[ Update Dec 5th 5:45pm EST: At the moment we’re part of the delegation for wikileaks.ch and were told to expect the .org delegation, however it is now looking more nebulous. There is some confusion around control over the wikileaks.ORG domain and who has it. To be honest, it turns out we are not dealing with actual Wikileaks people on the backend, but third-parties who are co-ordinating a DNS effort for them, including the initial fallback domain, wikileaks.ch (which we were also incorrectly blamed for unplugging)
So we’re also setup here to carry DNS for wikileaks.org if and when our nameservers can be added to their delegation. We can also act as the Registrar if need be. More as it comes in ]
After being mistakenly blamed for unplugging the DNS for wikileaks on friday and then spending the weekend screaming very loudly about: mob journalism, inaccuracy, clueless commentary and badgering people to fix, retract and correct the misinformation, wikileaks[.ch] has added easyDNS to their nameserver delegation:
wikileaks.ch. 1800 IN NS dns2.easydns.net.
wikileaks.ch. 1800 IN NS ns2.easydns.com.
We’ve been added to the wikileaks.ch delegation in conjunction with a group of other independent nameserver operators. We are expecting the wikileaks.org domain to follow.
From the moment this episode started, we just sort of knew that this would be the outcome of events. Over the weekend we’ve seen a lot of online banter about whether what happened with their previous DNS provider was right or wrong and we sympathize with both wikileaks and everydns. As I’ve mentioned before, unless you have personally had to face a screaming full-on DDoS attack yourself, you really have no idea wtf you’re talking about.
Generally there are two kinds of DOS targets:
- Targets you never knew were using your system and when you find out, you want to take a shower. These are the targets 90% of the time: ponzi schemes, virus distributors, phishing sites, etc. These are usually scumbags who make a lot of enemies and are already violating your AUP. The DOS brings your attention to their presence on your system, you throw them under a bus and the DOS follows them. Problem solved.
- Then there’s “high profile” and “hot button” customers who people try to DOS just for bragging rights or some sort of vendetta. These are harder to handle, as you don’t want to cut off somebody who has a legit right to co-exist on the net with everybody else. Sometimes, you have to pull the plug, even temporarily to give yourself time to think and figure out your next move. I mean this in a very generic way: datacenters do this, network carriers do this, web hosts do this: if it gets too intense for your upstream, whammo, you’re null routed until things cool down. This is just how it works out here.
Having said that, we did raise quite a stink about being incorrectly named as the DNS provider who unplugged wikileaks, so when faced with the prospect of having them really actually use us for DNS it clearly became a case of “put up or shut up“. So now we’re going to take this on. I feel like we’ve already “done the time”, so we may as well “do the crime”.
At this point we are not the Registrar on the wikileaks.org domain, but for the most part, the conditions we stipulated in our previous post on the subject are in place.
I feel somewhat swept up in events that have taken on a life of their own and brought us to this unavoidable, inevitable place, all because somebody made a typo somewhere along the line a few days ago. Talk about “Butterfly Effect” – please go easy on us.
Props to you Mr. Mark Jeftovic!!!
I feel pretty good about being a easyDNS customer for the past decade.
I though it was right to add you after all the misinformation!
PS: somehow the guy who did register for the service didn’t set it up correctly. Only ns2 works. Could you check this and make ns1 identical to ns2 config ? (you can mail me if you like)
Thank you.
Awesome! If I ever set up a website I know where to go.
Congrats Jeff, and I hope you weather it well cause I may be contacting you soon for a mini version….
EasyDNS has been my DNS provider for years. They have been reliable, responsive, and .. er, generally excellent 🙂
I have recommended EasyDNS to several people in the past, and now even more so.
Thank you.
Pretty ballsy move on your part. It’s nice to see you sticking to your guns, and also particularly nice to see you stand up for everyDNS, who was in no easy position. I now know who to go to for DNS service. Keep up the good work.
Seriously, good on you guys for having the balls for taking them (wikileaks) on.
If it were me, I wouldn’t, but not out of disrespect to wikileaks, but to make things easier for myself.
So, really, good on ya! For having the balls, the initiative and giving everyone else “the big finger”.
