Re: [Pearg] Research Group Last Call for "A Survey of Worldwide Censorship Techniques"

[Eric Rescorla <[e-mail]>]

On Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 3:59 AM Amelia Andersdotter
<[e-mail]> wrote:

> On 2020-05-29 19:28, Eric Rescorla wrote:
> > Document: draft-irtf-pearg-censorship-03.txt
> >
> > S 2.
> >     We describe three elements of Internet censorship: prescription,
> >     identification, and interference.  The document contains three major
> >     sections, each corresponding to one of these elements.  Prescription
> >     is the process by which censors determine what types of material they
> >     should block, i.e., deciding to block a list of pornographic
> >     websites.  Identification is the process by which censors classify
> >     specific traffic to be blocked or impaired, i.e., blocking or
> >     impairing all webpages containing "sex" in the title or traffic to
> >     www.sex.example.  Interference is the process by which censors
> >
> > I'm not finding this distinction super clear. It seems to me like
> > deciding to block www.sex.example and "impairing...traffic to
> > www.sex.example" are pretty similar.
>
> I felt like picking up on this: the difference between blocking and
> impairing is that blocking would be definitive (content is rendered
> inaccessible to end-node), while impairment would just mean, for
> instance, downgraded in quality (content is made to run more slow or
> without encryption, for instance). I do feel there is a point to keeping
> that distinction.
>

This was actually bad quoting on my part because the text actually
has "i.e., blocking or impairing...". My point is that "deciding to"
and "doing" seem pretty similar...


It serves the purpose of highlighting that censorship may take more
> subtle forms than outright bans on sensitive content.
>

I definitely agree.

best regards,
>
> Amelia
>
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