DNS over HTTPS encryption will make it harder to block child-abuse images, warns UK's child exploitation watchdog

IWF's URL block list stops videos and images of child abuse from being accessed

Implementation of DNS over HTTPS (DoH) encryption would endanger children's online safety by making it harder to block child-abuse images on the web, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned.

IWF is the UK's child exploitation watchdog. IWF has been working for several years to create technologies to help people who were abused as children and whose images still appear online.

The URL List (or block list) created by the IWF is used by internet service providers across the world to block web pages showing videos and images of child abuse. Some of these webpages also show live videos of abuse.

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But IWF claims that effort might be wasted in coming months with implementation of DoH. This protocol is being promoted by companies like Google, Mozilla, and Cloudflare, which have been working to introduce this encryption technique globally.

The organisation claims that the way in which DNS over HTTPS will be implemented could expose people across the world to "worst imagery of children being sexually abused", with implications, too, for the survivors of such abuse, a IWF spokesperson for IWF told The Register.

With the current HTTPS protocol, when a user enters a URL into a browser, an unencrypted domain name system (DNS) query attempts to locate the name server to match the domain to an IP address.

Since this query is not encrypted, it can be viewed at all points where the data gets handled, for example, the ISP of the user. In the UK, this matters as the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act demands that ISPs keep a record of websites accessed by the people over the past 12 months.

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DoH will make keeping such a record almost impossible. Not only will it encrypt all user requests, but it will also enable browsers such as Chrome to bypass parental controls that rely on ISPs filtering out illegal and offensive web content.

The National Cyber Security Centre in the UK has also warned that that such an encryption technique will affect the monitoring of terrorism and other illicit material.

"If it was set as the default on the browsers used by most of us in the UK, it would have a catastrophic impact," claimed Fred Langford, IWF Deputy CEO and CTO, in a blog post.

"It would make the horrific images we've spent all these years blocking suddenly highly accessible. All the years of work for children's protection could be completely undermined - not just busting the IWF's block list but swerving filters, bypassing parental controls, and dodging some counter terrorism efforts as well."

"From the IWF's perspective, this is far more than just a privacy or a tech issue, it's all about putting the safety of children at the top of the agenda, not the bottom. We want to see a duty of care placed upon DNS providers so they are obliged to act for child safety and cannot sacrifice protection for improved customer privacy."

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