[324] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Internet Content Filtering and the Wicked Witch
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Wed Jan 9 00:42:56 2008
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Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:07:37 -0800
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Internet Content Filtering and the Wicked Witch Rises
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000355.html
"I'll get you, my pretty -- and your little dog, too!"
Greetings. The New York Times is reporting that NBC, Microsoft,
AT&T, digital filtering companies, and other assorted spooks were
all abuzz at the Consumer Electronics Show over the prospects for
spying on and preventing -- oops, I mean "filtering" -- of Internet
content at the network level, as demanded by the RIAA, MPAA, and,
well, you know the drill ( http://tinyurl.com/2yrgot ).
This topic has come up so often lately that I wouldn't even mention
it again here except for a quick prediction and an observation.
Prediction: Such attempts to detect, block, or alter Internet
traffic flows by ISPs will accelerate widespread user moves toward
pervasive Internet encryption and "underground" applications, on a
scale that couldn't even be imagined today.
That's not to endorse piracy. As I've noted many times before, I've
been very sympathetic to the intellectual property concerns
involved. However, I must admit that as these guys have become more
and more intrusive (remember the calls for DRM to be embedded into
A/D converters?), my sympathy is waning with increasing speed.
Content filtering conducted by individual Web sites is between those
sites and their users. Spying on or interfering with the core
Internet and primary user connections is unacceptable prying and
interference.
Observation: The closing paragraph of the NYT story reads:
After the session, [Mr. Cicconi of AT&T] told me that ISPs like
AT&T would have to handle such network filtering delicately, and do
more than just stop an upload dead in its tracks, or send a
legalistic cease and desist form letter to a customer. "We've got to
figure out a friendly way to do it, there's no doubt about it," he
said.
I particularly enjoy the word "delicately" in this context. I'm
reminded of the Wicked Witch of the West's concern in 1939's "The
Wizard of Oz":
"These things must be done delicately ... or you hurt the spell ... "
If ISPs and their brethren insist on trying to turn the Internet
into a commercial surveillance pipeline, we can be sure that the
Net's technology and users will find suitable responses. There is,
after all, more than one way for a house to fall on a witch.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
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