Cloudflare Inc. today launched a free consumer-focused DNS service that it promises will deliver users a quicker and more private internet experience.

The service, located at the web address https://1.1.1.1, acts as a DNS resolver, a middle point of sorts that connects a website to an IP address, figuring out where web services are hosted and how a domain name is supported.

Typically when visiting a webpage, the DNS resolver is offered by the internet service provider, which routes all traffic through it. That may sound innocuous, but routing traffic through an ISP’s DNS allows the ISP to monitor that traffic, including to see which sites users are visiting and where nonencrypted services are used and even to intercept what a user doing. Some ISPs then sell that data to third parties.

Cloudflare promises the service will be “the fastest public resolver on the planet while raising the standard of privacy protections for users.” On the speed side, the company has deployed data centers worldwide (see image above) to reduce latency from users to content, with an aim of all users being within 10 milliseconds of one of their locations.

On the security side, the most appealing part of the offering, Cloudflare said the DNS resolver offers a number of specific privacy tools. “Here’s the deal – we don’t store client IP addresses never, ever, and we only use query names for things that improve DNS resolver performance such as prefill all caches based on popular domains in a region,” the company said. “All logs collected by our public resolver will be deleted within 24 hours.”

To double down on that privacy commitment, Cloudflare has also hired KPMG to audit its security practices on an ongoing basis to assure users that it’s sticking to its commitment.

The timing of the service comes as privacy issues, driven in part by Facebook Inc.’s recent data scandal, have blown up in the public consciousness. Other services already compete with Cloudflare’s service, such as OpenDNS from Cisco Systems Inc. and the open-source TentaDNS, though none has ever gotten widespread public attention. Google LLC also offers a DNS resolver at http://8.8.8.8. Google that it doesn’t take identifying information from the service, but it does track anonymized data.

Like others before it, Cloudflare’s new service may remain a niche service, but if it delivers as advertised, it may find a willing audience.

Image: Cloudflare