PRIVACY Forum Archive Document
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PRIVACY Forum Digest Tuesday, 13 November 2001 Volume 10 : Issue 11 (http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.10.11) Moderated by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com) Vortex Technology, Woodland Hills, CA, U.S.A. http://www.vortex.com ===== PRIVACY FORUM ===== ------------------------------------------------------------------- The PRIVACY Forum is supported in part by the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Cable & Wireless USA, Cisco Systems, Inc., and Telos Systems. - - - These organizations do not operate or control the PRIVACY Forum in any manner, and their support does not imply agreement on their part with nor responsibility for any materials posted on or related to the PRIVACY Forum. ------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Announcing URIICA - For the Sake of Internet Users Everywhere (PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility) *** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! *** *** Submissions without them may be ignored! *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet PRIVACY Forum is a moderated digest for the discussion and analysis of issues relating to the general topic of privacy (both personal and collective) in the "information age" of the 1990's and beyond. The moderator will choose submissions for inclusion based on their relevance and content. Submissions will not be routinely acknowledged. All submissions should be addressed to "privacy@vortex.com" and must have RELEVANT "Subject:" lines; submissions without appropriate and relevant "Subject:" lines may be ignored. Excessive "signatures" on submissions are subject to editing. Subscriptions are via an automatic list server system; for subscription information, please send a message consisting of the word "help" (quotes not included) in the BODY of a message to: "privacy-request@vortex.com". Mailing list problems should be reported to "list-maint@vortex.com". All messages included in this digest represent the views of their individual authors and all messages submitted must be appropriate to be distributed and archived without limitations. The PRIVACY Forum archive, including all issues of the digest and all related materials, is available via anonymous FTP from site "ftp ftp.vortex.com", in the "/privacy" directory. Use the FTP login "ftp" or "anonymous", and enter your e-mail address as the password. The typical "README" and "INDEX" files are available to guide you through the files available for FTP access. PRIVACY Forum materials may also be obtained automatically via e-mail through the list server system. Please follow the instructions above for getting the list server "help" information, which includes details regarding the "index" and "get" list server commands, which are used to access the PRIVACY Forum archive. All PRIVACY Forum materials are available through the Internet Gopher system via a gopher server on site "gopher.vortex.com/". Access to PRIVACY Forum materials is also available through the Internet World Wide Web (WWW) via the Vortex Technology WWW server at the URL: "http://www.vortex.com"; full keyword searching of all PRIVACY Forum files is available via WWW access. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VOLUME 10, ISSUE 11 Quote for the day: "It's a well-known principle that if you keep the flint in one drawer and the steel in the other, you'll never strike much of a fire." -- Mrs. Paroo (Pert Kelton) "The Music Man" (Warner Bros.; 1962) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 22:38:43 PST From: pfir@pfir.org (PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility) Subject: Announcing URIICA - For the Sake of Internet Users Everywhere Announcing URIICA - For the Sake of Internet Users Everywhere November 13, 2001 PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org [ To subscribe or unsubscribe to/from this list, please send the command "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" respectively (without the quotes) in the body of an e-mail to "pfir-request@pfir.org". ] Announcing "URIICA" - Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis http://www.uriica.org Lauren Weinstein Peter G. Neumann David J. Farber November 13, 2001 An Open Letter to the Global Internet Community == Executive Summary == The Internet has become too important for its development, management, security, and other critical aspects to continue largely on an ad hoc basis. Internet-related issues, which now impact our world and lives in a vast number of ways, are usually approached in isolation from one another by existing organizations, and often in parochial and non-representative ways. We submit that a new organization is needed, created specifically to provide guidance relating to Internet functions and issues on an international and truly representative basis. Such an organization could also help establish confidence that the Internet exists to benefit people everywhere, not merely commercial and other special interests. We offer URIICA -- Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis -- as a possible first step towards building such a future. ------------------------- URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org In the more than thirty years since its genesis, the technology of the Internet has evolved from a little-known experiment to a major part of the world's infrastructures, with massive impacts throughout nearly every aspect of our cultures and lives -- from government to commerce, and from education to entertainment. Over the decades, innumerable individuals and informal groups have labored to make the Internet what it is today. Formal organizations have also played