On Fri, May 1, 2026 at 12:00 PM Mohibul Mahmud via NA-Discuss < na-discuss@icann.org> wrote:
Hi Matthias, David, and all,
Thank you, Matthias, for sharing this crucial summary of SAC127. It provides the necessary technical foundation for the important policy discussion underway.
While I appreciate the summary that Matthias did, I note that none of it makes any mention of private individuals' own blocking and the use of public resolvers and VPNs except as a one-line afterthought. All its attention was focused on "entities". Looking at his summary and mine, you'd never know we were examing the same document. The vital work that lies ahead for At-Large is extracting from SSAC 127, and other documents and research, those parts *that are relevant to Internet end-users*; - the basics of the DNS routing (and diverting) that a lay person can understand - why they need to care about potential abuse and the various forms that abuse may take - what tools exist to help *end-users* meet their own personal needs, whether it is simple blocking of malware and phishing sites, or advanced blocking of undesirable content such as tracking, advertising, social media or adult material - benefits and risks of using public alternative DNS from an end-users' perspective. Indeed, SSAC 127 incorrectly interprets why end users choose alternative DNS servers. Such action is rarely done, at least in the West, to bypass government blocking. It is to take control of privacy, content bloat due to advertising, protect children and other factors. Abuse is in the eye of the beholder, which is why many public DNS systems are highly configurable. (For example, ControlD offers six different configurations for its free DNS services <https://controld.com/free-dnshttps://controld.com/free-dns> and many more for its paid ones.) There are many constituencies in ICANN who are capable of looking after themselves. Only At-Large exists to serve end-users; it is vital that we approach the issue primarily through this perspective. Far too often in my time I have seen At-Large fight the battles of others. Here more than anywhere we need to concentrate not on the needs of governments or other entities, but of the global Internet end-user. Sharp focus is critical. - Evan