Comments on: Take a moment to think before switching to the Google public DNS http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/ Life, Technology, Music, and Soccer; not necessarily in that order Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:35:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: David Precious http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-730 David Precious Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:53:58 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-730 <blockquote>for example they may be able to estimate time spent on each site based on the time between requests to their DNS from your IP address</blockquote> I'm not entirely sure that they could derive much of use from that; with various browser addons and AJAXy pages making many automated requests and DNS lookups on behalf of the user, you cannot differentiate between "the user must have finished on the last site they requested, and has moved on to another domain" and "the user is still reading (or doing something else), but their browser/other software is making requests (updating pages, AJAXy updates (Facebook live feed, Twitter, etc), checking for new software versions, etc...).

for example they may be able to estimate time spent on each site based on the time between requests to their DNS from your IP address

I’m not entirely sure that they could derive much of use from that; with various browser addons and AJAXy pages making many automated requests and DNS lookups on behalf of the user, you cannot differentiate between “the user must have finished on the last site they requested, and has moved on to another domain” and “the user is still reading (or doing something else), but their browser/other software is making requests (updating pages, AJAXy updates (Facebook live feed, Twitter, etc), checking for new software versions, etc…).

]]> By: David Precious http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-729 David Precious Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:49:21 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-729 I share the worry that it's yet another data source for Google to obtain data from, although I don't think the data will be significantly more useful than other more in-depth user behaviour data they already collect. I was curious about the speed though, and decided to knock up a quick script to compare Google's DNS servers to OpenDNS and to my ISP's resolvers (Virgin Media). OpenDNS was faster than Google in my tests, and my ISP was significantly faster than both - <a href="http://blog.preshweb.co.uk/2009/12/opendns-vs-google-speed-comparison/" rel="nofollow">see the results</a>. I share the worry that it’s yet another data source for Google to obtain data from, although I don’t think the data will be significantly more useful than other more in-depth user behaviour data they already collect.

I was curious about the speed though, and decided to knock up a quick script to compare Google’s DNS servers to OpenDNS and to my ISP’s resolvers (Virgin Media). OpenDNS was faster than Google in my tests, and my ISP was significantly faster than both – see the results.

]]> By: Tweets that mention Take a moment to think before switching to the Google public DNS | JoshCampoverde.com -- Topsy.com http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-728 Tweets that mention Take a moment to think before switching to the Google public DNS | JoshCampoverde.com -- Topsy.com Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:23:08 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-728 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by robwatts 忍者, Ryan Nelson. Ryan Nelson said: Think about this before you begin to use Google DNS: http://bit.ly/6Xni20 [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by robwatts 忍者, Ryan Nelson. Ryan Nelson said: Think about this before you begin to use Google DNS: http://bit.ly/6Xni20 [...]

]]> By: campo http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-727 campo Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:06:50 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-727 Oz, it's possible they can gain use of out derivative statistics (for example they may be able to estimate time spent on each site based on the time between requests to their DNS from your IP address). That's the first thing that comes to mind to me and seems like a reasonable possibility. It would also have use in marketing/advertising areas. Google can probably create a very widely used DNS and with a very large population using it they may be able to make fairly accurate estimates into things like the traffic to any given site in the world, etc. Large amounts of basic information could lead to statistical analysis that provides valuable information. Oz, it’s possible they can gain use of out derivative statistics (for example they may be able to estimate time spent on each site based on the time between requests to their DNS from your IP address). That’s the first thing that comes to mind to me and seems like a reasonable possibility. It would also have use in marketing/advertising areas. Google can probably create a very widely used DNS and with a very large population using it they may be able to make fairly accurate estimates into things like the traffic to any given site in the world, etc. Large amounts of basic information could lead to statistical analysis that provides valuable information.

]]> By: campo http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-726 campo Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:58:35 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-726 Andrew, Thanks for the link to the privacy policy for the Public DNS. I'll have to take a read through it later. My first thoughts from the quote you posted is "does not permanently store" PII: How long does that mean it's stored for? Does it really *need* to be stored? How can we be sure it is eventually deleted? Andrew, Thanks for the link to the privacy policy for the Public DNS. I’ll have to take a read through it later.

My first thoughts from the quote you posted is “does not permanently store” PII:

How long does that mean it’s stored for?
Does it really *need* to be stored?
How can we be sure it is eventually deleted?

]]> By: Oz http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-725 Oz Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:57:14 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-725 Well, through a DNS query they only have the IP address of the host making the request, and it is only done once and then cached by your machine for a period of time, so only the first hit is seen by google. So it can build a picture of sites an IP address may visit over time, but that's about it. What I fail to see is why would using googles DNS be any better than using your ISPs caching DNS server? I suppose if your ISP is really bad their DNS servers may be dog slow. Well, through a DNS query they only have the IP address of the host making the request, and it is only done once and then cached by your machine for a period of time, so only the first hit is seen by google. So it can build a picture of sites an IP address may visit over time, but that’s about it.

What I fail to see is why would using googles DNS be any better than using your ISPs caching DNS server? I suppose if your ISP is really bad their DNS servers may be dog slow.

]]> By: anon http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-724 anon Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:52:48 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-724 wow, it took me like 10 minutes to find this and read it: http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/privacy.html wow, it took me like 10 minutes to find this and read it: http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/privacy.html

]]> By: Andrew Stott http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-723 Andrew Stott Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:51:47 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-723 Good points, Josh. Privacy (or lack therof) was my first thought when I saw the announcement, too. Looks like Google is, for now, taking the right approach in at least addressing the privacy and logging concerns. They have a page up (http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/privacy.html) that discusses what info they're collecting and storing. "We built Google Public DNS to make the web faster and to retain as little information about usage as we could, while still being able to detect and fix problems. Google Public DNS does not permanently store personally identifiable information." Hopefully they'll stick to this! :) andrew Good points, Josh.

Privacy (or lack therof) was my first thought when I saw the announcement, too. Looks like Google is, for now, taking the right approach in at least addressing the privacy and logging concerns. They have a page up (http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/privacy.html) that discusses what info they’re collecting and storing.

“We built Google Public DNS to make the web faster and to retain as little information about usage as we could, while still being able to detect and fix problems. Google Public DNS does not permanently store personally identifiable information.”

Hopefully they’ll stick to this! :)

andrew

]]> By: AmpLiF1eR http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/comment-page-1/#comment-722 AmpLiF1eR Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:46:25 +0000 http://www.joshcampoverde.com/2009/12/03/take-a-moment-to-think-before-switching-to-the-google-public-dns/#comment-722 exactly.... I was thinking the same thing when I saw that specific post some minutes ago and saw your article... good point! exactly…. I was thinking the same thing when I saw that specific post some minutes ago and saw your article… good point!

]]>