Kerry: The Internet Iron Curtain

[ProSense]

The Internet Iron Curtain

Posted by John Kerry

Since the printing press, no technology has had a greater capacity than the Internet for individual empowerment, economic development, and human expression.

How telling then that, while countries around the world are devoting precious resources to expanding their citizens’ access to the Internet, Russia is doing the opposite.

Just yesterday, Russia’s Parliament passed a package of new restrictions on blogging and the Internet, a potent legislative cocktail of regression and repression.

It is part of a pattern. Russian-backed militias operating in Ukraine have been detaining legitimate journalists and knocking down television towers to block the truth from getting out. While the world celebrated the Internet’s potential for positive change at NETmundial, Russia isolated itself by objecting to the principles and ideals of Internet freedom.

Not satisfied by its stranglehold on traditional media, the Russian government has lunged at digital media, one of the last bastions of independent voices in Russia. While so many will be commemorating World Press Freedom Day on Saturday, Moscow forced the founder of its largest social network, Pavel Durov, to flee after he had refused to disclose personal information about the protesters in Ukraine’s Euromaidan.

Why?

As I said on Monday when I spoke via the Internet to the Freedom Online Coalition’s Conference in Estonia, actions to squelch free expression reflect a government’s basic insecurity everywhere and anywhere it happens. Open societies understand that a free and open press, including the Internet, is vital to holding governments accountable.

As someone who spent two years of my own life as a young veteran trying to end a war, I believe in dissent and I love that in my country, we welcome dissent. But make no mistake -- as someone who has been in public life for four decades, it doesn’t mean I think every story I read is fair -- or accurate -- or balanced. I’ve got the scars to show it. But, what’s important is, I believe our values must be strong enough to withstand criticism. Together, we must remind authoritarian states everywhere that the Internet is not a tool of oppression -- it is a tool of growth, freedom and transparency.

In today’s world, there’s no sustainable way for a country to seal itself off electronically by dropping an iron curtain on the Internet. No one can hide behind a wall of 1s and 0s.

Tear down that wall -- demand a single, global, and open Internet.

http://blogs.state.gov/stories/2014/04/30/internet-iron-curtain

Reporters and media at centre of storm in eastern Ukraine
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024890193

Russia's Putin Calls the Internet a 'CIA Project'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024864684

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[Cha]

2. Not much attention because that messes the meme of Russia good.. and it's

all the CIA's fault

Thank you SOS Kerry!

thanks PS

[Supersedeas]

17. image is everything

[karynnj]

3. Great defense of dissent, the internet and freedom of speech from one who has seen both sides

- as a young protester and as one of the most powerful men in the country.

I like his point that in trying to block the internet, Russia isolates itself.

[ProSense]

4. More on the forum (NETmundial) Kerry mentioned:

A Major Win for the Open Internet

Last week, we announced that we were heading to São Paulo, Brazil to attend NETmundial, a global meeting of governments, entrepreneurs, academics, Internet institutions, civil society activists and users to discuss the future of Internet governance. We expressed our hope that NETmundial would make an important contribution to the positive evolution of the Internet and its governance. Our optimism was well-founded. As one of Brazil’s leading Internet scholars and chair of Netmundial Virgilio Almeida brought NETmundial to a close, the U.S. government delegation rose in applause. And almost everyone else in the room rose with us.

<...>

The world now shifts its focus to the Freedom Online Coalition meeting -- which Secretary Kerry addressed via teleconference -- in Estonia, the ICANN High Level event in London, and the Internet Governance Forum in Istanbul to further address various crucial Internet issues, including its future governance. The NETmundial statement will provide a solid starting point for those discussions.

- more -

https://blogs.state.gov/stories/2014/04/29/major-win-open-internet

[freshwest]

6. Encouraging... n/t

[jakeXT]

5. The freedom to be spied on, great stuff /nt

[joshcryer]

7. Use encrypted traffic.

Simple.

