Network Working Group M. Nottingham
Internet-Draft June 10, 2019
Intended status: Informational
Expires: December 12, 2019
The Internet is for End Users
draft-nottingham-for-the-users-08
Abstract
This document explains why the IETF should consider end-users as its
highest priority concern, and how.
Note to Readers
The issues list for this draft can be found at
https://github.com/mnot/I-D/labels/for-the-users [1].
The most recent (often, unpublished) draft is at
https://mnot.github.io/I-D/for-the-users/ [2].
Recent changes are listed at https://github.com/mnot/I-D/commits/gh-
pages/for-the-users [3].
See also the draft's current status in the IETF datatracker, at
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-nottingham-for-the-users/ [4].
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on December 12, 2019.
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft The Internet is for End Users June 2019
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. What Are "End Users"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Why End Users Should Be Prioritised . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. How End Users are Prioritised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.1. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.2. URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Appendix A. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1. Introduction
Many who participate in the IETF are most comfortable making what we
believe to be purely technical decisions; our process is defined to
favor technical merit, through our well-known mantra of "rough
consensus and running code."
Nevertheless, the running code that results from our process (when
things work well) inevitably has an impact beyond technical
considerations, because the underlying decisions afford some uses
while discouraging others; while we believe we are making purely
technical decisions, in reality, we are defining what is possible on
the Internet itself. Or, in the words of Lawrence Lessig [CODELAW]:
Ours is the age of cyberspace. It, too, has a regulator... This
regulator is code -- the software and hardware that make
cyberspace as it is. This code, or architecture, sets the terms
on which life in cyberspace is experienced. It determines how
easy it is to protect privacy, or how easy it is to censor speech.
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft The Internet is for End Users June 2019
It determines whether access to information is general or whether
information is zoned. It affects who sees what, or what is
monitored. In a host of ways that one cannot begin to see unless
one begins to understand the nature of this code, the code of
cyberspace regulates.
This impact has become significant. As the Internet increasingly
mediates essential functions in societies, it has unavoidably become
profoundly political; it has helped people overthrow governments and
revolutionize social orders, control populations and reveal secrets.
It has created wealth for some individuals and companies while
destroying others'.
All of this raises the question: Who do we go through the pain of
gathering rough consensus and writing running code for?
After all, there are a variety of identifiable parties in the broader
Internet community that standards can provide benefit to, such as
(but not limited to) end users, network operators, schools, equipment
vendors, specification authors, specification implementers, content
owners, governments, non-governmental organisations, social
movements, employers, and parents.
Successful specifications will provide some benefit to all of the
relevant parties because standards do not represent a zero-sum game.
However, there are sometimes situations where there is a need to
balance the benefits of a decision between two (or more) parties.
In these situations, when one of those parties is an "end user" of
the Internet - for example, a person using a Web browser, mail
client, or another agent that connects to the Internet - this
document argues that the IETF should protect their interests over
those of parties.
Section 2 explains what is meant by "end users"; Section 3 outlines
why they should be prioritised in IETF work, and Section 4 describes
how that can be done.
2. What Are "End Users"?
In this document, "end users," means non-technical users whose
activities IETF protocols are designed to support, sometimes
indirectly. Thus, the end user of a protocol to manage routers is
not a router administrator; it is the people using the network that
the router operates within.
End users are not necessarily a homogenous group; they might have
different views of how the Internet should work (from their
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft The Internet is for End Users June 2019
viewpoint) and might occupy several roles, such as a seller, buyer,
publisher, reader, service provider and consumer. An end user might
be browsing the Web, monitoring remote equipment, playing a game,
video conferencing with colleagues, sending messages to friends, or
performing an operation in a remote surgery theatre.
Likewise, an individual end user might have many interests (e.g.,
privacy, security, flexibility, reachability) that are sometimes in
tension.
