Neil Brown1d ago

"DNS is the Internet's phone book"

This ceased to be a useful analogy many, many years ago!

Show threadNeil Brown1d ago

I've just read the Internet Society's new paper on DNS blocking, aimed at lawyers.

https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Mandated-DNS-Blocking-Full-Paper.pdf

It is a reasonable primer for anyone new to this area, but probably still pretty hard going if you are not at familiar with this stuff.

It has no discussion of different types of record, which I found odd in a DNS primer, meaning that this sentence irked me:

> DNS resolution only translates a domain name to the IP address of a web server

Death by Lambda9h ago
Show threadEntertainment Porpoises Only

@neil

Not trying to be a smug asshole nerd here, but:

"The IP address of a web server" is really winding me up. Is this them failing to make the distinction between the internet and the web? Or do they think that all hosts are running a webserver? The phrase "web server" has a very specific meaning and I don't think it's what they think it is

Apr 4 at 7:57amWeb
Show threadNeil Brown1d ago
@pikesley It bugged me too, but I am trying to see it as one sentence in a whole long piece. But yes, grrr.
Show threadNick1d ago
@[email protected] @[email protected] It implies that they only care about web servers... #grrr
Show threadEntertainment Porpoises Only23h ago

@nick @neil at the very least, it's going to lead to confusion when the people at whom this is aimed talk to people who actually understand this stuff

"And then this name points to this web server"
"But that's my postgres server"
"OK, the web server running postgres"

*Fistfight ensues*

Show threadLeeloo1d ago
@pikesley @neil
It means that they are trying to explain it to someone for whom a webserver is the one with the blinkenlights and a server is a person you tip.
Show threadEntertainment Porpoises Only1d ago
@leeloo @neil I mean yes, but in something like this, it feels like *details are really important*
Show threadLeeloo23h ago
@pikesley @neil
Understanding is more important, though.
Show threadEntertainment Porpoises Only23h ago
@leeloo @neil yes, understanding the details, because eventually you're going to need to communicate with people who really understand this, and your grasp of some very specific terms of art is going to be wrong in subtle but critical ways, which at the very least is going to seriously irk someone