Dear Dr Oolun,
I would like to disclose that I design content filtering appliances
and I also sell content filtering appliances. I read the email which
Mr Sookun sent to the Information and Communication Technologies
Authority on 14 May on the Mauritius Internet Users mailing list. I
also did some research about the topic.
Mr Sookun referred to a letter which he received from the Information
and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) in which he is
invited to "stop the campaign". I am subscribed to the Mauritius
Internet Users mailing list, I am also subscribed to several other
internet-related mailing lists where I discuss about matters related
to the internet. Those mailing lists are not venues for campaigns.
I participated in the discussions within the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF) about pervasive monitoring [1] and I support the
views expressed in RFC 7258. From a technical perspective, the CSA
filtering hosted at the ICTA [3] can be used for pervasive
monitoring. I am not inferring in any way that the ICTA is doing
that; what I mean is that it is technically possible to do so.
I am aware since 8 October, 2014 that "all Internet Service Providers
are filtered for CSA contents" as I asked the Information and
Communication Technologies Authority about internet filtering in
Mauritius. There is a Memorandum of Understanding between Internet
Watch Foundation of United Kingdom and the Information and
Communication Technologies Authority of the Republic of Mauritius
[2]. From what I understand, it is about a partnership for a
reporting portal available via the ICTA web site. According to
www.icta.mu [3] there is also the following:
"The URL filtering list for this component will be the list provided by the
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a non profit organization that is widely
recognised as one of the best in the world at managing a URL list of CSA
sites coupled with the Interpol blacklist."
There was a news article in 2008 about the Internet Watch Foundation
placing a ban on Wikipedia [4]. The effect of that ban was "that
some people could not see any pages on Wikipedia at all, while others
were unable to edit pages on the user-generated encyclopedia". It is
problematic when a web site such as Wikipedia could be banned given
that it is commonly used in Mauritius as an encyclopedia.
Mr Sookun claimed that the letter which he received stated that there
were a "series of discussions" with "the representatives of consumer
organizations". I doubt that an organisation such as, for example,
the Association des Consommateurs de I'lle Maurice has an adequate
understanding of the technology used for content filtering of
internet traffic and what can be done with the
technology. Furthermore, it would be better to have a public
consultation when the matter can have an impact on over half a
million persons in Mauritius. Would a "series of discussions" be
considered as "broad consultation" or "public consultation"? I do
not think so if there is a lack of transparency as it is not possible
for the public in Mauritius to find out what was discussed and which
decisions were taken.
The concern about an Internet Filtering System at the national level
is that there is a possibility that the system might be
misused. According to the ICTA web site [5]:
"No, the list is automatically updated on a regular basis remotely
by the online
CSA filtering solution provider and modification of this list is
not possible.
Access or modification to the blacklist is not possible locally."
Given that there is already a BGP peering session between the ICTA
and the International Gateway (Mauritius) there is technical
possibility of misuse as the filtering solution quoted above can be
side-stepped.
Is there any assurance that the system will not be extended in future
to block content other than CSA? In my humble opinion, it is also a
question worth considering.
I hope that the Information and Communication Technologies Authority
will take into consideration the concerns which has been expressed
and help to create a climate of understanding so that consensus can be forged.
Regards,
S. Moonesamy
1.
http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7258.txt
2.
https://www.icta.mu/documents/laws/mou_iwf.pdf
3.
https://www.icta.mu/it/csa.htm
4.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/dec/09/wikipedia-iwf-ban-lifted
5.
https://www.icta.mu/it/csa_faq.html
Received on Thu May 14 2015 - 23:03:01 PST