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The IRTF called for the creation of protocols that do not violate human rights.
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) has released a new RFC 9620 document that aims to draw the attention of communication protocol and architecture developers to important human rights issues.
The document is for informational purposes only and is not a mandatory standard. However, the authors hope that it will become a useful guide for engineers in creating and improving communication technologies.
RFC 9620 emphasizes that the technologies used to transmit data can both support and violate human rights. The paper proposes questions that developers should ask themselves during the protocol design phase to assess how their decisions might affect rights such as:
For example, if a user is denied access to certain services or content, this may prevent them from disclosing information about abuses by authorities or other organizations. Monitoring his communications may restrict freedom of assembly or participation in political processes. In extreme cases, data leakage through protocols can lead to serious consequences, including physical danger, when government agencies use the collected information to persecute citizens.
The document recommends that the impact of the protocols on human rights be assessed at the stage of the development of the standard. Among the key issues to be taken into account are the following:
1. Decentralization:
2. Censorship resistance:
3. Data Integrity:
4. Content Signals:
In addition, developers must consider compliance with security standards, avoid using proprietary technologies that make it difficult to extend protocols, and ensure that data and attributes can be validated.
The need for such an instrument is explained by the fact that in the past, protocol designers have sometimes created technologies that, perhaps inadvertently, could become a tool for human rights violations. For example, the proposal of the Chinese company Huawei to create a new Internet protocol "New IP" has raised concerns among experts. The protocol is marketed as a platform for "haptic internet" and holographic communications, but experts warn that New IP could contribute to mass surveillance and undermine anonymity on the internet.
Analysts from Chatham House, Oxford Information Laboratories and the Oxford Internet Institute have pointed out that New IP could be used for mass surveillance and threaten the rights to privacy, freedom of expression and assembly.
The document is not an IETF standard, but is an informative guide. However, it was approved by consensus of the Human Rights Study Group (HRPC) and was vetted by both the panel's members and external experts. This underlines the importance of the document for Internet protocol developers who want to take human rights into account in their work.
RFC 9620 also encourages developers to review their solutions at different stages of protocol development and to actively involve people whose rights may be affected in the process.
Source
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) has released a new RFC 9620 document that aims to draw the attention of communication protocol and architecture developers to important human rights issues.
The document is for informational purposes only and is not a mandatory standard. However, the authors hope that it will become a useful guide for engineers in creating and improving communication technologies.
RFC 9620 emphasizes that the technologies used to transmit data can both support and violate human rights. The paper proposes questions that developers should ask themselves during the protocol design phase to assess how their decisions might affect rights such as:
- the right to freedom of expression;
- the right of access to information;
- the right to non-discrimination;
- the right to equal protection;
- the right to take part in cultural life, the arts and sciences;
- the right to freedom of assembly and association;
- the right to confidentiality;
- the right to security.
For example, if a user is denied access to certain services or content, this may prevent them from disclosing information about abuses by authorities or other organizations. Monitoring his communications may restrict freedom of assembly or participation in political processes. In extreme cases, data leakage through protocols can lead to serious consequences, including physical danger, when government agencies use the collected information to persecute citizens.
The document recommends that the impact of the protocols on human rights be assessed at the stage of the development of the standard. Among the key issues to be taken into account are the following:
1. Decentralization:
- Is it possible to implement a protocol without a single point of control?
- Can the protocol be deployed in a distributed system?
- Does the protocol create additional centralized control points?
2. Censorship resistance:
- Does the architecture of the protocol facilitate censorship?
- Does the protocol contain bottlenecks that can be used to block traffic?
- Can the protocol be made more censorship resistant?
- Does the protocol provide transparency when restricting access to resources and explain the reasons for such restrictions?
3. Data Integrity:
- Does the protocol guarantee the safety and accuracy of data?
- Does it prevent intentional or accidental modification of data?
4. Content Signals:
- Does the protocol contain explicit or implicit elements in the headers or payload that can be used to differentiate traffic?
- Are there ways to minimize such data leaks to network intermediaries?
- Can the protocol be made transparent to identify the negative effects of traffic differentiation that affect network neutrality?
In addition, developers must consider compliance with security standards, avoid using proprietary technologies that make it difficult to extend protocols, and ensure that data and attributes can be validated.
The need for such an instrument is explained by the fact that in the past, protocol designers have sometimes created technologies that, perhaps inadvertently, could become a tool for human rights violations. For example, the proposal of the Chinese company Huawei to create a new Internet protocol "New IP" has raised concerns among experts. The protocol is marketed as a platform for "haptic internet" and holographic communications, but experts warn that New IP could contribute to mass surveillance and undermine anonymity on the internet.
Analysts from Chatham House, Oxford Information Laboratories and the Oxford Internet Institute have pointed out that New IP could be used for mass surveillance and threaten the rights to privacy, freedom of expression and assembly.
The document is not an IETF standard, but is an informative guide. However, it was approved by consensus of the Human Rights Study Group (HRPC) and was vetted by both the panel's members and external experts. This underlines the importance of the document for Internet protocol developers who want to take human rights into account in their work.
RFC 9620 also encourages developers to review their solutions at different stages of protocol development and to actively involve people whose rights may be affected in the process.
Source
