Opinion Hacking for the greater good

Moss is founder of the DEF CON and Black Hat security conferences,both held in Las Vegas. The first is the world’s largest annual computer hacker convention,whose attendees include computer security professionals,journalists,lawyers,federal government employees,crackers,cyber-criminals,security researchers and hackers with a general interest in computer code,computer architecture,phone-phreaking,hardware modification and anything else that can be “hacked”. Black Hat,on the other hand,is a computer security conference that brings together a variety of people interested in information security. Representatives of federal agencies and corporations attend along with hackers.

Moss’s appointment has sceptics wondering if it was an attempt by the US government to enhance its already privileged position in the overall system of global internet governance through further control of critical internet resources,namely internet protocol (IP) addressing and domain names,or if it was just a reassertion of this position.

The incubation of the internet started over 40 years ago,under the shadow of the US government’s department of defence; the management of Critical Internet Resources (CIRs) was developed as a multi-layer,multi-agency mechanism with no central authority. CIRs refer to the objects that create the backbone infrastructure of the internet,namely root servers,domain name systems and IP addresses. These are operated by a variety of private and public actors,without any common governance structure. As the internet grew,it was moved to a more organised and institutionalised system to guarantee stability and security. In September 1998,a private corporation named ICANN was created in California with the mandate to coordinate CIRs policy. ICANN now operates under a contract with the US government and is responsible for the internationalisation and management of CIRs.

At the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva,2003,the topic of internet governance was discussed and ICANN’s status as a private corporation under the US government’s charter raised several questions among other governments,especially Brazil,Russia,China,South Africa and the Arab states,who wanted to bring ICANN under the umbrella of a UN-led transnational,intergovernmental system to make it more democratic and equitable.

As the debate continued,based on recommendations by the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) in 2005 the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was established in 2006. In the IGF,all stakeholders — governments,private sector and civil society — were given an equal footing. But the IGF had no decision-making capacity and its mandate ended in 2010,leaving the debate on whether internet governance should remain transnational and private-sector led under the contract with the US government,or be put under the authority of territorial nation-states and intergovernmental organisations,inconclusive and unresolved.

Moss’s appointment may have made some governments even more nervous and this may be reflected in the World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai later this year,where the countries will again debate the issues of internet governance,unilateral control of CIRs by the US and its allies and the sovereign rights of other nation-states on usage of the internet in their territories.

Although the word “hacker” is still a derogatory term to most,evoking images of computer geeks and social misfits who drink cheap beer,party and create mischief,like many other things,the internet has redefined the term. Moss himself defined hacking “as a sort of skill set that’s neutral and one can either be a criminal hacker or a non-criminal hacker working for law enforcement”. Moss may also claim that his events promote interaction between the internet’s forces of order and disorder,redefining hacking and setting a new precedent for moral policing and online ethics. But the larger battle over who controls the internet continues,and it is threatening the internet’s very existence as a vehicle for openness,democracy,freedom of expression,diversity,inclusiveness and access to information and knowledge.

The writer is advisor and policy researcher,National Advanced IPV6 Centre of Excellence,Universiti Sains Malaysia,Malaysia. Views are personal

express@expressindia.com