Subject: [hrpc] Upcoming draft on an overall report of the work

From: Avri Doria <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 14:43:26 -0400

Hi,

While somewhat early, wanted to proposed a document that the RG,
assuming we continue to actually becoming an RG, could eventually use
report of the work and first considerations once we get further down the
road.

This proposal, would bring together much of the work that we are doing
in a single draft that we could then put forward for consideration as a RFC.

At this point it is more of a glorified outline than the document I plan
for it to become, but, before going too far down the road figured I
should put it out as a draft, draft-doria-hrpc-report-00,  before
Yokohama.  Which means I need to get as far as I am going to get by the
19th.

In keeping with the tradition that has been set in this group of
floating the markdown version of the drafts on this list before putting
them out as a IDs, I enclose the following.

---
title: Human Rights Protocol Considerations - Research Report
docname: draft-doria-hprc-report
date: 2015-10-11
category: info

ipr: trust200902
 
area: IRTF
workgroup: Human Rights Protocol Consideration RG
keyword: Internet-Draft
stand_alone: yes
pi:
  rfcedstyle: yes
  toc: yes
  tocindent: yes
  sortrefs: yes
  symrefs: yes
  strict: yes
  comments: yes
  inline: yes
  text-list-symbols: -o*+

author:
-
  ins: A. Doria
  name: Avri Doria
  org: Technicalities
  email: [email-masked]

normative:

informative:
  RFC1958:
  RFC1984:
  RFC2026:
  RFC2639:
  RFC2919:
  RFC3365:
  RFC5890:
  RFC5891:
  RFC5892:
  RFC5893:
  RFC6162:
  RFC6783:
  RFC6973:
  RFC7230:
  RFC7231:
  RFC7232:
  RFC7234:
  RFC7235:
  RFC7236:
  RFC7237:
  RFC7258:
  UDHR:
    title: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    date: 1948
    author:
      org: United Nations General Assembly
    target: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
 
  HRPC-GLOSSARY:
    title: Human Rights Protocol Considerations Glossary
    date: 2015
    author:
      - ins: N. ten Oever
      - ins: A. Doria
      - ins: D. K. Gillmor
    target: https://www.ietf.org/id/draft-dkg-hrpc-glossary-00.txt
 
  HRPC-Method:
    title: Human Rights Protocol Considerations Methodology
    date: 2015
    author:
      - ins: J. Varon
      - ins: C. Cath
    target: https://www.ietf.org/id/draft-varon-hrpc-methodology-00.txt

  Cath:
    title: A case study of codeing rights
    date: 2015
    author:
       - ins: C. Cath

  Clark:    
    title: The Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet Protocols
    author:
      - ins: D. Clark
    seriesinfo: Proc SIGCOMM 88, ACM CCR Vol 18, Number 4, August
        1988, pp. 106-114.
    date: 1988

  Blumenthal:
    title: "Rethinking the design of the Internet: The end-to-end
arguments vs. the brave new world"
    author:
       - ins: M. Blumenthal
       - ins: D.D. Clark
    seriesinfo: ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, Vol. 1, No. 1,
August 2001, pp 70-109.
    date: 2001

  Liddicoat:
    title: Human Rights and Internet Protocols
    author:
       - ins: J. Liddicoat
       - ins: A. Doria
    target:
https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/human-rights-and-internet-protocols-comparing-proc
   
  Denardis:
    title: Protocol Politics
    author:
      - ins: L. Denardis
    date: 2013
   
  Post:
    title: Internet Infrastructure and IP Censorship
    author:
      - ins: D. Post
    date: 2015
    target:
http://www.ipjustice.org/digital-rights/internet-infrastructure-and-ip-censorship-bydavid-post/

  Zittrain:
    title: The Future of the Internet - And How to Stop It.
    date: 2008
    author:
      - ins: J. Zittrain

--- abstract

This document present an overview of the project to map engineering
concepts at the protocol level that may be related to promotion and
protection of the freedom of expression and association.

This first draft is intended to provide the framework for reporting on
the study, initial results and basic considerations. At a later stage it
will fold in the work being done in the Methodology and Glossary drafts
as well as the work being done in the case studies. It also folds in
some of the text included in the original proposal for the HRPC.

Discussion on this draft at: [email-masked] //
https://www.irtf.org/mailman/admindb/hrpc

--- middle

Background
============

The recognition that human rights have a role in Internet policies has
become part of the general discourse.  Several reports from former
United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, have
made such relation explicit, which lead to the approval of the landmark
resolution "on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights
on the Internet" at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).  And, more
recently, to the resolution "The right to privacy in the digital age" at
the UN General Assembly.  The NETmundial outcome document affirms that
human rights, as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
{{UDHR}}, should underpin Internet governance principles.

Nevertheless, the direct relation between Internet Standards and human
rights is still something to be explored and more clearly demonstrated.

Concerns for freedom of expression and association were a strong part of
the world-view of the community involved in developing the first
Internet protocols.  Apparently, by intention or by coincidence, the
Internet was designed with freedom and openness of communications as
core values.  But as the scale and the commercialization of the
Internet has grown, the influence of such world-views had to compete
with other values, such as ease of development and cost. The purpose of
this research is to discover and document the consideration involved in
taking human rights into account when creating protocols.

In a manner similar to the work done for RFC 6973 {{RFC6973}} on Privacy
Consideration Guidelines, the premise of this research is that some
standards and protocols can solidify, enable or threaten user rights.

As stated in RFC 1958 {{RFC1958}}, the Internet aims to be the global
network of networks that provides unfettered connectivity to all users
at all times and for any content.  Open, secure and reliable 
connectivity is essential for rights such as freedom of expression and
freedom of association, as defined in the Universal Declaration   of
Human Rights {{UDHR}}.  Therefore, considering connectivity as the
ultimate objective of the Internet, this makes a clear case that the  
Internet is not only an enabler of human rights, but that human rights
lie at the basis of, and are ingrained in, the architecture of   the
network.

