Firefox defaults DNS over HTTPS in their browser for users in US.

Image: Firefox

Firefox announced last year that it was going to default DNS connection over HTTPS connection, reports The Verge, HTTPS is a more secure and encrypted connection than classic  HTTP connection, many websites opt for HTTPS connection for the sake of their user's privacy but HTTPS is not fully encrypted, people like carriers and ISPs can still see which websites you are accessing.

HTTPS was made to encrypt the process where a web address is converted into an IP address, later that everything else is not fully encrypted, while HTTPS connection makes it harder for others to see the websites you visit, it is not impossible, that's why Firefox is opting for a new default DoH.

Firefox will offer two DNS providers, Cloudflare and NextDNS, while Cloudflare will be the default. While this new DoH promises more privacy and security to the user, it has faced criticism from lawmakers and security experts, they say that this connection can fail the true attempts by enterprise system administrators and lawmakers that try to block explicit web content.

Another criticism that it faced was that it doesn't provide the level of privacy protection that it promises, the IP addresses of users who are on DoH will still be visible to ISPs. So, Mozilla said, when they announced this decision to use DoH as Firefox's default connection, that they will give parental controls and disable DoH when it detects them, it will also disable DoH by default in enterprise configurations.

DNS over HTTPs technology was criticized by UK's GCHQ intelligence service, child advocacy groups, and ISPs, Mozilla told ZDNet that it won't enable DoH by default in Firefox browsers in the UK, other browsers like Microsoft Edge, Chrome, and Brave has the option to enable DoH, Firefox is the first one to enable it by default, and this will only affect the users in the US.

Firefox said in their blog,

"We continue to explore enabling DoH in other regions, and are working to add more providers as trusted resolvers to our program. DoH is just one of the many privacy protections you can expect to see from us in 2020."