14 DAY TRIAL // The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has decided to take the first step to protect the Internet from the likes of the NSA.
In a new document, the IETF classifies the constant monitoring of the Internet an attack on users. The name of the file itself is “Pervasive Monitoring is an Attack,” in fact, indicating the exact position on this matter, The Register reports.
The organization also shakes off statements coming from the world’s governments, particularly the one of the United States, in regard to metadata, which they claim doesn’t really provide too much information about users and is not harmful.
In fact, the IETF makes it a point to include metadata collection on the list of current threats to Internet users, as well as other types of data collection performed by various entities, such as protocol artefacts, active and passive wiretaps, cryptographic subversion and more.
The document also notes one sad truth – it’s unlikely that we’re ever going to put a stop to snooping practices mainly because Internet traffic also travels over public networks and it can get picked up there.
Either way, the document form the IETF indicates that protocol design in the future should increase the cost of attacking, “force what was covert to be overt, or make the attack more likely to be detected.”
The Internet Engineering Task Force is an entity that develops and promotes Internet standards, cooperates with the W3C and ISO/IEC standards bodies and handles standards of the Internet protocol suite. IETF started out as a federal government organization in the United States in the 80s, and has evolved into a nonprofit organization.