yet.  Some people opted out,  perhaps some of them churned but we aren't all eating soylent green just yet.

I don't agree that this opens the door to censorship, that door has been off it's hinges for quite some time, and let's face it using DNS to effect censorship is like making suicide illegal to save lives.

Eric


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