DNS, that is the Domain Name System protocol and services, is a fundamental pillar of Internet since it allows to resolve domain names in IP addresses. Recently the number and severity of attacks to the DNS infrastructure have increased noticeably (see for example this US-CERT Alert). At the same time, the discussion on who should manage and how this global infrastructure should be managed, keeps expanding.

Alternative proposals to the ICANN overseen global DNS infrastructure have appeared, starting from the “.onion” hidden TOR domains to, among others, the more recent OpenNIC project and the Blockchain-based BDNS system.

The security and privacy of Internet access and navigation depend crucially on the resolution of domain names to IP addresses. Even if the deployment of DNSSEC will help to improve security and privacy, it is badly needed to give more consideration DNS and help designing a forward path for it as a global service which must be able to guarantee access, privacy, security, integrity, fairness etc. It is a lot to ask, but we will really need it.