As a long-time customer, I salute you. Thank you for being rational in the face of so much irrationality. I suspect this may get difficult for you, but you have my support. I am in the IT industry, and although I can’t offer you $, please contact me if you need anything in support of this issue – you have my contact info.
Mark – Well handled – the DDOS threat for all on the internet will likely continue until we are able to secure all of our endpoints. Here at Valt.X we are looking to solve that problem, one computer at a time, with Valtx Absolute Security for Windows now Beta shipping in Canada.
http://www.valtx.com
Cheers
I, too, have been an easyDNS customer for a decade or so and have always been very happy with their prompt and helpful customer service. I have been recommending them to friends for years and will continue to do so.
Having spent some time on the front lines of IT / sysadmin stuff myself, I’ve been DDOS’d and know what it feels like. Not fun – one of the many reasons why I don’t do it anymore. 🙂
Kudos to easyDNS for being willing to take this on!
Right on. Proud to be an EasyDNS customer today.
Proud to be a customer since 2003! Congrats for your stance on freedom of association and solidarity with an open web and an open world.
Right on! We’re proud to support you. Here’s to stomping out “mob journalism, inaccuracy, [and] clueless commentary.”
viva la revolucion!
I think you are disgusating to help Wikileaks. They are not journalists, they are common thiefs. It is one thing to correct the mistaken identity and quite another to actively help and shield criminals. This is not a free speech issue.
I can see where the comments are coming from, with the whole information wants to be free issue, but having been a victim of personal privacy loss through email tampering previously, there are things that people will say via what they expect are private means that they wouldn’t shout out to a stadium full of people. In the same vein, when you’re talking shit about some other entity to a co-worker it doesn’t necessarily mean you want that shit to splatter across every screen in the world.
All that said, I’ve been a great fan of the EasyDNS service for something like over 10 years now, and I’ve recommended it to people a number of times, but this news gives me pause to consider the security of my connection with and financial support for EasyDNS. I can also understand where EasyDNS has a difficult challenge even by just being asked to support the WikiLeaks name service, so I’m not going to fault EasyDNS for their philanthropy for what they see as the right decision, but at the same time we all have to look out for ourselves, and if that means I need to move my domains to a more neutral provider, I might consider it.
I’ve been using EasyDNS for almost a decade now, and I can definitely understand why the WikiLeaks activists would want the kind of DNS reliability that I have come to take for granted.
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about WikiLeaks themselves, but I applaud EasyDNS for having the stones to stand up for your convictions.
I really respect your decision in relation to this.
I would like to say that, in the current political climate, you will always be on the wrong side of someone. It is almost impossible to please everyone all of the time.
If you choose to provide DNS services to some people and not others bases on which side of the fence you sit, better to just be impartial, then you are in effect a political tool for someone.
It shouldn’t matter which side you ‘claim’ to be on. This is the internet we are talking about. It is global. Some people, no matter how much the deplore the idea, are going to have to look beyond simple political affiliations. We live in a global village now and we need to act like it.
Peter
I’ve been impressed for years at the quality of service from your company.
I was disappointed to hear (wrongly) that you’d helped to keep secret the documentation of corruption that wikileaks provides.
I’m very happy to learn that you haven’t joined the conspiracy! That, in fact, you’ll be helping to battle the forces that keep most of the world hungry and poor.
I’m not sure which side of wikileaks I fall on. Either way, I respect your decision (“a bold move”). You won’t be losing my business.
9 years – good-bye – don’t like it don’t approve of it now transferring…
I’m not your customer and I merely found out this series of bizarre mistakenly identify through your interview on CBC at noon. Thanks for making the best out of the worst situation and defending what is right. Your actions made me proud to be a Canadian.
You can “do the crime” without me and my customers. We didn’t sign up to help traitors. Blood on your hands is the best result this could bring to you. People are going to die due to the wikileaks crimes and you are going to help because of your bruised ego(s)????
” we would never do anything that we thought put our members at risk.”
What about our sons and daughters risking everything in some desert? Your rights and political beliefs are more important than lives?
Goodbye.
In an age of flexible morals it is nice to see a business stand up for what is right.
We’ve been easyDNS customers for years and we applaude your move to support freedom and transparency!
My future DNS requests, however minor, will now come to your business. Thanks for doing the right thing!