23 October 1999
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 21:59:32 +1000 From: Michael Baker <mbaker@pobox.com> To: aucrypto@suburbia.net Subject: AUCRYPTO: Fairfax I.T.: Spying test for regulators http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/communications/19991018/A62309-1999Oct18.html Fairfax I.T. Spying test for regulators By GLENN MULCASTER Monday 18 October 1999 A PROPOSAL to make it simple for governments to spy on their citizens could provide the first real test of a trend towards cooperative groups defining international telecommunications standards for the Internet. Speakers at the the world's biggest telecommunications fair, the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) Telecom 99 and Interactive 99, in Geneva, Switzerland, last week, hailed the rise of groups such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as models for collaborative regulatory approval in the next century. This is due to their ability to achieve consensus in a timely way. But, before that can happen, the thorny triumvirate of encryption, digital wiretaps and privacy have to be settled. The Alcatel chairman, Serge Tchuruk, said one of the biggest tasks was the future of encryption standards for e-commerce because many governments were reluctant to relinquish the desire to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens. ``The introduction of digital mobile networks has been an interesting test of this attitude,'' Tchuruk said. ``In recent months, a number of governments have started announcing measures in order to make sure that electronic commerce is not blocked by a lack of encryption. Nevertheless, encryption will remain one of the regulation subjects needing worldwide coordination for some time.'' He suggested co-operative standards bodies were suitable for developing the technical framework for encryption. The IETF has working groups on 15 topics related to security, including one-time password authentication, simple public key infrastructure, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) digital signatures and Web transaction security. Its ``digital wiretaps'' recommendations are to be handled under the codename ``Raven''. The task force is assessing encryption and back-door eavesdropping capabilities to be included in the next version of the Net's lingua franca -- Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6). The IETF position paper on ``technology to support legal intercept'' is under discussion via a new mailing list. But there is concern that building in the ability to snoop on citizens is ``by definition adding a security hole'' that could be exploited by crackers or abused by government, the IETF states. There is deep concern that as telcos move their networks from old fashioned circuit-switches to Internet Protocol, every phone conversation, e-mail, fax, and e-commerce transaction could be spied upon. In Australia, Telstra is undergoing its Data Mode of Operation (DMO), to upgrade its network to Internet Protocol. But the decision to consider building in systems to make it a doddle for governments around the world to spy on their citizens has drawn outrage from Internet and civil liberties groups. It could also stall the deployment of next generation e-commerce systems as producers fear a consumer backlash and refuse to support the standard. It is understood there are serious misgivings even within the IETF over the proposals, with insiders saying it is likely to be thrown out when the working group meets next month. Ringing a bell The US carrier AT&T's position was summarised by its CEO, Michael Armstrong, as: ``keep markets open, leave the Internet the hell alone and speed up the standards". In his speech, he delivered a recipe to lift penetration of telecom and Internet services. The 30-year IBMer who also worked with Hughes in the satellite business before moving to the top job at AT&T, gave a fairly predictable wish list from the point of view of a heavyweight telephone company in the biggest telephone market. However, his views on standards and the need for a more uniform approach to regulation across borders were supported by fellow panelists from different sectors of the industry - Alcatel's Tchuruk and Dutch telecom regulator Jens Arnbak. The mostly unregulated Internet has evolved rapidly since the emergence of the Web browser as a favored communications interface five years ago. In turn the Web has fuelled massive demand for broadband communications and pressured telecom carriers and government telecom regulators around the world to open access to the communications networks controlled previously by monopolies. This has renewed a focus on the role of independent regulators and the conventional telecom standards development process, which is deemed too slow and clumsy to cope with future technical advances. Armstrong acknowledged the work performed by groups such as the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which could offer a good template for standards development and was ``worth monitoring''. Armstrong said the information revolution ``could be the first revolution in which there are no losers''. ICANN is the non-profit body formed recently to handle the address allocation, protocol assignment and domain name management issues. This was previously managed by Network Solutions Inc., a private company, on behalf of the US Government, which held responsibility for the Internet. Other Internet industry development groups such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the IETF have earned respect as responsible consensus forums without hampering technical advances. Armstrong said cables were being laid around the world at the rate of 4500 kilometres an hour to cope with massive increases in data traffic. ``But there is plenty of work ahead to deliver the benefits of this revolution,'' he warned. He said there was no doubt telecommunications could deliver real progress during the next 100 years but it remained to be seen if it happened quickly and efficiently or whether it remained slow and fragmented like much of its development this century. ``Industry and regulators have a responsibility to keep the flywheel of technology moving,'' he said. The role of the Telecom 99 conference organiser, the ITU - an arm of the United Nations - as the primary telecom standards body will have to be redefined as the pace of technical development threatens to overshadow the treaty organisation formed 134 years ago. It appears the industry will evaluate a new, independent structure for rapid telecom standards approval. The Dutch regulator Jens Arnbak said one requirement in a globally competitive market was the need for a dispute resolution procedure for the international telecoms market. He urged the repositioning of the ITU. If we did not share the information communications technology benefits globally, it could be the greatest market failure, he said. The dismantling of monopolies and the deregulation of telecom markets around the world, including Australia and New Zealand in the 1990s, has left the ITU as an inter-governmental organisation in a competitive global environment when the natural national boundaries of the telecom markets have been pulled down. Many of the ITU member states have direct interests in the lucrative and profitable telecom industry and yet have to ensure they safeguard the concept of universal service, the provision of a minimum of service to all residents. In his opening address to the conference, Yoshio Utsumi, the ITU's secretary general, described the industry changes as a regulatory earthquake. He said independent telecom regulators had been set up in more than 80 countries this decade and traditional telecom regulatory functions were being changed to competition-based systems. The spectre of a patchwork of clumsy, cross-border Internet controls and regulation set up by individual nations concerns Armstrong. He said the Internet would only flourish if it was left alone. Alcatel's Tchuruk said the adoption of high-speed Internet services had upset a cosy situation from a few years ago where the copper local loop was used primarily for voice and coaxial cable was used exclusively for TV signals. ``The users are crying out for faster and faster access,'' he said. ``Clear competitive rules are needed.'' Tchuruk said some regulators had decided to give new entrants a head start in the telecom market by shackling the incumbent players, preventing them from operating in particular services, such as video carriage over copper or combined fixed and mobile. He said these ill-advised technology bans prevented technology integration that could have been valuable to a truly competitive market. IETF participants will gather in Adelaide in March next year, hosted by connect.com.au, for the 47th IETF gathering. IETF's Wiretapping Raven http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/working-groups/raven/current/msg00000.html Glenn Mulcaster travelled to Geneva as a guest of Alcatel Australia.