Starting today, Mozilla will turn on by default DNS over HTTPS (DoH) for Firefox users in the US, the company has announced. DoH is a new standard that encrypts a part of your internet traffic that’s typically sent over an unencrypted plain text connection, and which could allow others to see what websites you’re visiting, even when your communication with the website itself is encrypted using HTTPS. Mozilla says it is the first browser to support the new standard by default, and will be rolling it out gradually over the coming weeks in order to address any unforeseen issues.
Mozilla is motivated in part by ISPs who monitor customers’ web usage. US carriers like Verizon and AT&T are building massive ad-tracking networks. DoH won’t stop the data collection but it’ll likely make it more difficult.
Although it’s much harder for others to see your DNS lookups with DoH enabled, the websites will still be visible to the DNS server your browser is connecting to. Thus, Mozilla says Firefox will offer a choice of two trusted DNS providers, Cloudflare and NextDNS, and that Cloudflare will be used as the default.
See Firefox turns controversial new encryption on by default in the US
The technology has faced criticism from lawmakers.