[liberationtech] Internet is designed for surveillance

[Yosem Companys]

*From: *"Bob Frankston" <Bob19-0501 at bobf.frankston.com>

The current implementation of the Internet is hierarchical in that we get
IP addresses from provides and then use a DNS that is rooted. We go even
further in requiring that we conform to conditions on our intent (AKA our
use) of connectivity in order to get a temporary lease on something so
fundamental as our identity in the guise of a DNS name. We go further by
accepting the idea that we communicate within pipes owned by service
providers who can dictate terms in order to extract a rent.****
** **
Once you accept such an architecture and such rules it seems disingenuous
to act surprised when those whom we’ve put in charge take advantage of this
control for whatever purpose whether for advertising or for our safety
(real or imagined). We may ask for restraint on the part of those who
enforce the rules but every time there is an outrage (often called
terrorist attack) we (perhaps not the same “we”) demand more surveillance.**
**
** **
The ideas behind the Internet – the use of raw packets that have no
intrinsic meaning in transit – should enable us to communicate without
having to agree to all of these conditions and without subjecting ourselves
to prior restraint. Even if we didn’t fully appreciate the idea of raw
packets we still have to wonder why we accept a rent-seeking approach for
something so vital as our ability to communicate.****
** **
Where is the effort honor the Internet paradigm and move away from the
presumption of hierarchy to a distributed approach that doesn’t assume that
we must declare our intent merely to exchange bits? At very least we should
move beyond having rent-seekers in the path.****
** **
Bob Frankston****
http://frankston.com****

**
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/attachments/20130626/f93ad006/attachment.html>