The Internet Infrastructure Coalition (I2C), a non-profit organization bringing together major maintainers of the internet, has released a report under an alarming title. The report, DNS at Risk: How Network Blocking and Fragmentation Undermine the Global Internet, underscores that DNS was built as a neutral system for the sole purpose of directing users to websites.
However, in a recent development, national governments worldwide are increasingly exploiting DNS blocking to prevent users from accessing undesirable content, due to copyright infringement or because it contains political statements that counter national policy. Such cases often create significant collateral damage. The report cites numerous examples, illustrating why this practice may be risky.
One example is Italy, where a program called Piracy Shield was designed to protect the interests of rightsholders. The implementation of the program has resulted in many legitimate websites using Cloudfare being blocked, along with Google Drive. Similarly, Spain’s blocking illegal sports streaming mistakenly barred access to thousands of legitimate sites. US officials decided to take down a website with thousands of subdomains. One of such subdomains did host a website with illegal content; but numerous other non-violating users found themselves blocked in the process.
The report cites similar cases from Malaysia, South Korea and Austria. Austria’s telecommunications operator, however, reversed the decision on IP blocking because many legitimate websites sustained severe damage. Domain Name Wire reports that report authors have urged policymakers and internet service providers to refrain from using DNS in broader content regulation since this method undermines the entire global network’s transparency and stability.
