Re: [saag] Ubiquitous Encryption: content filtering

[Stephen Kent <[e-mail]>]

Stephen,

> ...
>
> So even if thing-X is required by some local regulator, that does not
> by itself mean that the IETF needs to care about thing-X.
>
> I'm sure this is familiar to many long time IETF participants, but it
> may well not be commonly understood by some others who would consider
> the argument Kevin makes above as a winning argument.
On purely technical grounds, an argument for filtering in the "middle"
is reasonable. It's much easier for a mobile operator, an ISP, or an 
enterprise
IT organization to perform content filtering at an intermediate point 
than to try t
o do so in every end point device. That's a major reason why enterprise 
IT folks
prefer perimeter firewalls over endpoint firewalls. It's very difficult and
expensive to manage (security) software on a large number of user devices,
and it's even worse when those devices are diverse (e.g., Windows vs. Mac
vs. Lunix or iOS vs. Android, vs. ...).

So, from an engineering perspective, the argument about the conflict between
end-to-end encryption and operator (including enterprise IT staff) access to
traffic is a valid consideration, irrespective of the telecom-regulator 
argument.

Steve