DNS Poisoning Requested From Providers

Found on Constitutional Code on Monday, 04 July 2005
Browse Censorship

The German rights organisation for composers, lyricist and publishers, GEMA, has asked 42 access providers to poison their DNS servers in order to block sites that provide links to eDonkey files. In short, DNS poisoning obstructs the process of converting a URL to a numeric IP address. The GEMA apparently expects the access providers to configure their DNS servers so that "inquiries by end-users are not passed to the correct server, but to an invalid or another pre-defined side." The GEMA also demands that the providers sign a testimony,with which they commit themselves to ensure full blockage under a contractual penalty of 100.000 euro if any of their customers can still reach the targeted site after July 25th.

The providers in question are still doing their legal evaluations of the request, or have said right out not to comply, because the GEMA is not the kind of judicial instance that can set these kinds of demands. They're considering to bring GEMA's actions to court, in order to see if GEMA has any standing.

If we put aside the question whether the GEMA can demand this at all, will this work? Hmm, now let's see:
Solution 1: Enter the IP manually. If this fails because the domain name is required (virtual hosting), try...
Solution 2: Switch to a different DNS. If this fails because your ISP blocks all port 53 requests except to his own DNS servers, proceed with...
Solution 3: Add the domain and the IP into your own hosts file and use the basic DNS abilities of your machine (works in Linux and Windows).