SAC056 - ICANN SSAC Advisory on Impacts of Content Blocking via the Domain Name System
Abstract
The use of Domain Name System (DNS) blocking to limit access to resources on
the Internet has become a topic of interest in numerousInternet governance
venues. Several governments around the world, whether by law, treaty, court
order, law enforcement action, or other actions or agreements, have either
implemented DNS blocking or are actively considering doing so. However, due to
the Internet’s architecture, blocking by domain name can be easily bypassed by
end users and is thus likely to be largely ineffective in the long term and fraught
with unanticipated consequences in the near term. In addition, DNS blocking can
present conflicts with the adoption of DNS Security Extensions(DNSSEC) and
could promote balkanization of the Internet into a country-by-country view of the
Internet’s name space.
the Internet has become a topic of interest in numerousInternet governance
venues. Several governments around the world, whether by law, treaty, court
order, law enforcement action, or other actions or agreements, have either
implemented DNS blocking or are actively considering doing so. However, due to
the Internet’s architecture, blocking by domain name can be easily bypassed by
end users and is thus likely to be largely ineffective in the long term and fraught
with unanticipated consequences in the near term. In addition, DNS blocking can
present conflicts with the adoption of DNS Security Extensions(DNSSEC) and
could promote balkanization of the Internet into a country-by-country view of the
Internet’s name space.
Research Areas
