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159 lines
5.8 KiB
159 lines
5.8 KiB
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<meta name="generator" content=
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"HTML Tidy for Mac OS X (vers 31 October 2006 - Apple Inc. build 13), see www.w3.org" />
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<title>
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No Snooping - Design Issues
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</title>
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<link rel="Stylesheet" href="di.css" type="text/css" />
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html" />
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#DDFFDD" text="#000000">
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<address>
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Tim Berners-Lee<br />
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Date: 2009-03-09, last change: $Date: 2009/03/11 15:48:30
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$<br />
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Status: personal view only. Editing status: first draft.
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</address>
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<p>
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<a href="./">Up to Design Issues</a>
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</p>
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<hr />
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<h1>
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No Snooping
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</h1>
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<p>
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Most of these notes are about architecture at the web layer.
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However, a healthy web for society places requirements also
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on the Internet layer.
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</p>
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<p>
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In 2008, this was threatened in the UK by the company
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorm">Phorm</a>
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proposing to use data from deep packet inspection (DPI). The
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system would use special apparatus at the Internet Service
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Provider (ISP) to monitor traffic, peek inside the IP
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packet's payload, and determine every URL looked in a
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household's browsing on the web. This profile would be used
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to provide taregetted advertizing. They also planned to
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automatically "protect" users by redirecting any access to
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blacklisted (phishing, etc) sites.
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</p>
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<p>
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A discussion was held at the House of Lords by Baroness
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Miller on 2009-02-11. These are some notes I made for the
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event, which I attended.
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>The Internet in general has and deserves the same
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protection as paper mail and telephone.
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</li>
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<li>If fact you could argue that it needs it more, as it
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carries more or our lives and is more revealing than our
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phone calls or our mail.
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</li>
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<li>The access by an ISP of information within an internet
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packet, other than that information used for routing, is
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equivalent to wirtetapping a phone or opening sealed postal
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mail.
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</li>
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<li>The URLs which people use reveal a huge amount about
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their lives, loves, hates, and fears. This is extremely
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sensitive material. People use the web in crisis, when
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wondering whether they have STDs, or cancer, when wondering
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whether they are homosexual and whether to talk about it, to
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discuss political views which may to some may be abhorrent,
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and so on.
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</li>
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<li>We use the internet to inform ourselves as voters in a
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democracy. We use the internet to decide what is true and
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what is not. We use the internet for healthcare and social
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interaction and so on. These things will all have a
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completely different light cast on then if the users know
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that the click will be monitored and the data will be shared
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with third parties.
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</li>
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<li>The URLs produced when using forms contain the
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information typed into those forms. Personal data, private
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data.
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</li>
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<li>If people really want privacy, then many users and sites
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may switch to using SSL encryption: to doing theior actual
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web surfing thorugh an encrypted tunnel. This takes a lot of
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server CPU cycles, making server farms more expensive. It
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would slow the user's computer. It would effectively slow
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down the whole net. It also prevents the use of HTTP proxies,
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which currently help the efficiency of web access.
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</li>
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<li>There are considerable risks if the information is
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abused. Imagine:
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<ul>
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<li>To be able to buy a profile of a person you are
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interested in;
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</li>
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<li>To discriminate based on profiles of people when
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deciding whether suitable to employ them;
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</li>
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<li>To discriminate in giving life insurance, and so on,
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against those the have lookup up (say) cardiac symptoms
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on the web;
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</li>
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<li>Criminal attacks on government officials at home;
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</li>
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<li>Foreign attacks on the country made by targeting and
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analyzing key individuals;
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</li>
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<li>Predators choosing, stalking, and targeting
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victims;...
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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to name a few.
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</p>
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</li>
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<li>The information could be deliberately abused by an inside
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worker, or could be acquired by an attack on the system's
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machines.
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</li>
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<li>The power of this information is so great that the
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commercial incentive for companies or individuals misuse it
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will be huge, so it is essential to have absolute clarity
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that it is illegal.
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</li>
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<li>To put his in perspective, it is like the company having
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a video camera inside your house, except that it gives them
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actually much more information about you.
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</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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The act of reading, like the act of writing, is a pure,
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fundamendal, human act. It must be available without
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interference or spying.
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</p>
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<h3>
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Acknowledgements
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</h3>
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<p>
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Thanks to colleagues who reviewed these notes and provided
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useful feedback, including Hal Abelson, Karen Myers, Thomas
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Rössler, Amy van der Hiel, and Danny Weitzner
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</p>
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<h3>
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References
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</h3>
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<p>
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Phorm in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorm
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</p>
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<p>
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The author on BBC news disapproving of the spying on people's
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URLs: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm
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</p>
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<hr />
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<p>
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<a href="Overview.html">Up to Design Issues</a>
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</p>
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<p>
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<a href="../People/Berners-Lee">Tim BL</a>
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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