[Chapter-delegates] ISOC position on NSA Spying

Tue Jun 11 14:59:30 PDT 2013

Dear David,

thanks for forwarding the stopwatching.us petition against the (for what we can understand in the news abroad) recently revealed communications interventions in your country, with possible effects in others.

I do not think any of us except US citizens can sign the petition in its present terms; the petition is from US citizens (maybe residents as well?) to their elected representatives within country. 

ISOC, as an organization with global reach and a large, substantial international component among its chapters and individual members may decide to look at the issue as pertains to the headquarters and large fraction of its membership within the US, and in fact it may be shameful to leave the issue unaddressed there.

But, for the many of us outside the US, we need for ISOC HQ to propose a position that is commensurate with the global reach and loyalties of the organization as a whole. 

We need to know whether the policy leadership of ISOC approves, disapproves, or has other views on the reported surveillance of communications that could be applying to our always lawful and law-abiding communications. 

It is not for non-US citizens to discuss the legality of the actions being reported in the news. But HQ in Washington sure has an obligation, for itself and for the global society's membership, to provide some orientation in this respect, lest we each choose other sources and thus undermine the role of the legal and policy staff. 

The bind this situation puts ISOC in is that of being simultaneously a forum for orderly, rational, technically-founded debate and the risk of being perceived as unable to oppose single-country Internet governance, whether this be enacted de jure or de facto, by authorities or by companies. 

The lack of guidance, or the delay in providing it, does put many of the chapters in the uncomfortable position of remaining silent on an issue that demands an opinion in almost every country where we have members or chapters. I guess many of you are being queried by individuals, organizations, and government, on issues such as whether they should limit, freeze or outright forbid utilization of cloud services and many other forms of outsourcing. Or being called to sign petitions nationally and in international fora, and, not having even the whiff of a hint that an opinion is forthcoming, staying shamefully silent or risking a difference and stating our own thoughts.

We have of course a great diversity of inputs - among them, a call not to make a fuss and accept the total intrusion of communications, and eloquent statement of how much worse it actually is in other countries. A synthesis will be a great, creative, forward-looking statement. Let's hope HQ leads; but it will have to be soon.

Yours,

Alejandro Pisanty

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
Facultad de Química UNAM
Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico

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________________________________________
Desde: chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org [chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org] en nombre de David Solomonoff [president at isoc-ny.org]
Enviado el: martes, 11 de junio de 2013 16:03
Hasta: Paul Brigner; Ted Mooney; Chapter Delegates; ISOCNY BOD
Asunto: [Chapter-delegates] ISOC position on NSA Spying

The revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance
apparatus, if true, are a stunning abuse of our basic rights to freedom
and privacy.

A coalition has formed to demand that the U.S. Congress reveal the full
extent of the NSA's domestic spying programs. I'm personally joining the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla, Free Press, Fight for the
Future, Access and many more consumer activist groups as part of that
coalition.

I believe that the Internet Society should sign their petition as well.

http://www.stopwatching.us

--
David Solomonoff, President
Internet Society of New York
president at isoc-ny.org
isoc-ny.org

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