[governance] IGP Alert: "Net Neutrality as Global Principle for Internet Governance"

[Taran Rampersad]

Norbert Bollow wrote:
> Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:
>   
>> And there is no principled objection to filtering spam because
>> almost all of it constitutes undesired messages which exploit the
>> ability to free ride on the Internet resources of others.
>>     
>
> I disagree.
>
> As long as the fundamental design of the email system is not fixed
> to make it possible to reliably avoid the problem of false positives
> in spam filtering, spam filtering is inherently problematic.
>
> For example, with many spam filter systems, email messages containing
> Christian religious words have a much higher probability of being
> falsely classified as spam.  That is a violation of net neutrality
> with regard to freedom of religion.
>   
I could take that a step further and state that I find all Christian
email messages that demand I surrender my heathen Buddhist soul to be
spam; that their freedom of speech and religious self expression trods
on my own personal freedoms just as ringing my doorbell to 'share their
word' with me is a disturbance of my peace - an unwelcome intrusion on
the sanctity of my privacy so that they can shove their beliefs down my
throat.

That said, I happily delete them knowing that people mean well - but if
we're going to use religious examples, lets go all the way, shall we?

The truth is that the Spam problem could be fairly easily addressed - it
is simply a matter of following the money. The people who own the links
which appear in commercial spam messages are guilty of funding the spam
in the first place. Prosecuting them is sensible, but then there is the
possibility that competing businesses may plant spam messages, etc. So
the real people to find and deal with would be the enablers - those who
actually send the messages. This means that local laws where the spam is
being sent from would need to work toward the same. Consider the
problems between the UK and the United States when it comes to spam
regulation (we have reached a point where we *regulate* spam).

Also consider that domain registrars are still accepting inaccurate
registration information, so that many of these people easily obfuscate
their true identities - perhaps even creating a market for credit card
theft.

What is happening outside of the geopolitical sphere: Webmasters and
network administrators are blacklisting entire regions because of the
spam. If that continues, people in those countries will be unable to
access many sites and email lists - and that means that either local
government will have to deal with their issues and redeem themselves or,
by their own lack of action, censor their own people from the internet.

This is very heavy handed, but the lack of progress in internet
governance along these lines forces the community to fall to lynch mob
justice.

Christian keywords, as annoying as they are for myself personally, are
the tip of the iceberg.

-- 
Taran Rampersad

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

'Making Your Mark in Second Life: Business, Land, and Money'
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514174/

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla

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