NextDNS becomes the second DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) provider in Firefox, after Cloudflare. With DoH, Internet users can hide their DNS requests and bypass Internet blockages.
To become part of Firefox, NextDNS had to prove that it stores as little data as possible, is transparent about that data, and does not block it unless required to do so by authorities. The service is now available to American users via the Network Settings menu.
DoH encrypts an internet user’s DNS information, so that internet providers, for example, can no longer see which sites a user is visiting via DNS requests. This is possible in other ways, but many parental control tools use such DNS information to block sites. These will then no longer be fully effective.
Cloudflare
Mozilla developed the DoH technology itself, in collaboration with Cloudflare. Cloudflare then became the first DoH provider for Firefox, but Mozilla promised to look for other providers.
It had already been possible to add your own DoH provider to Firefox for some time. However, this is extremely complex and is not done by most users.
DoH was first added to Firefox in Firefox 62 in September 2018. At that time, users could only make use of it by running all their DNS requests through the Cloudflare servers.
According to some experts, DoH is not an ideal protocol to protect Internet traffic. They recommend the further development of ‘DNS-over-TLS’, which encrypts the entire connection. DoH would only hide the requests.
In July, a group of British internet service providers threatened to declare Mozilla ‘super villain of the year’ because of DoH. DoH would allegedly be bad for internet security.
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