crucial roles, including ISOC, IETF, and ICANN, to name only three among many. But while the technical evolution of the Internet has been extraordinary in many respects, the ways in which the Internet is "managed" appear to be increasingly ill-suited in terms of overall planning, coordination, security, reliability, privacy, and numerous other key attributes. Of equal concern is the perception that Internet development has become largely hostage to well-heeled, vested interests. There are few and ever-decreasing opportunities for meaningful input on Internet issues from nonprofit organizations or ordinary Internet users without significant financial resources. These problems have been exacerbated by the historically isolated nature of many organizations working on Internet issues. There is a tendency for each such group to concentrate mainly on their own interests, with little coordination with other groups or persons who may have different points of view. There are also indications that some organizations have moved to extend their influence beyond their true competencies, and that those who have come to wield de facto power over controversial Internet-related issues may do so without a due consideration of international concerns, true representation, or even ordinary fairness. In the People For Internet Responsibility (PFIR) "Statement on Internet Policies, Regulations, and Control" [1], and "PFIR Proposal for a Representative Global Internet Policy Organization" [2], it has been suggested that the creation of a new international organization specifically to address these issues is a necessary step to successfully bring the Internet out of the age of turf wars and amateur theatrics into its appropriate role as a critical resource for the entire world and all of its peoples. Of course, moving from theory to practice is often difficult, particularly when dealing with the founding of organizations that must tackle controversial issues. However, the rising importance of the Internet and the continuing decline in public confidence regarding its operations suggest that action is urgently needed now. It is with this in mind that we offer "URIICA" - Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis (http://www.uriica.org). The name may be long, but its premise and goal is basically simple: The Internet should be dedicated to the needs and well-being of people all over the world, in a truly representative and fair manner. We offer URIICA as a forum for discussion, planning, and for building a framework towards accomplishing this goal, by bringing together in a representative manner an international group of diverse persons, organizations, and other groups who have commitments to the future of an open Internet. These participants will not only encompass commercial interests, but also a wide range of nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, individual Internet users, and anyone else who is willing to sit down and work for the common good. We visualize URIICA as being a very big tent indeed, with a structure created from the ground up to encompass both domestic and international concerns, based upon balanced, fair representation for everyone involved. We do not present URIICA as a fait accompli. There are innumerable details to be considered. But we hope URIICA will be a useful vehicle to bring together many persons and organizations for the work, debate, and serious long-term planning that is desperately needed. The Internet needs vision and dedication to be a beacon of hope for the future, and not merely a hi-tech mediocrity. If you're interested in helping, or have other comments, we'd very much appreciate hearing from you. General comments and questions can be e-mailed to: uriica@uriica.org Please also feel free to call Lauren Weinstein on +1 (818) 225-2800 (M-F 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM Pacific Time) if you wish to discuss this effort. If you'd like to join a (low-volume) e-mail list dedicated to URIICA and these issues, please send the message text: subscribe as the first text in the body of a message (the "Subject" field doesn't matter) to: uriica-request@uriica.org Over two millennia ago, the Greek mathematician Archimedes exclaimed "Eureka!" ("I have found it!") when he solved a vexing mathematical problem. We hope that URIICA can be of value in helping us all move towards solving many of the important problems of the Internet that we face both today and tomorrow. Thank you, and our best wishes to you all. [1] PFIR Statement on Internet Policies, Regulations, and Control http://www.pfir.org/statements/policies [2] PFIR Proposal for a Representative Global Internet Policy Organization http://www.pfir.org/statements/proposal Sincerely, Lauren Weinstein lauren@pfir.org or lauren@vortex.com or lauren@privacyforum.org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Peter G. Neumann neumann@pfir.org or neumann@csl.sri.com or neumann@risks.org Tel: +1 (650) 859-2375 Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org Moderator, RISKS Forum - http://risks.org Chairman, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann David J. Farber farber@cis.upenn.edu Tel: +1 (610) 304-9127 Member of the Board of Trustees EFF - http://www.eff.org Member of the Advisory Board -- EPIC - http://www.epic.org Member of the Advisory Board -- CDT - http://www.cdt.org Member of Board of Directors -- PFIR - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org Member of the Executive Committee USACM http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber (Affiliations shown for identification only.) ------------------------------ End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 10.11 ************************
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