Alf Watt Suggests Apple Should Run Its Own DNS Servers
When I proposed to my management that Apple should be running its own such servers, and that our devices should use them when the local or ISP DNS servers failed, I was told that the executives would never approve the expense of provisioning and running them. This was around the same time as the company had more money in the bank than the US Government.
Giving someone DNS privileges means giving them a complete record of every website you ever visit, as the job of a DNS server is to translate domain names to web addresses. Apple’s public stance on privacy aligns well with the idea that Apple should run its own DNS, thus automatically pointing your devices’ DNS settings at a trustworthy first-party source. This is exactly what Alf Watt, a former Apple employee, apparently proposed internally to management but it was shot down and canned. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I’m interested to know what AppleCare representatives are trained to say in these kind of scenarios where the best option is to use an alternative DNS server. Do they recommend people use Google’s (8.8.8.8)? That would be pretty bad given the privacy implications at stake.