Total traceback

On its own, it sends shivers down the bent spine of basement coders, hackers and deviant pud-tuggers everywhere. But factor in that a policy being drafted by the UN’s International Telecommunications Union calling for every Internet user to be tagged for identification purposes stemmed from a proposal by China, and the creep factor increases exponentially.

Though specifics of the proposal are tightly wrapped, leaked documents show that it calls for an electronic means to backtrace all Internet movement to its originating source. Those involved in the scheming stage of the endeavour include China and the American National Security Agency, neither of whom have particularly good records of citizen respect. Some contend that tracking will be used specifically for investigating cyber-crimes, but an ITU outline explains that tracebacks are necessary to ID political opponents publishing “articles putting the government in an unfavourable light.”

Net anonymity supporters argue that no self-respecting cyber-miscreant would be caught up in a traceback snare, rendering the technology just another tool to abuse—either by government agencies or the blackhats they claim to be after.

Although the UN has no say in the Internet regulation, critics charge that, if their proposal were adopted by key governments, it would essentially force the protocol into global use.

by SCOTT SAXON