[ncdnhc-discuss] Proposed amendments to Security resolution

[Milton Mueller]

WOOPS. That last version was incomplete; it
went out accidentally with some typos and things I 
wanted to change. Please rely on THIS version only.
 
MUELLER-AMENDED RESOLUTION ON SECURITY

Recent, tragic events have heightened the need to
assess the security of the Internet's centrally 
coordinated resources, and the need for strong 
international cooperation for this purpose. 

The Internet's robustness relies largely on its distributed, decentralized nature, but currently, 
ICANN is responsible for central coordination of 
key resources critical to its operation; namely, 
domain names, Internet addresses, and protocol 
parameters. The centralization of key resources, 
particularly DNS root servers, represents a potential 
point of attack that must be secured against threats.

The non-commercial organizations and entities 
represented in the Non-Commercial Domain-Name 
Holders Constituency (NCDNHC) of ICANN's DNSO
may be less able to recover from disruptions in 
their operations caused by attacks on the DNS.

Many non-commercial interests in the DNS and
IP allocation system are in universities and 
research institutes with high levels of technical expertise. Many others, however, have very 
limited financial and technical resources 
to train for defense and prevention of attacks or
to recover from a crisis.

Because the expertise embodied in non-commercial 
organizations is usually more accessible to 
a wider community and not restricted to 
proprietary interests, academic and other 
non-commercial organizations may be optimal
points for the diffusion of knowledge about 
threats to the security of the systems under 
ICANN's administration.

Therfore the NCDNHC calls upon the Names Council, 
the ASO, the PSO, the ICANN Board, and Education and 
Research Networks throughout the world to promptly 
assess the threats to the security of the resources 
under ICANN's coordination, and to establish measures 
to address these threats, their avoidance, and the 
minimization or avoidance of the collateral damage 
they may produce, in order that non-commercial 
organizations with limited technical, human and 
financial resources can be protected from such 
threats, and have affordable access to preventative 
measures.

Further, the NCDNHC calls upon its 
technically strong members and their peers 
to aid ICANN in the aforementioned effort 
to assess the threats to the security of the 
DNS and address allocation system and to
provide the community with their expertise. 
The NCDNHC organization representatives will 
call on people from their communities to 
provide further assistance.

The NCDNHC offers the technical and policy 
expertise of its members, the high standing of 
some of them in their societies, and the 
intercultural experience of the constituency 
to the process of assessing and securing
the security of the resources under ICANN's 
administration.