HOW TO ENABLE DNS OVER HTTPS IN FIREFOX


Today I enabled DNS Over HTTPS in Firefox 70, commonly referred to as DoH.

What it is
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DNS over HTTPS (DoH) is a protocol for performing remote Domain Name System (DNS) resolution via the HTTPS protocol. A goal of DoH is to increase user privacy and security by preventing eavesdropping and manipulation of DNS data by man-in-the-middle attacks by using the HTTPS protocol to encrypt the data between the DoH client and the DoH-based DNS resolver. In other words, it prevents your isp from logging all of your DNS queries and (at least in the USA) bundling and selling your browsing activity to whomever wants to buy it.

DoH lacks OS support without jumping through lots of hoops, but you can enable it easily now in Firefox.

Criticism of DoH
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The Internet Watch Foundation and the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), a trade association representing UK ISPs, criticized Mozilla, developers Firefox, and Google for supporting DoH. They believe that it will undermine web blocking programs in the country, including ISP default filtering of adult content, and mandatory court ordered filtering of copyright violations.

More likely they are afraid it will undermine their profits.

How to do it anyway...
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In Firefox, just click on the "Hamburger" in the upper right corner of your Firefox browser, then go to: Options > Network Settings > Enable DNS over HTTPS

I chose Cloudflare as my DoH provider, since I was already using their 1.1.1.1 dns service any way.



Thanks to Gopherpedia, from which I lazily clipped a few pieces of this article just because.