A person whose interests we need to consider might not directly be
using a specific system connected to the Internet. For example, if a
child is using a browser, the interests of that child's parents or
guardians may be relevant; if a person is pictured in a photograph,
that person may have an interest in systems that process that
photograph, or if a person entering a room triggers sensors that send
data to the Internet than that person's interests may be involved in
our deliberations about how those sensor readings are handled.
While such less-direct interactions between people and the Internet
may be harder to evaluate, such people are nonetheless included in
this document's concept of end-user.
3. Why End Users Should Be Prioritised
While focused on technical matters, the IETF is not neutral about the
purpose of its work in developing the Internet; in "A Mission
Statement for the IETF" [RFC3935], the definitions include:
The IETF community wants the Internet to succeed because we
believe that the existence of the Internet, and its influence on
economics, communication, and education, will help us to build a
better human society.
and later in Section 2.1, "The Scope of the Internet" it says:
The Internet isn't value-neutral, and neither is the IETF. We
want the Internet to be useful for communities that share our
commitment to openness and fairness. We embrace technical
concepts such as decentralized control, edge-user empowerment and
sharing of resources, because those concepts resonate with the
core values of the IETF community. These concepts have little to
do with the technology that's possible, and much to do with the
technology that we choose to create.
In other words, the IETF is concerned with developing and maintaining
the Internet to promote the social good, and the society that the
IETF is attempting to improve is composed of end users, along with
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft The Internet is for End Users June 2019
groups of them forming businesses, governments, clubs, civil society
organizations, and other institutions.
Merely advancing the measurable success of the Internet (e.g.,
deployment size, bandwidth, latency, number of users) is not
adequate; doing so ignores how technology so often used as a lever to
assert power over users, rather than empower them.
Beyond fulfilling the IETF's mission, prioritising end users also
helps to ensure the long-term health of the Internet. Many aspects
of the Internet are user-focused, and it will (deservedly) lose their
trust if prioritises others' interests. Because one of the primary
mechanisms of the Internet is the "network effect", such trust is
crucial to maintain; the Internet itself depends upon it.
4. How End Users are Prioritised
The IETF community does not have any unique insight into what is
"good for end users." To inform its decisions, it has a
responsibility to interact with the greater Internet community,
soliciting input from others and considering the issues raised.
End users are typically not technical experts; their experience of
the Internet is often based upon inadequate models of its properties,
operation, and administration. Therefore, the IETF should primarily
engage with those who understand how changes to it will affect end
users; in particular civil society organisations, as well as
governments, businesses and other groups representing some aspect of
end-user interests.
The onus is on us to engage with these parties on terms that suit
them; it is not acceptable to require them to understand the mores
and peculiarities of the IETF community - even as we attempt to
enculture them into it. This means that when appropriate, we should
take the initiative to contact these communities and explain our
work, solicit their feedback, and encourage their participation. In
cases where it is not reasonable a stakeholder community to engage in
the IETF, we should go to them - for example, holding workshops.
At our best, this will result in work that promotes the social good.
In some cases, we will consciously decide to be neutral and open-
ended, allowing the "tussle" among stakeholders to produce a range of
results (see [TUSSLE] for further discussion).
At the very least, however, we must examine our work for harm to end
users, and take positive steps to avoid it where we see it. In
particular, when we've identified a conflict between the interests of
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft The Internet is for End Users June 2019
end users and another stakeholder, we should err on the side of
finding a solution that avoids that harm.
Note that "harm" is not defined in this document; that is something
that the relevant body (e.g., Working Group) needs to discuss.
Furthermore, harm to end users is judged just like any other decision
in the IETF, with consensus gathering and the normal appeals process;
merely asserting that something is harmful is not adequate. The
converse is also true, though; it's not permissible to avoid
identifying harms, nor is it acceptable to ignore them when brought
to us.
The IETF has already established a body of guidance for situations
where this sort of conflict is common, including (but not limited to)
[RFC7754] on filtering, [RFC7258] and [RFC7624] on pervasive
surveillance, [RFC7288] on host firewalls, and [RFC6973] regarding
privacy considerations. When specific advice is not yet available,
we try to find a different solution or another way to frame the
problem, distilling the underlying principles into more general
advice where appropriate.
