[discuss] Artificial conflation of issues not helpful. [Was: Digest, Vol 3, Issue 67]

Wed Feb 19 19:55:19 UTC 2014

I agree with Shatan's comments below, and especially about the danger of conflating issues that have little or no linkage.

In particular, I would assert that the real link between the NSA revelations and technical management of the root is the perception that both involve the same country, the USA.  I would claim that there is no technical linkage between the two.  Those that believe there is such a linkage have the obligation to describe in detail, with evidence, exactly what they believe that linkage is.

There is also a perception that ICANN and therefore the IANA function being located in the USA have given the NSA an advantage in being able to carry out their various surveillance activities.  I asset that this is not true. Those that believe there is such a linkage have the obligation to describe in detail, with evidence, exactly what they believe that linkage is.

The surveillance issue is real, and deserves full attention.  It is one of a class of processes that has been substantially transformed by the existence of the Internet.  Other members of this class include political organizing, electronic asset transfers, major areas of criminal activity, counterfeiting, political activism, and the like.  These are serious areas of human activity, and the Internet, as a fundamentally neutral technology, has aided both bad behavior and control over it.  Closely related is the area of transnational jurisdiction issues, which have been with us ever since the first international contact, but which have assumed greater importance by virtue of the growth of the Internet, a technology that ignores national boundaries.

We need to deal with all of these issues, and we do need to recognize linkages among issues when the linkages are real and material.  We gain nothing by conflating issues that are not linked. The real issues are difficult enough to solve; let’s delineate them and try to find ways of ameliorating or solving them.

George

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Feb 19, 2014, at 12:57 PM, Shatan, Gregory S. <GShatan at ReedSmith.com> wrote:

> I think Mr. Morfin is assuming a connection between the NSA's activities (as brought to light by Snowden) and the root that just isn't there (or at the very least, is not supported by the record).  Without a direct connection between the "Snowden revelations" and the root, the calls to move the root (or split the root, etc.) stand on much shakier ground, and rely more on opinion, emotion and prejudgment and less on fact.  "Calling for an investigation" when there is nothing to investigate is just intended to score points.
> 
> The reality of how ICE freezes domains (so to speak) is rather more mundane.  And by and large, these are domains being used by cybercriminals and other bad actors.  Not sure why the deep level of concern for their rights.
> 
> It also doesn’t help matters to conflate the US government, ICANN, and US private companies (e.g., Verisign and PIR).  It's not all one vast conspiratorial ball.
> 
> Greg Shatan
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: discuss-bounces at 1net.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at 1net.org] On Behalf Of Don Blumenthal
> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 12:42 PM
> To: Jefsey; discuss at 1net.org
> Subject: Re: [discuss] discuss Digest, Vol 3, Issue 67
> 
> The ICE court orders are on the public record. Have at it.
> 
> And what petty actions would those be?
> 
> Don
> 
> 
> And what petty actions would those be?
> 
> 
> 
> On 2/19/14, 11:52 AM, "Jefsey" <jefsey at jefsey.com> wrote:
> 
>> At 01:24 19/02/2014, Don Blumenthal wrote:
>>> Assuming that ICE refers to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
>>> domain-related court orders that it has obtained from judges generally
>>> contain redirects at the name server level
>> 
>> Hosts can be accessed by their IP. How, non-US located Hosts seem to be
>> affected. I  was just caling for an investigation. I am in particlar
>> interested in non-US hosted sites. BTW, I know (by
>> experience) that there are other forms of petty actions made easy by
>> the US monopoly on .com, .net and .org which by definition should be
>> global.
>> jfc
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
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