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Mozilla nominated for internet villain of 2019

Mozilla nominated for internet villain of 2019

A trading group of British internet service providers (ISPs) has nominated Mozilla for Internet villain of 2019. The reason is that the company proposes to introduce DNS over HTTPS (DoH). It bypasses content blockers.

The trading group, ISPA, consists of more than two hundred members, including BT, Sky and Virgin. The ISPA supports government plans to develop tools for content blocking and parental control for consumers, reports IT Pro.

However, Internet giants focus on supporting online anonymity and safeguarding user privacy by adding additional tools and features to their products. That’s where the two different groups collide now.

DoH

The problem is that ISPs have always had access to DNS requests. Providers can view domain requests and blacklist some domains. For example, these are websites that contain malware.

However, by sending requests via encrypted connections via DoH, providers can no longer block certain domains. In addition, parental control tools can be circumvented.

Mozilla itself says it has no immediate plans to implement DNS over HTTPS in Firefox outside of North America. We are now exploring potential DoH partners in Europe to bring this important security feature to users here. It is available in the settings menu for users who want it, says a spokesperson for IT Pro.

Internet rogue

The ISPA states that Mozilla not only wants to use the function for privacy reasons, but also undermines the Internet security standards in Great Britain by doing so. The proposal to implement the technique is therefore sufficient for ISPA to nominate Mozilla for the Internet scoundrel of 2019.

In addition to the Internet company, President Donald Trump has also been nominated, as well as Article 13 of the EU Copyright Directive, which allows for the introduction of an upload filter on the Internet. Online platforms will now be responsible for copyright violations.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.