Much of that advice has focused on maintaining the end-to-end
security properties of a connection. This does not mean that our
responsibility to users stops there; protocols decisions might affect
users in other ways. For example, inappropriate concentration of
power on the Internet has become a concerning phenomenon - one that
protocol design might have some influence upon.
When the needs of different end users conflict (for example, two sets
of end users both have reasonable desires) we again should try to
minimise harm. For example, when a decision improves the Internet
for end users in one jurisdiction, but at the cost of potential harm
to others elsewhere, that is not a good tradeoff. As such, we
effectively design the Internet for the pessimal environment; if a
user can be harmed, they probably will be.
There may be cases where genuine technical need requires compromise.
However, such tradeoffs are carefully examined and avoided when there
are alternate means of achieving the desired goals. If they cannot
be, these choices and reasoning ought to be thoroughly documented.
5. IANA Considerations
This document does not require action by IANA.
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft The Internet is for End Users June 2019
6. Security Considerations
This document does not have any direct security impact; however,
failing to prioritise end users might well affect their security
negatively in the long term.
7. References
7.1. Informative References
[CODELAW] Lessig, L., "Code Is Law: On Liberty in Cyberspace", 2000,
<http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/01/code-is-law-html>.
[RFC3935] Alvestrand, H., "A Mission Statement for the IETF",
BCP 95, RFC 3935, DOI 10.17487/RFC3935, October 2004,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3935>.
[RFC6973] Cooper, A., Tschofenig, H., Aboba, B., Peterson, J.,
Morris, J., Hansen, M., and R. Smith, "Privacy
Considerations for Internet Protocols", RFC 6973,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6973, July 2013,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6973>.
[RFC7258] Farrell, S. and H. Tschofenig, "Pervasive Monitoring Is an
Attack", BCP 188, RFC 7258, DOI 10.17487/RFC7258, May
2014, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7258>.
[RFC7288] Thaler, D., "Reflections on Host Firewalls", RFC 7288,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7288, June 2014,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7288>.
[RFC7624] Barnes, R., Schneier, B., Jennings, C., Hardie, T.,
Trammell, B., Huitema, C., and D. Borkmann,
"Confidentiality in the Face of Pervasive Surveillance: A
Threat Model and Problem Statement", RFC 7624,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7624, August 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7624>.
[RFC7754] Barnes, R., Cooper, A., Kolkman, O., Thaler, D., and E.
Nordmark, "Technical Considerations for Internet Service
Blocking and Filtering", RFC 7754, DOI 10.17487/RFC7754,
March 2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7754>.
[TUSSLE] Clark, D., Sollins, K., Wroclawski, J., and R. Braden,
"Tussle in Cyberspace: Defining Tomorrow's Internet",
2002,
<http://groups.csail.mit.edu/ana/Publications/PubPDFs/
Tussle2002.pdf>.
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft The Internet is for End Users June 2019
7.2. URIs
[1] https://github.com/mnot/I-D/labels/for-the-users
[2] https://mnot.github.io/I-D/for-the-users/
[3] https://github.com/mnot/I-D/commits/gh-pages/for-the-users
[4] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-nottingham-for-the-users/
Appendix A. Acknowledgements
Thanks to Edward Snowden for his comments regarding the priority of
end users at IETF93.
Thanks to the WHATWG for blazing the trail with the Priority of
Constituencies.
Thanks to Harald Alvestrand for his substantial feedback and Mohamed
Boucadair, Stephen Farrell, Joe Hildebrand, Lee Howard, Russ Housley,
Niels ten Oever, Mando Rachovitsa, Martin Thomson, and Brian Trammell
for their suggestions.
Author's Address
Mark Nottingham
Email: mnot@mnot.net
URI: https://www.mnot.net/
Nottingham Expires December 12, 2019 [Page 8]