[NA-Discuss] A draft text (was: Re: Forward motion on the Egyptian Internet shutdown)

Avri Doria avri at ella.com
Tue Feb 1 16:36:29 UTC 2011


hi,

i would personally sign this letter.

And I would be willing to present  it to the NCSG for signature/endorsement if there is an interest in turning it into a wider petition.   I think at this point that it is unlikely that the ALAC approves this letter given its Executive Committee has crafted another letter.  But that does not mean it is a dead letter.

Whether it was a signature or an endorsement would depend on the wording of the second paragraph. Of course not having presented it yet, I do not know what the response would be.

a.


On 1 Feb 2011, at 11:17, Thompson, Darlene wrote:

> Both texts are good but I think I prefer this one.  I approve of the plain language wording below and a specific call to action.
> 
> This, of course, is just my personal opinion.
> 
> D
> 
> Darlene A. Thompson
> CAP Administrator
> N-CAP/Department of Education
> P.O. Box 1000, Station 910
> Iqaluit, NU  X0A 0H0
> Phone:  (867) 975-5631
> Fax:  (867) 979-5610
> dthompson at gov.nu.ca
> ________________________________________
> From: na-discuss-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org [na-discuss-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] on behalf of Marc Rotenberg [rotenberg at epic.org]
> Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 9:22 PM
> To: Eric Brunner-Williams
> Cc: na-discuss at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] A draft text (was: Re: Forward motion on the  Egyptian Internet shutdown)
> 
> Another possibility. Also, is there any reason this
> could not be open for signature to all ALAC members?
> 
> Marc.
> 
> ----
> 
> Dear Chairman Dengate-Thrush and CEO Beckstrom,
> 
> We are writing to you regarding the recent developments in Egypt
> concerning the Internet. As of this evening, the Noor Group, the
> last ISP providing connectivity to Internet users in Egypt, has gone
> dark.
> 
> As members of the At Large Advisory Advisory Committee, whose
> mission is to provide advice on the activities of ICANN, insofar as
> they relate to the interests of individual Internet users, we
> believe we have an obligation to call to your attention this recent
> development and to recommend specific actions.
> 
> As the Bylaws of the ICANN make clear, it is a core value that
> guides the decisions of actions of ICANN, to preserve and enhance
> "the operational stability, reliability, security, and global
> interoperability of the Internet."
> 
> The recent actions by the Egyptian government threaten this central
> mission of ICANN.
> 
> Moreover, the decision by a government to suspend the operation of a
> communications infrastructure implicates fundamental human rights
> set out in the Universal Declaration of Human RIghts and the
> International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
> 
> It is also clear that significant economic activity is impacted by
> the decision to sever Internet connectivity
> 
> We therefore urge you to:
> 
> (1) Communicate ICANN's concerns to the Egyptian government
>    insofar as the government has taken steps that limit
>    access to the Internet;
> 
> (2) Remind all governments, through the GAC, of the obligations
>    to uphold the Core Values of ICANN; and,
> 
> (3) Begin the development of technical methods to prevent
>    such "outages" in the future, including the deployment of
>    secondary servers to promote continuity of service as
>    well as DNS stability
> 
> We recognize that ICANN has limited competence in the policy realm
> and also that the situation that arose in Egypt could arise
> elsewhere.
> 
> Nonetheless, it is our view that central to the mission of
> ICANN is to ensure the operational stability and reliability
> of the Internet. When parties take steps that threaten this
> interest, ICANN is obligated to respond.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 31, 2011, at 7:54 PM, Eric Brunner-Williams wrote:
> 
>> a draft text
>> 
>> === Text begins ===
>> 
>> Dear Chairman Dengate-Thrush and CEO Beckstrom,
>> 
>> Concerning the Egyptian Internet shutdown, as volunteers participating
>> in the North American At Large Regional Organization who have studied
>> network policy, we the undersigned believe you have a chance to move
>> beyond rhetoric to support the security and stability of the Internet.
>> As contributors to the ICANN community, we expect our Chairperson and
>> CEO to uphold those values.
>> 
>> As the IESG and the IAB observed in draft-iab-raven, published as RFC
>> 2804, accommodating the legal intercept requirements of states in
>> network devices would make the system less secure, increase system
>> complexity, and the risk of unintended security failure. The
>> considered technical judgment was, and remains, that wiretapping, even
>> when it is not being exercised, lowers the security of the system.
>> 
>> We believe this concern applies also to accommodating endpoint
>> unreachable requirements of states in systems of network devices, as
>> well as flow filter and other disruptive technology requirements.
>> 
>> We are also concerned by the possibility of error by national actors
>> attempting to interrupt regional routing. The routing alternatives to
>> the Alexandria - Suez corridor are simply inadequate to support the
>> requirements for Europe - Asia data communications.
>> 
>> In addition to these systemic concerns, the proper concern of the
>> entity tasked with the technical coordination of unique endpoint
>> identifiers, we have the following further concerns.
>> 
>> Articles 12 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
>> pertaining to privacy and freedom of expression, appear to be the
>> specific targets of intentional violation by the Egyptian government.
>> This should not pass without comment.
>> 
>> Significant regional economic activity relies upon the availability of
>> CityNet (Ramadan City), ECC (6 October City), EgyptNetwork
>> (Mansura), and ECC, MEIX, LINKdotNET (Cairo) data centers. The direct
>> economic loss due to governmental action is easy to calculate. The
>> greater loss of the reputation and competitive ability of these data
>> centers, and their operators is harder to calculate, and likely to be
>> much greater than N zero revenue days.
>> 
>> However, the economic consequence of abruptly transforming Egypt to a
>> sparse 56kb and VSAT connectivity regime extends far beyond the data
>> centers and access providers. It is profoundly disruptive of the
>> information economy, and of ordinary transaction services. It will
>> result in diminished stability and certainty of commodity prices and
>> availablities. It will raise the price of bread. It will cause
>> hardship, impoverishment, increased morbidity, and mortality, far
>> beyond the social identities of "authority" and "counter-authority".
>> 
>> These concerns are not unique to the withdrawal of prefixes at 16:00
>> UTC on January 27, and 09:00 UTC on January 28 -- the "Egyptian
>> Disconnection". Opportunistic and endemic network partition, rate
>> limiting, and filtering are practiced by some governments. The
>> practices which directly reduce the security and stability of the
>> Internet must not be allowed to pass without comment because they are
>> perpetrated by governments.
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>> 
>> the undersigned
>> 
>> === Text ends ===
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