Behind The Scene – DNS

 

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a key component of the Internet. You can think of it as the Internet’s phonebook, it translates domain names (e.g., www.somesite.net) to a computer address or IP so that your browser can load the webpage. The DNS is a key determinant of your quality of experience, and privy to your tastes and preferences. In some parts of the world, it can play a key role in what you can and cannot access on the Web. Most of us are unaware of DNS. Your home, office, or school machines typically rely on a DNS server – known as a “resolver” – supplied by your ISP or network provider. The browser in your machine will ask that resolver to translate (or resolve) a given domain name to an address, the server will find the associated address, and hand it back to your browser. Of course, things are rarely that simple.

 

How you can help

Below, you see two sets of instructions. Based on your operating system of your computer (Mac/Unix or Windows), you can follow one of the sets of instructions. It should only take a minute.


Instructions For Windows Users

To find the IP address of your DNS resolver on Windows, follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

2. Type “cmd” in the Run dialog box and press Enter. This will open the Command Prompt window.

3. Use the “Copy Windows Command” button and paste it in the Command Prompt window and press Enter. This will display your network configuration information.

4. There may be multiple lines of output. In that case simply copy the IP address in the first line and paste it in the dialogue box below. The IP address will either look like 192.168.1.1 (IPv4) or something like 2601:246:c80:3420:61b9:e0b5:3bdb:ed4d (IPv6).


Instructions For Mac/Unix Users

1. Click on the Spotlight icon (magnifying glass) in the top-right corner of the screen, or press Command + Spacebar.

2. Type “Terminal” in the search field and press the icon.

3. Use the “Copy Mac/Unix Command” button and paste it in the Terminal window and press Enter. This will display your network configuration information.

4. Copy and Paste the IP address from Terminal into the box below. The IP address will either look like 192.168.1.1 (IPv4) or something like 2601:246:c80:3420:61b9:e0b5:3bdb:ed4d (IPv6).

 

 

Please Enter Your Resolver IP Here (Necessary for Experiment Completion):

 

 

 

The goal of our study

We are a group of academic researchers trying to understand the complexity of DNS. By taking a look behind the scenes, we are asking questions such as is your ISP using its own DNS server or working with another third-party service? Who is it sharing your sensitive DNS information with? As you can imagine, this is likely different in every region and country and for every ISP provider around the world. Asking all those providers may be hard so we figured we should ask you directly!

People

[1] What does an IP look like? You have seen them before, they are something that looks like 192.168.1.1 (for IPv4) or a much longer 2601:246:c80:3420:61b9:e0b5:3bdb:ed4d (IPv6).

[2] https://www.eff.org/free-speech-weak-link/dns