Re: https at ietf.org

[Tim Bray <[e-mail]>]

On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 8:54 AM, <[e-mail]> wrote:

>
> > The trust that the
> > Government(s) will only tap the traffic of those that are a grave concern
> > to their security interests has completely vanished.
>
> That doesn't trump the need for access to our materials to be as open as
> possible.
>

Hmm, what does “open” mean? Maximally accessible technologically, or
maximally accessible without any worry about who might be watching?  The
answer isn’t obvious at all.

This is a discussion that needs to happen at much greater length and depth,
and outside not just inside the IETF community.  But, FYI, there are a
substantial number of people who feel like the sane response to pervasive
surveillance is pervasive encryption.  And if you encrypt “only the
controversial stuff”, you make encryption itself controversial, and its use
a red flag for those currently attacking the Internet.  So; I don’t think
I’m insane, or even unreasonably paranoid, but I do think it would be a
very good thing, and would maximize the general usefulness of our
resources, if we switched all public-facing IETF resources to HTTPS-only.

I’m perfectly aware that there are those who disagree.

 -T



>
>                                 Ned
>