1. The Arab Spring r Internet shutdowns in Egypt originally attributed to govt. shutdown/redirection via DNS r Later reported to be a more brute-force approach  Powered down the routers at major ISPs 2: Application Layer1

2. Operation “In Our Sights II” r US Dept of Justice targets “sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and illegally copyrighted works.” r Criminal Division, the Department of Homeland Security, and nine U.S. Attorneys’ Offices r “Seized” 82 domain names of websites  By requiring U.S. DNS servers to hide/redirect those domains r Most recent high-profile case (NinjaVideo) pled guilty in mid-Sept, 2011 2: Application Layer2

3. Operation “Protect Our Children” r US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at child pornography sites (2010-2011) r DSN records redirected seized sites to an ICE banner  Proclaimed that the site had been seized for trafficking in child pornography  Sites seized with minimal judicial involvement r Spectacularly failed by seizing overly- broad domains  E.g., Popular domain mooo.com seized, thus flagging over 84,000 sites as pornographers  Embarrassing congressional hearings 2: Application Layer3

4. PROTECT IP Act r Legislation currently (9/2011) before Congress  “IP” = Intellectual Property r Would codify the legal basis for “In Our Sights”  Make it easy for law enforcement to request DNS “seizures” of sites violating copyrights r Controversy: allows a “right of private action” whereby publishers can allege violation of their copyright and get a site seized with no judicial hearing. 2: Application Layer4

5. Should We “Uproot” DNS? r Arguably, the hierarchical structure of DNS concentrates too much power in the hands of a few govts and corporations r Periodic attempts have been made at creating alternate DNS roots  Except for a few supposed small “black nets”, unsuccessful r Not to be confused with so-called Open DNS  A commercial service providing faster DNS via massive caches 2: Application Layer5

6. DNS via P2P r Idea has been floated in academic papers since 1996 r Gaining momentum in 2011  Project headed by co-founder of Pirate Bay r Serious issues:  Trust – if not by hierarchy, then by encryption 2011 hacking of certificate issuer DigiNotar raises questions  P2P networks over time concentrate traffic in the fastest, most reliable nodes Google or similar server farms could dominate 2: Application Layer6