In keeping with a longstanding commitment to privacy and online security, this year Mozilla has launched products and features that ensure privacy is respected and is the default. We recognize that technology alone isn’t enough to protect your privacy. To build a product that truly protects people, you need strong data policies.

An example of our work here is the U.S. deployment of DNS over HTTPS (DoH), a new protocol to keep people’s browsing activity safe from being intercepted or tampered with, and our Trusted Recursive Resolver program (TRR). Connecting the right technology with strict operational requirements will make it harder for malicious actors to spy on or tamper with users’ browsing activity, and will protect users from DNS providers, including internet service providers (ISPs), that can abuse their data.

DoH’s ability to encrypt DNS data addresses only half the problem we are trying to solve. The second half is requiring that companies with the ability to see and store your browsing history change their data handling practices. This is what the TRR program is for. With these two initiatives, we’re helping close data leaks that have been part of the Internet since the DNS was created 35 years ago.

Our TRR program aims to standardize requirements in three areas: limiting data collection and retention, ensuring transparency for any data retention that does occur, and limiting blocking or content modification. For any company Mozilla partners with, our expectation is that they respect modern standards for privacy and security for our users. Specifically:

• Limiting data. Your DNS data can reveal a lot of sensitive information about you, and currently DNS providers aren’t subject to any limits on what they can do with that data; we want to change that. Our policy requires that your data will only be used for the purpose of operating the service, must not be retained for longer than 24 hours, and cannot be sold, shared, or licensed to other parties.

 

• Transparency. It isn’t enough that our partners tell Mozilla privately about their data retention and use policies. What is more important is that they attest to those good policies publicly and that they make a commitment users can see and understand about how their data is handled. That is why our policy requires resolvers to publish a public privacy notice that documents what data is retained and how it is used.

 

• Blocking & Modification. DNS can be used to control what information you are allowed to see. DNS providers can potentially censor your browsing activity, give you the wrong results, or surface their own content. We think you should be the one deciding what information you need, not your DNS provider. Our requirements prevent resolvers, from blocking, filtering, modifying, or providing inaccurate responses, unless they are strictly required by law to do so. Alternatively, we are supporting operation of filtering when a user explicitly opts-in, as with parental controls.

These policy requirements are a critical part of our strategy to put people back in control of their data and privacy online. And we look forward to bringing more partners into our TRR program who are willing to put people over profit. Our hope is that the rest of the industry follows suit and helps us bring DNS into the 21st century with the privacy and security protections that people deserve.

The post Trusted Recursive Resolvers – Protecting Your Privacy with Policy and Technology appeared first on Open Policy & Advocacy.

https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2019/12/09/trusted-recursive-resolvers-protecting-your-privacy-with-policy-technology/