Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Private DNS encrypts your web traffic to prevent ISP tracking.
It improves both privacy and online security.
It's simple to turn on, but disabling it puts your data at risk.
Nearly everything you do on your desktop, laptop, phone, and tablet begins with a Domain Name System (DNS) query. Essentially, DNS turns domain names (such as ZDNET.com) into an IP address so web browsers and apps know where to get the information you want.
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Without DNS, you'd have to type 34.149.132.124 every time you wanted to go to ZDNET.com or 74.125.21.102 to go to Google.com. Even by simply running a Google search, DNS is at work. The problem is that standard DNS isn't encrypted, meaning all your queries are sent over the network as plain text.
Why is non-encrypted DNS a problem?
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