Oh, btw, all text sent to DU is plaintext. Just fyi. This includes your PMs.

[jakeXT]

8. I've used like 4 PM's in 5 years. SSL had problems, RSA had problems

I wonder what we'll learn next.

Or the NSA just taps into the unencrypted infrastructure.

http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html

[joshcryer]

9. The NSA was confounded by Tor.

Just an FYI, they said it was causing them a pain in the ass.

RSA's RNG backdoor was never used in the wild.

SSL's Heartbleed was likely exploited by the NSA (it explains how they got FB chats), but you should not trust HTTP anyway.

PGP is still not broken. Tor is still not broken.

[Recursion]

11. Though they've also gotten around that by creating honeypot TOR nodes

It's a standing weakness in the protocol, sadly.

[joshcryer]

12. They infected the browser, mainly.

But if you don't use JavaScript or any plugins then you'd be immune. Their "Tor Stinks" presentation is very instructive. Even when they take over nodes it's "not very useful."

[Recursion]

10. Twofish is still fine. Ironically, so is skipjack (nt)

[ProSense]

13. Are you implying that you prefer Putin's approach?

"The freedom to be spied on, great stuff"

Do you think it means no one is "spied on"?

Frankly, the hyperbole is a bit odd given the OP topic.

[jakeXT]

14. The actions of the NSA have also encouraged some to build an iron curtain

Keeping Data Completely Inside Germany

The company is hard at work on technical solutions for such an "Internetz" -- a hybrid of "Internet" and the German word for "network." Managers at Deutsche Telekom say they are in talks with various network operators, looking to bring them onboard with this idea of a unified German solution and to set prices for shared use of the necessary infrastructure.

The technical investment required for the project appears to be less than initially believed, with the main task being to adapt software to the new system. Deutsche Telekom technicians now believe they may even be able to create a network for the whole of the Schengen zone, allowing the 26 countries in this area without border controls to securely exchange data among themselves. The United Kingdom, however, which works closely with the NSA, would not be part of the network.

Deutsche Telekom hopes the German government will pass the laws needed to provide a sound legal foundation for the project as well as to implement it more quickly. Without that legal framework, the company says, there is a risk that competitors or users might file lawsuits claiming discrimination or the curtailment of data traffic.

Critics, however, accuse the company of concocting nothing more than an advertising stunt. The point of a German-only Internet becomes moot, they say, the moment a customer uses services, such as Google, that transfer their data traffic using foreign infrastructure and thereby renders it subject to the laws of those countries.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/deutsche-telekom-pushes-all-german-internet-safe-from-spying-a-933013.html

[ProSense]

16. That is

"The actions of the NSA have also encouraged some to build an iron curtain

...not an "Iron Curtain," but thanks for admitting that you think Putin is right.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024843557

Here's Brazil's solution:

A Major Win for the Open Internet

Last week, we announced that we were heading to São Paulo, Brazil to attend NETmundial, a global meeting of governments, entrepreneurs, academics, Internet institutions, civil society activists and users to discuss the future of Internet governance. We expressed our hope that NETmundial would make an important contribution to the positive evolution of the Internet and its governance. Our optimism was well-founded. As one of Brazil’s leading Internet scholars and chair of Netmundial Virgilio Almeida brought NETmundial to a close, the U.S. government delegation rose in applause. And almost everyone else in the room rose with us.

<...>

The world now shifts its focus to the Freedom Online Coalition meeting -- which Secretary Kerry addressed via teleconference -- in Estonia, the ICANN High Level event in London, and the Internet Governance Forum in Istanbul to further address various crucial Internet issues, including its future governance. The NETmundial statement will provide a solid starting point for those discussions.

- more -

https://blogs.state.gov/stories/2014/04/29/major-win-open-internet

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Maybe The Secretary of State should have this conversation with the FCC chairman. n/t

[Cha]

18. K