Jeffrey: Though i'm still recovering from back issues, and completely behind on email - thought the issue is important enough for me to quickly comment on... let me share some initial comments on the issue.. 1. The ICANN community should raise the issue - specifically at-large, ncuc and others. 2. The judgement, came as a result of lack of outreach and education - particularly to key decision makers, such as lawyers, judges, and yes - politicos. If judges aren't educated on the issue of DNS, and other internet domain issues - well, it is likely they will make judgements that really don't make sense. 3. If the issue is one of lack of education - ie. outreach, then how could at-large and/or ICANN help make sure a similar situation does not take place again. might ALS's, with support from ICANN and other stakeholders in the IG community want to support trainings that help legal professionals know how to tap into the knowledge and technical experts so that new cases are based on a sound understanding of the domain name system. 4. I need to know more about the legality of the source documents in question before coming to a determination if this is indeed a "censorship" incident, or instead a "security" incident - one where personal data is stolen... Banking records, like medical records, - in my personal opinion are confidential. Information that might have been obtained through illegal means - stolen - isn't really a leak - but a a security incident, one where personal data and privacy might be compromised. 5. Wikileaks seem to have been proactive in setting up a set of mirrors prior to the incident. So the content is still available. 6. Given the information I have seen so far - this case is unlike other , more traditional freedom of expression censorship cases where activists are beaten, imprisoned, or worse based on their personal opinions. I haven't really made my mind up yet as to how to categorize this. That being said, there are lessons learned that could be helpful for at-large and others involved in IG issues to consider as one plans for 08. I look forward to further information and discussion on this, most interesting incident. regards Robert On 21-Feb-08, at 3:12 AM, Jeffrey A. Williams wrote:
All my good friends,
Is, and has ICANN and now the ALAC with it's "Internal mailing list", guilty of censorship? It appears so... Has "Wikileaks" exposed and/or reintroduced the Censorship problem. It appears so... Is the ALAC mimicking the "repressive regimes" a la ICANN, or will the ALAC recognize the error in such ways? Who knows... But let me be clear, the "Wikileaks" case and the censorship concern was borne of see: http://commons.globalintegrity.org/search/label/wikileaks and seems that there are some other powers that be whom are involved that may be politically embarrassed... None the less, we all should be shunning any form of Censorship, most especially the ALAC.
To wit: Visit the home of the watchdog group Global Integrity for a breakdown of online censorship: "Using data from the Global Integrity Index, we http://commons.globalintegrity.org/2008/02/internet-censorship-comparative-s...
put a US court's recent order to block access to anti-corruption site Wikileaks.org into context. In summary: This is unheard of in the West, and has only been seen in a handful of the most repressive regimes. Good
thing it doesn't work very well... The whole event seems to encapsulate the constant criticism of governance in the United States: that the government has been captured by corporate interests, and that the world-leading rule of law and technocratic mechanisms in place can be hijacked to serve as tools for narrow, wealthy interests.
Regards,
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