I was
recently talking with a retired senior bureaucrat on telephone, when
subject of snooping of e-mails came up accidentally. He asked me
about my e mail address and I told him that I use g-mail because I
find it to be the best and fastest amongst all that are available. He
then asked me, whether I am aware that Google is a US based company
and whatever they say about their freedom, if US Government makes it
a statutory requirement that all mail providers based in US can be
snooped down by the Government, they would have no option but to
allow it. I told him that I was not particularly worried on that
count as I hardly have any correspondence that could be termed as
confidential or secret. On the contrary, most of my social media
accounts like facebook and twitter are open and can be viewed by
anyone.
What
he told me later really set me thinking. He said that most of the
Government officials in India also use mail servers that are based in
US and recent revelations about snooping by US government bodies has
made the officialdom really worried that their correspondence might
be being snooped upon and there was a thinking that India must have
its own India based mail service with root servers ( a name server
for the Domain Name System's root zone) based in India, which can
not be snooped by any foreign Governments.
India's
internet service providers (ISPs) have set up, 'NIXI,' a non profit
Organization for peering of ISPs among themselves for the purpose of
routing the domestic traffic within the country, instead of taking it
all the way to US/Abroad, thereby resulting in better quality of
service (reduced latency) and reduced bandwidth charges for ISPs by
saving on International Bandwidth. NIXI is managed and operated on a
Neutral basis, in line with the best practices for such initiatives
globally. However, when we talk about international traffic, things
appear quite lop sided.
I
recently came across a report, which not only agrees with what was told to
me by the senior bureaucrat, but actually enlarges the scope of
argument even to entire gamut of internet control. An internal note
prepared after the meeting of Sub-Committee on International
Cooperation on Cyber Security under the National Security Council
Secretariat (NSCS) in India says:
“The
control of Internet was in the hands of the U.S. government and the
key levers relating to its management was dominated by its security
agencies…Mere location of root servers in India would not serve any
purpose unless we were also allowed a role in their control and
management. We should insist that data of all domain names
originating from India…should be stored in India. Similarly, all
traffic originating/landing in India should be stored in India.”
India
has apparently two main concerns. Firstly, the key function of domain
name system (DNS) management today is in the hands of the U.S.
National Telecommunication and Information Administration and the
Department of Commerce though some companies have physically located
their root servers in India. Allotment of domain names is done today
by ICANN [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number] a
U.S.-based non-profit organisation. However this organization has
given an undertaking to US Government that it would not shift
outside of the U.S. without the concurrence of the U.S. government
and the process of Internet management would be led by private
sector. This entire arrangement puts all the internet controls under
jurisdiction of US.
India's
second concern originates from the fact that India has third largest
number of Internet users in the world at over 150 Million, only after
China (560 Millions) and the U.S. (250 Millions). In spite of having
such large number of internet users, there is a growing concern that,
U.S., Russia and China are ganging up to decide on issue of Internet
governance. The note, which mentioned above, says on this:
“There
was a possibility that the U.S., Russia and China may work out an
arrangement that met their concerns and this arrangement was
thereafter forced upon other countries. We need to guard against this
possibility and ensure that India’s concerns were also accommodated
in whatever international regime for Internet governance that
ultimately emerged,”
There
is a feeling in India that a small unrepresentative group of certain
individuals, supported by vested interests,is actually taking parts
in discussions about future of internet governance. It is not clear,
who this group represents and whether they have been nominated by
anyone. India feels that they were really spokespersons of certain
Western interests. Very rightly, India has every reason to reject
such kind of patchy arrangement.
Indian
stand appears to be very clear. India wants a multilateral approach,
in which management and control of the Domain name System ( DNS)
would be supervised by a ‘Board’ consisting of technical experts
nominated by governments and India should be represented on this
Board. A Government advisory committee must have a larger role in
assisting ICANN [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number]
a U.S.-based non-profit organisation that coordinates global Internet
systems. In short, what India wants is a key role in policy making on
Internet governance at the international level, including a say in
management of DNS servers.
All
this may sound too much technical and complicated to some of the
readers, but it is not. To put it simply, in the first place India
wants to have all the servers ( which are just computers) which host data of all domain names
originating from India and which host all traffic originating/landing
in India to be physically located in India. Secondly, it wants a role
in their control and management of the Domain Name Servers.
11
December 2013
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