Today in Parliament

[Brian Morrison]

James Firth wrote:

> On a wider point, can anyone explain to me why (or indeed if they are) ISPs
> are required to capture Domain Name Service (DNS) lookup logs as part of
> data retention legislation?  If so, what is supposed to happen if
> subscribers choose to use their own or 3rd-party DNS servers?
> 
> I ask the question because it is kind of obvious that ISPs need to keep a
> log of which IP addresses were assigned to any subscriber at any given point
> in time.  I can see the argument for traceability.  But I can't see the
> argument for DNS lookups. 

Warning: speculation alert

Well, in cases where a hostname does not resolve, it is not possible to
capture any data flow either to or from the IP address in question, but
knowing that someone tried a lookup on www.kiddie-porn.com would be a
flag that some more trawling would be worthwhile.

Looks like we need a random DNS lookup daemon running.....

-- 

Brian