[FYI] End-to-End Must Die So that National Security May Live

["Axel H Horns" <axel.h.horns@gmx.net>]

<http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/004623.html>

June 28, 2004
End-to-End Must Die So that National Security May Live

Prof. Susan Crawford has been breaking and following some 
monumentally important stories recently. Her latest regards one of my 
favorite federal agencies, the FCC, and the huge power grab it is 
considering exercising with regard to the internet. This is no joke, 
the FCC is considering regulating everything that uses the IP 
protocol (Nethead/Bellhead -- Noticing DHS). If you think this is 
just about the big telecoms, you're wrong:
"[National Security/Emergency Preparedness] NS/EP considerations 
provide a compelling rationale for applying a certain amount of 
regulation to IP-enabled services. The purpose of such regulation 
would be to ensure the prioritized availability of certain 
communication services to Federal, state, and local officials and 
first responders in times of emergency or national crisis."Crawford 
is quoting from the Department of Homeland Security filing in the IP-
related services proceeding (In the Matter of FCC Review of 
Regulatory Requirements for IP-Enabled Services: Comments of the 
Department of Homeland Security [PDF] The fun part of this document 
is that it won't let you copy/paste).

How much regulation is necessary?
"In the event of crisis, NS/EP national leadership must receive end-
to-end priority treatment over other users. . . . NS/EP traffic must 
be identified with its own class of service -- above and beyond "best 
effort."This, of course, would mean the end of end-to-end as IP 
providers would have to check packets to see if they were specially 
marked by the government (which would require all sorts of checks so 
that we could be sure the packets hadn't been spoofed and what not). 
Basically, we would have to build into the internet a smart network. 
Once you've done that, all sorts of other regulations become possible.

As Crawford notes, all of this would be done in the name of national 
security. You're not against national security, are you?

Posted by Ernest at 6:44 AM



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