An essential part of maintaining the Internet as a tool for
communication and connectivity is security.  Indeed, "development of
security mechanisms is seen as a key factor in the future growth of  the
Internet as a motor for international commerce and communication"   RFC
1984 [RFC1984] and according to the Danvers Doctrine RFC 3365 
{{RFC3365}}, there is an overwhelming consensus in the IETF that the 
best security should be used and standardized.

In RFC 1984 {{RFC1984}}, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the 
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), the bodies which oversee  
architecture and standards for the Internet, expressed: "concern by  the
need for increased protection of international commercial   transactions
on the Internet, and by the need to offer all Internet   users an
adequate degree of privacy."  Indeed, the IETF has been   doing a
significant job in this area {{RFC6973}} {{RFC7258}}, considering 
privacy concerns as a subset of security concerns.  {{RFC6973}}

Besides privacy, it should be possible to highlight other aspects of 
connectivity embedded in standards and protocols that can have human
rights considerations. This report focuses on freedom of expression and
the right to association and assembly online. 

Terminology
============

Currently defined in draft-dkg-hrpc-glossary to be folded in at
appropriate time

Link between protocols and human rights
=====================================

+ Include discussion of value laden engineering as discussed in {{Cath}}
+ Include discussion of  "Values and Networks" work by Roland Bless
+ Include discussion of principles from NetMundial Multistakeholder
Statement

Discussion of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Internet
Architecture
--------------------------------------------------------------------

This project is focused on two rights defined in the UDHR {{UDHR}},
Article 19 on Freedom of Expression and Article 20 of Freedom of
Association.

Article 19.
:   Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.
:  1 Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
:  2 No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Theory
--------------

When looking at protocols the considerations can apply from several
perspectives.

+   The protocol's direct effects on human rights on the Internet.
+   The protocol's direct effect  on human rights in combination with
other protocols
+   The effect of specific protocol elements, separately or in
combination with other protocol elements on human rights on the Internet
+   The ability to determine when various effects are occurring, i.e.
transparency
+   The effect of deployment or non deployment.  While this may be may
seem beyond the protocol itself, often the design of protocol, its
difficulty in implementation and the degree to which it contains
required elements, poison pills or other protocol artifacts that either
encourage or discourse implementation or deployment can be significant
in the overall human rights affect of a protocol.

Other relevant research
-------------------------

Look at some of the academic research on the topic including David Post,
Jonathan Zittrain and Laura Denardis, among others.

Methodology
============

Currently defined in detail in draft-varon-hrpc-methodolgy to be folded
in at appropriate time.  this will largely be a reproduction of Section
3 of that document that focuses on the methodology

Briefly methodology has included:
+ scoping the research problem
- determining terminology to be use linking engineering and human rights
concepts
- establishing methodology
- case studies on a set of protocols
- derivation of possible considerations

Case Studies
============

In each of the case studies, the behavior of the protocols is analysed
for its positive and negative effects.  In some case these effects are
due to the design of the protocol itself, in others they are due to
existing or absent features.

Early versions of the analysis on the following protocols are currently
being discussed on HRPC list.  Once the discussions have matured those
discussions will be folded in this section.

DNS
--------------

Text being done by Will Scott on the HRPC list.

IP
--------------

Text being done by Will Scott on HRPC list.

HTTP
-------------

Text being done by Nex / Claudio on HRPC list.

XMPP
-------------

Text being done by Will Scott on HRPC list.

P2P
-------------

Text being done by Nex on HRPC List.

Possible areas for protocol considerations
==========================================

The case studies point to several areas of protocol behavior that may be
appropriate for considerations: 

+ Character encoding for internationalization
- DNS Record
  - Distortion
  - Injection
  - Removal
- Network Poisoning
- Traffic
  - Interception
  - Manipulation
  - Throttling
- User Identification
  - Source and Destination visibility
  - Tracking

Additionally, discussion of the rights themselves and the evidence of
these rights being implicits in the IETF design principles {{clark}} and
in some of the existing architecture and protocols {{Cath}}
{{Liddicoat}}, suggest other considerations.

Next Steps
============

Once the first take at consideration are defined, what are the next
steps for creating something that can be sesable for protocol designers
and implementers in considering freedom of expression and and freedom of
association in their work.

Acknowledgement
===============

A section that include the many contributors of text as as commenters
and those who are assisitng this project in existing.

IANA considerations
===================

There shouldn't be any.

Security Considerations
=======================

There shouldn't be any.

---

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From: Corinne Cath <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2015 16:34:23 +0100

Great! had some minor suggestions (see in-text), feel free to ignore. Best
from a cold and rainy Paris.

> https://www.irtf.org/mailman/admindb/hrpc
​Perhaps it is also interesting to mention the recent UNESCO study?
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/internetstudy
as it focuses specifically on the importance of developing the Internet on
the basis of human rights principles.

​

> Concerns for freedom of expression and association were
> ​
>
​are?​

> ​
> a strong part of

​I think we need to be careful about using "user rights" and "human rights"
interchangeably - it's confusing, and
user rights have a completely different legal basis than human rights
(sorry for being Cpt. Obvious here). But
it's feedback I have gotten on a continous basis, and is a legitimate issue
to address I feel.​

> lie at the basis of, and are ingrained in, the architecture of   the

​woot woot!​

> ​Perhaps also add Alexander Galloway's "Protocol"? and some of the work of
Ian Brown?​

> _______________________________________________
> hrpc mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/hrpc
>

-- 

'The management of normality is hard work'