From: CDT Email [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 2:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Policy Post 7.13: Proposed "OPES" Protocol Advances; Policy
Issues to Be Considered
CDT POLICY POST Volume 7, Number 13, November 12, 2001
A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL
LIBERTIES ONLINE
from
THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
CONTENTS:
(1) Proposed "OPES" Protocol Advances; Policy Issues to Be Considered
(2) Background on Internet Standards, Technology & Policy Project
(3) Increasing Public Interest Participation in Standards Processes
(4) CDT Seeks Input on Public Policy Issues Arising in the Standards Context
(1) PROPOSED "OPES" PROTOCOL ADVANCES; POLICY ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED
As part of a major new project to increase the public voice in Internet
standards setting processes, CDT has been engaged in the debate about a
proposed new Internet protocol named "Open Pluggable Edge Services"
("OPES"). In late October, the Internet Architecture Board recommended
conditions that should be met if work on OPES continues, and in so doing
cited CDT's policy concerns and urged that they be addressed.
The OPES protocol would enable an intermediary (such as a cache operator) in
the middle of an Internet communication to alter the content of the
communication as it passed from sender to receiver (for example, to insert
an advertisement or screen the content for viruses). Although there would
certainly be beneficial uses of the proposed protocol, it raises serious
policy concerns about data integrity and privacy.
In early August, after analyzing the OPES proposal and concerns that had
been expressed about it, CDT submitted extensive comments to the Internet
Engineering Steering Group, a governing committee of the Internet
Engineering Task Force ("IETF"). Following those comments, we participated
in discussions on the OPES mailing list with proponents of the protocol.
The proponents advanced a number of changes that addressed some of our
concerns. In follow-up comments, we suggested that the OPES protocol effort
should be permitted to proceed, so long as strong privacy and data integrity
protections could be incorporated into it.
Last month, after reviewing the OPES proposal and the concerns raised by CDT
and others, the Internet Architecture Board ("IAB") released its advisory
comments on OPES. The IAB considered many of the issues that CDT had raised
and recommended that any OPES effort must include strong protections for
data integrity and privacy. CDT will be participating in any further
discussions on OPES.
CDT's original comments on OPES are at
http://www.imc.org/ietf-openproxy/mail-archive/msg00828.html .
Our follow-up analysis is at
http://www.imc.org/ietf-openproxy/mail-archive/msg00935.html.
The IAB's analysis of OPES can be found at
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-iab-opes-00.txt.
The draft OPES charter can be found at http://www.ietf-opes.org.
__________________________________________________________
(2) BACKGROUND ON INTERNET STANDARDS, TECHNOLOGY & POLICY PROJECT
The OPES proposal highlights a broader issue.
The Internet has tremendous potential to promote free expression and
individual liberty. But will future technologies maximize this potential?
Or will new ways to use the Internet have hidden downsides, such as a
reduction of privacy? Will the technical requirements of new Internet
services require resources beyond what individuals or small organizations
can afford?
Increasingly, technical decisions about the Internet and its development can
have far-reaching policy consequences. Often these technical decisions are
made with little public awareness or input. At the same time, lawmakers and
public interest advocates often debate policies governing the Internet
without adequately assessing their technical merit or impact, and without
appreciating how public policies can affect or even harm the technical
development of the Internet.
To address these concerns, CDT has created the Internet Standards,
Technology & Policy Project. A multi-year effort, the project has two
goals:
* promote public awareness of and, where appropriate, involvement in the
standards-setting, technical governance, and industry bodies that make
technical decisions for the Internet;
* build better communication among technologists, public interest advocates,
and academic policy leaders working on issues with broad relevance to
Internet policy.
To direct the Internet Standards, Technology & Policy Project, CDT has
recruited John Morris. John combines both a technical background and a law
degree. He was one of the lead trial lawyers in the Reno v. ACLU case that
first defined the high level of legal protections that speech over the
Internet merits.
________________________________________________________
(3) INCREASING PUBLIC INTEREST PARTICIPATION IN STANDARDS PROCESSES
Decisions about Internet technical standards or network architecture are
generally not made by government agencies, which are under legal
requirements to solicit and respond to public comment. Instead, decisions
are made by private sector technical standards groups, including among
others:
* the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C):
* the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF):
* the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Historically, public interest organizations have not been involved in the
decisions of these bodies. CDT seeks to promote a greater understanding of
and appreciation for the work of these standards groups among a broader
community. CDT does not seek to change the focus of the standards bodies
away from technical decision-making, or to slow their decision-making
processes.
As a critical first step in this process, CDT itself is now directly
participating in the activities of the key standards bodies.
* Within the IETF, in addition to OPES, we are actively participating in the
"geopriv" working group that has been tasked to develop technologies to
protect privacy in geographic location-based services.
* Within the W3C (of which CDT is a member), CDT is actively engaged in the
debate about the patenting of protocol technology and the issue of "royalty
free" versus "reasonable and non-discriminatory" licensing of patented
technology.
* CDT is active in a wide range of issues within the ICANN processes.
To broaden awareness and participation, we are planning a web site that will
report on the work of the leading standards bodies and explain what issues
are being addressed by the standards bodies and what policy concerns they
raise. Through this web site, CDT hopes to give policymakers and public
interest advocates an understandable window into the work of the standards
bodies.
Further, CDT plans to work with a small network of technologists who can
follow the work of standards bodies and explain emerging standards issues in
non-technical terms.
__________________________________________________________
(4) CDT SEEKS INPUT ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES ARISING IN THE STANDARDS CONTEXT
A major challenge facing CDT's Internet Standards, Technology & Policy
Project is how to track the activities of the many different relevant
standards bodies and identify the potential public policy impacts that new
and proposed standards could have.
In this effort, CDT welcomes input from technologists active in Internet
standards setting bodies about activities and working groups that are likely
to have significant impact on civil liberties, privacy, or other public
policy concerns. Although we likely cannot pursue all issues raised to us,
receiving advance notice of emerging policy issues will be critical to the
success of the Project.
Input can be sent to the Project Director, John Morris, at [log in to unmask]
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