After all, on Easter, many people are busy with their families -- it will be very easy for technology news to get overlooked. Not to mention, companies often announce fake products on April Fool's -- anything announced will be questioned as being either real or not.That isn't stopping Cloudflare from announcing an ambitious (and real) new project, however. Today, the company announces a new consumer DNS service with a focus on privacy. Called "1.1.1.1" it quite literally uses that easy-to-remember IP address as the primary DNS server. Why announce on April Fool's Day? Because the IP is four ones and today's date is 4/1 -- clever. The secondary server is 1.0.0.1 -- also easy to remember.
The big question is why? With solid offerings from Google and Comodo, for instance, does the world need another DNS service? The answer is yes, because Cloudflare intends to focus on both speed, and more importantly, privacy.
"What many Internet users don't realize is that even if you're visiting a website that is encrypted -- has the little green lock in your browser -- that doesn't keep your DNS resolver from knowing the identity of all the sites you visit. That means, by default, your ISP, every wifi network you've connected to, and your mobile network provider have a list of every site you've visited while using them," says Cloudflare.
The company further says, "Network operators have been licking their chops for some time over the idea of taking their users' browsing data and finding a way to monetize it. In the United States, that got easier a year ago when the Senate voted to eliminate rules that restricted ISPs from selling their users' browsing data. With all the concern over the data that companies like Facebook and Google are collecting on you, it worries us to now add ISPs like Comcast, Time Warner, and AT&T to the list. And, make no mistake, this isn't a US-only problem -- ISPs around the world see the same privacy-invading opportunity."
Sadly, DNS servers can be a weak link when attempting to surf the web securely. Cloudflare is aiming to not only create a more secure experience, but a faster one too. As you can see above, its new 1.1.1.1 service is quicker than both Google, OpenDNS, and the rest. Quite frankly, there is no reason not to give this new DNS service a try. Privacy? Speed?
If you do decide to give it a go, there are a couple of ways to do it. You should, of course, configure the DNS servers on each of your devices if possible, but you should also do so on your router. This way, anything that connects to your home network will utilize 1.1.1.1 when resolving DNS, including devices that don't provide access to DNS settings -- such as some IoT devices.
Setting it up
See https://1.1.1.1/ because it's that simple!About those addresses
We are grateful to APNIC, our partner for the IPv4 addresses 1.0.0.1 and 1.1.1.1 (which everyone agrees is insanely easy to remember). Without their years of research and testing, these addresses would be impossible to bring into production. Yet, we still have a way to go with that. Stay tuned to hear about our adventures with those IPs in future blogs.For IPv6, we have chosen 2606:4700:4700::1111 and 2606:4700:4700::1001 for our service. It’s not as easy to get cool IPv6 addresses; however, we’ve picked an address that only uses digits.
But why use easy to remember addresses? What’s special about public resolvers? While we use names for nearly everything we do; however, there needs to be that first step in the process and that’s where these number come in. We need a number entered into whatever computer or connected device you’re using in order to find a resolver service.
Anyone on the internet can use our public resolver and you can see how to do that by visiting https://1.1.1.1/ and clicking on GET STARTED.
Why announce it on April first?
For most of the world, Sunday is 1/4/2018 (in America the day/month is reversed as-in 4/1/2018). Do you see the 4 and the 1? We did and that’s why we are announcing 1.1.1.1 today. Four ones! If it helps you remember 1.1.1.1, then that’s a good thing!
Sure, It’s also April Fools' Day and for a good portion of people it’s a day for jokes, foolishness, or harmless pranks. This is no joke, this is no prank, this is no foolish act. This is DNS Resolver, 1.1.1.1 ! Follow it at #1dot1dot1dot1
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