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Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 Service Launches on Android and iOS (fastcompany.com) 105

Posted by msmash from the interesting-moves dept.
harrymcc writes: Content-distribution network Cloudflare has introduced iOS and Android versions of 1.1.1.1, a free service which helps shield you from snoops by replacing your standard DNS with its encrypted (and speedy) alternative. The mobile incarnation of the PC service it launched last April, the apps don't require you to do anything other than downloaded and install them, give your device permission to install a VPN, and flip a switch -- making them approachable for the masses, not just geeks.
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Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 Service Launches on Android and iOS More

Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 Service Launches on Android and iOS

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  • If they host a lot of the content, they know what you're looking at. Now they know.. what you're looking at. Problem is what?

    • You're not replying to another message, and your own message is confusing. Are you asking a question, being sarcastic, or pointing something out?

  • Sick of big companies snooping your dns? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Sunday November 11, 2018 @03:34PM (#57626834)

    We have a simple solution!
    Install this app and give Cloudflare permission to access all of your network traffic and you can use our DNS server!

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • You should try speaking in clear, concise, and complete sentences.

      • Re:Sick of big companies snooping your dns? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Sunday November 11, 2018 @04:36PM (#57627172)

        I'm not sure what your point is, because you've failed at english.

        But VPN apps get access to all network traffic on your phone. they're free to inspect the data and are responsible for routing it. That's just how VPNs work.
        If you're worried about "big data" getting your data, I'm failing to see how freely giving it all to a "big data" company is going to help. Especially when the service they're offering is free. Someone is paying for it.

        Maybe they want to analyse the data to find popular websites people use that don't go through Cloudflare services, so they can better target their marking to those site operators.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gtall ( 79522 )

          Precisely. Cloudfare must show some sort of profit for this "service". The only way I can see them turning one is monetizing the information running through their systems.

          • Well consider thiscenario: en user usingcloudflares dns are trying ro get to content hosted by cloudflarw, thay query the dns for recoeds that probably ar atleas cached on the server, so they get a reply in 1 rtt and initiate aconnection to the nearestserver having that content. Net result for the end user they get the content even quicker than before ehe cf did just the hosting. Cf can say wedeliver first byte quickerthan ouer competition, that is agood thing when trying to get newcpstumers. Thecost for s

            • or more likely, they'll present data showing connection times, time to first data, data throughput, failed connection attempts, etc for the customers they're trying to win over.
              That network data can be provided by a VPN app.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by micheas ( 231635 )
            I'm not sure how they plan on monetizing it. But, from talking to their salespeople that have been wanting me to pay $1,500 a month for their DNS service. I'd guess they are looking at this as a freemium offering. Where they will allow corporate users to have private DNS entries that are only available to their logged in users. And based on their pricing model, I'd guess that would be about $1k a month plus a per-user fee.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          You don't have to use Cloudflare's VPN app if you don't trust it, you can just manually configure your DNS servers or use your own local VPN. DNS66 is open source and a good choice, as it also features ad blocking.

          In any case, if they are leaking data back to Cloudflare somehow it would be trivial to spot and quickly get them banned from the Play Store. I'm sure someone will check.

    • We have a simple solution!
      Install this app and give Cloudflare permission to access all of your network traffic and you can use our DNS server!

      I'm ready to accept going with a new unknown than my god-fucking-awful-and-overtly-evil ISP.

  • No thanks (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 11, 2018 @03:38PM (#57626868)

    This isn't protecting traffic from snooping, it's exposing traffic to Cloudflare. The same company which makes a business model out of holding other people's private TLS keys. The same company which refuses to stop serving known spammers. The same company which was breaking half the internet for Tor users.

    Cloudflare is the kind of centralization we need to get away from.

    • This isn't protecting traffic from snooping, it's exposing traffic to Cloudflare. The same company which...

      Yeah but you haven't mentioned anything about abusing customer data and selling it wholesale without even cursory anonymity to any 3rd party paying cash, so they sound like exactly the kind of company that I would prefer to hold my data instead of my mobile provider.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's the lesser of two evils. If you use your ISP/mobile operator's DNS server then they have a record of every query you make, and the times you visited those sites thanks to deep packet inspection (DPI). At least this way the DNS lookups and the DPI data are kept separate and can't be trivially cross referenced.

      The DPI data is getting less useful too, because due to services like Cloudflare and shared virtual servers in general it's become much harder to associate an IP address with a particular web site.

  • How do they make money on this? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'm curious about their altruism.

    • Re: How do they make money on this? (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I think it's more about vendor lock-in of sorts. The more and more people using anything from cloudflare the better for their business.

      They also get a lot of statistics and data from millions/billions of DNS requests and metadata (what times are busiest for which regions, etc).

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Shaix ( 4995515 )
        Is there any actual proof of this? Or even any evidence at all to suggest it? Or is this just another tinfoil hat type of thing?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      The "free" use of the internet by many people gives data on the internet in real time.
      That better protects people in real time who pay for security products and services.

  • 1.1.1.1? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Freshly Exhumed ( 105597 ) on Sunday November 11, 2018 @04:26PM (#57627120) Homepage

    How am I supposed to remember that IP address? If only there was a system to translate such IP addresses into more human-friendly names that are easier to remember...

  • This works only for ipv4 traffic (the vpn part) so if the network ypu connect to is dual stacked only 44 traffic will be secured and since most apps use ipv6 as defaulr when avalable a significant portion ofyour traffic will not use the vpn, how could cloudflare miss this? Itâ(TM)s not like these pople donâ(TM)t know about nerworking is it

  • I use this on my Android 8.1 device simply because it's convenient. As for my home network, I run my own DNS servers so I really don't have to worry much about DNS traffic being snooped by my ISP. If I were so inclined, I could also run all of my home network traffic over a VPN to my own cloud servers. But this initiative by CloudFlare is nothing more than a gimmick to make money. Instead of your ISP selling your data, CloudFlare now gets the piece of the pie.
  • Isn't this just trading in one snoop with a different snoop?

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