law enforcers and icann

[Carlos A. Afonso]

I have just read the transcript of the panel "Law Enforcement 
Amendments to the RAA ", held on 21 June, 2010 during the Brussels ICANN 
meeting. The panel was chaired by ALAC's Cheryl Langdon-Orr. Everyone 
seemed to be sort of happy of sharing a discussion room full of police :)

I do not understand the role law enforcers are supposed to play in 
defining ICANN policies.

Law enforcers such as the FBI, Interpol etc work on a very simple 
paradigm: they follow orders, and the more information they get, the 
better to fulfill the orders they ought to follow. So they will always 
defend the idea that all private data should be recorded and made 
available to them whenever they deem necessary. It simply makes their 
job easier, and this is enough for them, and is all we will hear from 
them, whatever the nice dressing of their discourses.

However, ICANN should be looking for appropriate policies which abide by 
internationally recognized human rights principles. This is the realm of 
legislators, policy-makers, regulators -- not law enforcers -- and these 
are the organizations ICANN should be talking to in deciding policies 
regarding balancing privacy rights with security.

If decisions regarding the users' / consumers' rights to privacy are 
going to be taken on the advice of the police, I do not think we will 
arrive at a good end of this story.

--c.a.