IGF 2022 WS #133 Look up for Encryption: Perspectives on DNS Privacy

    Organizer 1: Madeline Carr, University College London
    Organizer 2: PABLO HINOJOSA, APNIC
    Organizer 3: Louise Marie Hurel, Igarapé Institute
    Organizer 4: Duncan Hollis, Temple University Law School
    Organizer 5: Jose Tomas Llanos, University College London

    Speaker 1: Carlos Martinez Cagnazzo, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
    Speaker 2: Emily Taylor, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
    Speaker 3: Mallory Knodel, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

    Moderator

    Madeline Carr, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

    Online Moderator

    Emily Taylor, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

    Rapporteur

    PABLO HINOJOSA, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group

    Format

    Round Table - U-shape - 90 Min

    Policy Question(s)

    1./ What methodologies are best for studying the questions that arise from DNS encryption? 2./ How and why do national and regional approaches to DNS encryption differ? 3./ Can an international convention be a vehicle for addressing the law enforcement / crime challenges of DNS encryption?

    Connection with previous Messages: This workshop does advance debate on two of the messages from the IGF in Katowice articulated under “Emerging Regulation: Market Structure, Content Data and Consumer Rights and Protection”. By exploring the challenges of sovereign jurisdictional approaches to global Internet services, the workshop would extend the analysis of: ● The complex interplay between the market and society is being reshaped by online platforms. Online platforms continue to gain power in the digital world, generating high impact throughout the globe, especially in the Global South. There is no one-size fits all approach as impacts may be positive or negative, depending on the local reality. It will also stimulate further analysis of specifically (e) below: ● Suggested underlying principles to guide policy approaches towards strengthened market competition and consumer protection include: (a) transparency; (b) global taxonomy of service providers; (c) emphasis on rights application; (d) proportionality; (e) acknowledging the complexity of platforms, content and behaviours and jurisdictions; (f) harmonization - ensuring that the Internet remains a global, unified platform that enables the exercise of human rights.

    SDGs

    9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

    Targets: 9.1 Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all. By addressing the questions we raise around encrypted DNS, our workshop will help promote more sustainable, high quality, resilient digital infrastructure for the support of continued innovation that is fully engaged with human and organisational factors of privacy and security.

    Description:

    The advent of new public domain name resolvers, such as Cloudflare and Google, have brought new considerations to the privacy and security of the DNS, even more so than the resolvers typically run by the ISPs. These companies have integrated new technologies that make the DNS queries by users more difficult to access by third parties - such as by law enforcement agencies - and more secure in its resolution service. With encryption, DNS services have become more obscure and difficult to audit. Research data is generally unavailable and this triggers questions, such as: Who do you trust your DNS data with? Whose resolution you can trust best? To what extent can your DNS data remain private?

    Expected Outcomes

    The session will start with a quick explainer of why DNS privacy is important. While laying out the tech dimensions of DNS encryption, the session will move towards relevant policy and governance questions: unpacking DNS encryption to shed some light on DNS privacy. In terms of outputs, we will publish a peer-reviewed journal article on this topic that elaborates the questions and arguments raised in the workshop.

    Hybrid Format: - How will you facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees? We will have a clear speakers' plan with the order in which we will bring in each person so as to ensure that those online have equal input to those present onsite. Our online moderator will sit beside the onsite moderator so that she can facilitate questions from remote participants in every Q&A break. - How will you design the session to ensure the best possible experience for online and onsite participants? Key to doing this will be to ensure that any slides are clearly visible to those online and that onsite speakers and participants use available microphones to make sure they can be clearly understood by those attending online. We will also have links available for relevant material so that they can be posted in the chat at the appropriate moment. We carry out extensive pre-IGF planning for our sessions so as to ensure we make full use of the time allowed for both online and onsite speakers and participants. - Please note any complementary online tools/platforms you plan to use to increase participation and interaction during the session. We will also consider using Sli.do to allow us to capture questions from participants.

    Online Participation

     

    Usage of IGF Official Tool.