[anti-abuse-wg] DNS Abuse, Abuse of Privacy & Legitimizing Criminal Activity

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

In message , ox <andre at ox.co.za> writes

>The Bind software is the dominant DNS software on the planet.
>
>The IETF doc, relating to RPZ - is intended for Bind ops.

Not really -- it's an attempt to document what Bind does in a way that
will make it easier for other platforms to do the same thing (it turns
out that there's a lot of interaction with the innards of Bind and
setting out the semantics in a way that is platform independent is not
as simple as you might initially think).

>If left unchallenged, RPZ will become a standard (RFC)

Not in the short term and not in the medium term either... there is a
difference between a standard and an RFC -- as Jon Postel set out two
decades ago

        https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1796

>Which will legitimize it. 

As it happens, I agree with that view (since I think that many people
completely erroneously conflate RFCs with standards).

>What I am objecting to, is that non ethical software and systems are
>being legitimized.

As it happens, I agree that there are serious ethical issues with RPZ
And I said so in an academic paper about ethics (as applied to research
into online criminality) several years back

        http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rnc1/ntdethics.pdf

I've recently re-expressed my opinion on the relevant IETF list, that
the document should not be adopted by the Working Group.

Essentially I believe documenting RPZ in a platform independent way will
lead to some Governments taking the view that they can censor the web by
compelling the consumption of an Officially Endorsed RPZ feed -- at
present, the fact that many platforms do not implement RPZ at all (or in
what is probably an inconsistent manner) gives them some pause. I think
we remove that (admittedly small for some regimes around the world)
roadbump at our peril.

- -- 
richard                                                   Richard Clayton

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary 
Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin 11 Nov 1755

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPsdk version 1.7.1

iQA/AwUBWG+LFju8z1Kouez7EQKaMwCeOntURBJAr/IKbWtos9rb5yQzsOMAnRNO
QmGUXnqCk56ANjr9wLoXHvxn
=A6Jd
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----