Status:
IGF Theme(s) for workshop: Security, Openness and Privacy
Main theme question address by workshop: Question 1: What impact can security and governance issues have on the Internet and human rights?
Concise description of the proposed workshop:
Power grab? Understanding the clash of security communities.
Is the recent interest of national governments in internet security a mere grab for power or a necessary step to the dawn of a peaceful internet?
Large scale internet security incidents such as the attacks on Estonia in 2007 or the Conficker botnet have been addressed by diverse, yet overlapping internet security communities. The ongoing functionality of the internet as an communications infrastructure was ensured almost exclusively by a network of loosely coupled technical experts. In recent counter-measures such as DNS change malware, the Zeus or the Kelihos botnet, civilian law enforcement has played an increasingly important role.
While these cases can be classified as cybercrime, discourses on other internet-related security areas, such as cyber-terror or cyber-warfare, are characterised by a call for increased state involvement. Voices in the U.S. national security community are calling for national responsibilities, by which nations are to be held accountable for what the infrastructure based in their territory is used for. Likewise, the idea that internet security governance should follow the needs of a "global national security community" appears to gain popularity in national security policy circles.
The global technical security community is driven by the idea of the internet as global commons that needs to protected by cooperative efforts and wide-spread sharing of even sensitive information. National security communities, on the other hand, essentially see the internet as a tool and as a place where conflicting governments collide and try to gain relative advantages by any means available. These two opposing stances of internet security require conflicting security policies. As an example: While technical security communities view zero-days and botnets as their technical arch-enemies that need to be wiped off the internet, cyberwar theorists might see a botnet as a tool to DDoS an adversary and 0-days as a prerequisite to hack into an opponent's critical infrastructure.
This workshop aims at discussing the relationship between technical security as defined by the technical community and the rising interest of national security policy in cyber-security. What does the cyber-military interest in extensive situational awareness in cyberspace mean for the security of internet-based communication? Will the technical security community be transformed by national legislations, loose some of its old, egalitarian governance mechanisms and report to some governmental internet security authority? Could the nationalisation of Internet security and the securitization of the Internet essentially decrease global security cooperation?
The workshop will assemble cyber-security policy advisors, technical security experts, International relations scholars, internet security researchers, and representatives from privacy organisations. Speakers I plan to invite are, among other affiliations, from the European commission (Transnational Organisations), the Atlantic Council (Civil Society), the Internet Systems Consortium (Technical community), EFF/La Quadrature du Net/or similar (Civil society organisation).
The workshop is endorsed by the Internet Governance Project and the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto.
Background Paper: Mueller et al 2012 & Healey 2012.pdf
Name of the organiser(s) of the workshop and their affiliation to various stakeholder groups:
Andreas -- Schmidt -- Delft University of Technology -- Academia -- WEOG
Have you, or any of your co-organisers, organised an IGF workshop before?: No
Please provide link(s) to workshop(s) or report(s):
Provide the names and affiliations of the panellists you are planning to invite:
-- Jason -- Healey -- Atlantic Council -- Quasi-governmental NGO -- GRULAC -- Invited
-- Paul -- Vixie -- Internet Systems Consortium -- Technical Community -- GRULAC -- Confirmed
Prof. -- Milton -- Mueller -- Syracuse University -- Civil Society -- GRULAC -- Confirmed
Prof. -- Ron -- Deibert -- University of Toronto -- Academia -- WEOG -- Invited
-- N. -- N. -- European Commission -- Intergovernmental Organisation -- WEOG -- Invited
-- N. -- N. -- N.N. -- Civil Society/Technical Community -- Asia Pacific -- Not invited yet
Name of Remote Moderator(s):