Comcast fights Googles encrypted-DNS plan but promises not to spy on users

Comcast has gone on the record to say that it does not track its broadband users' Web browsing histories, even though the company is lobbying against a Google plan that could make it harder for ISPs to track their users.

In the article, Motherboard published a lobbying presentation that it says Comcast has been distributing to US lawmakers.

Google's public DNS system is one of six providers on the list, which also includes Cleanbrowsing, Cloudflare, DNS.SB, OpenDNS, and Quad9.

If a Chrome user relies on their ISP's DNS or uses another DNS provider that isn't on the list, Chrome would make no changes for that user. If a Chrome user is using one of the five non-Google options on the list, Chrome would switch the user to the encrypted version of that provider's DNS system, not to Google's.

Mozilla plans a more aggressive rollout of encrypted DNS for Firefox, but Comcast and other ISPs have primarily expressed concerns about Google.

That hasn't stopped ISPs from urging Congress to intervene and claiming that Google plans to automatically switch DNS requests on Chrome for desktops and Chrome for Android to its own DNS servers.

Comcast's other statement about its privacy practices doesn't name Google, but the cable company is clearly trying to draw a distinction between the privacy of its own service and the privacy of Google's.

But Google says that Google Public DNS is not used to serve ads and that it doesn't correlate IP addresses or location data with users' personal information.

Comcast may not track browsing activity today, but its lobbying against privacy rules and Google's DNS plans could help Comcast keep its options open.

Original article
Author: Jbrodkin

Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. IT news, reviews, and analysis.

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