16–17 May 2026 Workshop
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
Europe/London timezone

DNS Resolver Operators: Is It Time to Organise?

17 May 2026, 16:10
5m
Tinto and Moorfoot (Edinburgh International Conference Centre)

Tinto and Moorfoot

Edinburgh International Conference Centre

The Exchange Edinburgh EH3 8EE Scotland
Lightning Talk Main Session OARC 46 Day 2

Speaker

Denesh Bhabuta

Description

DNS resolver operators are increasingly being pulled into enforcement and policy fights that were never really designed with them in mind. Blocking orders that once targeted local ISPs now increasingly cover resolvers, VPN providers, and multiple jurisdictions at the same time. The operational and compliance burden falls hardest on smaller operators.

At the same time, resolver operators still have no real collective forum or voice within the wider DNS governance world.

This lightning talk raises the question of whether that should change. Using the idea of a DNS Resolver Operators Partnership (DROP) as a starting point, it asks whether resolver operators actually share enough common ground to organise collectively, and if so, what that might look like in practice.

Talk duration 5 Minutes Lightning Talk (no Q&A)

Primary authors

Denesh Bhabuta Leo Vegoda

Presentation materials