Robert, If and when censorship affects security and stability of the Internet, ICANN has not only the right, but the duty to intervene. The case you quote about Pakistan was evaluated by SSAC, as I recall Steve Crocker reporting to the Board, as it was a concrete, practical case of interference with the normal functioning of the net. And if you do have practical cases that you are aware of, that are in effect in Egypt, and that might cause consequences, please let the SSAC know, and rest assured that they will act (with or without deliberation by ALAC). If, on the other hand, all is based by unproven allegations, I sincerely doubt that SSAC will make a fool of itself by starting a study (with or without deliberation by ALAC). Just my 2c. Cheers, Roberto
-----Original Message----- From: alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Robert Guerra Sent: Tuesday, 27 May 2008 17:11 To: At-Large Worldwide Subject: [At-Large] Reframing the rights issue ... Specific Proposal
The recent exchange on and about the fall ICANN meeting in Egypt was informative and allowed me to see to what extent (or not) it is possible to have a larger discussion about the broad issue of Internet Freedom affects millions of internet users.
As a more specific - DNS centric focus has been requested, then let me suggest that Internet Censorship has the unintended consequence of affecting the security and stability of the DNS not only at a national level, but internationally (see ref below) . Researchers and internet experts are of the opinion that censorship practices will increase significantly over the coming years, as such - let me recommend ALAC propose to the board :
1. That ICANN should propose a study be conducted by SSAC, in collaboration with leading censorship researchers on the effects on internet censorship on the operational stability, reliability, security, and global interoperability of the Internet.
2. Should the SSAC report reveal that indeed the security and stability of the DNS is affected by censorship, then a policy development process (PDP) should be started.
I hope this specific proposal can be supported by ALS's and the ALAC on or before the Paris ICANN meeting in June.
I look forward to comments.
Yours sincerely
Robert --- Robert Guerra <rguerra@privaterra.ca> Managing Director, Privaterra Tel +1 416 893 0377
--- Pakistan's Internet has a bad weekend (Report by Open Net Initiative) http://is.gd/mlo
This was a dark weekend for the Internet community in Pakistan. A series of unfortunate events started with an order for ISPs to block YouTube in Pakistan, which naturally riled citizens and advocates of free speech. Making things worse, the implementation of the block by one of the ISPs made YouTube inaccessible to most of the Internet around the world for two hours. Inadvertently, much of the global Internet audience has now experienced filtering..
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