BCP38 - Internet Death Penalty

Wed Mar 27 20:54:28 UTC 2013

In message <8DA1853CE466B041B104C1CAEE00B3748FA4E8A0 at CHAXCH01.corp.arin.net>, John Curran writes:
> On Mar 27, 2013, at 10:23 AM, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:
> 
> > Indeed, but I have an even better example of how that's already done, 
> that
> > is probably pertinent.
> > 
> 
> > The National Electric Code is assimilated law now, I think, in every
> > state in the US.  It is promulgated by the National Fire Protection 
> > Association, which is a standards organization originally started by 
> > insurors to reduce their exposure and expenses; by professional 
> consensus,
> > they have become, effectively, a lawmaking body.
> > 
> > So they're not the government, they're subject-matter experts, 
> technically
> > competent to have opinions, and their opinions are assimilated into 
> > controlling law.
> 
> Indeed... a perfect example of industry self-regulation supplemented by
> a mandatory legal framework referencing the best practice documents.
> 
> > Is BCP38 *not* well enough though out even for large and medium sized 
> > carriers to adopt as contractual language, ...
> 
> You're back to discussing voluntary mechanisms in the above, but 
> your example is a case where compliance is due to legislation at 
> both federal and state levels.
> 
> > much less for FCC or someone to
> > impose upon them?  If so, we should work on it further.
> 
> Umm... How many North American ISP's/datacenters/web hosting firms were 
> aware of the BCP 38 development as it was on-going, and participated in 
> some manner in its review?  The IETF is a wonderful organization, but it
> is not exactly overflowing with representation from the service provider 
> community.  Also, given that you really need these practices picked up
> on a global basis, repeat the above question with "Global" rather than
> North American...  

I'd say enough were aware. :-)

8. Acknowledgments

   The North American Network Operators Group (NANOG) [5] group as a
   whole deserves special credit for openly discussing these issues and
   actively seeking possible solutions. Also, thanks to Justin Newton
   [Priori Networks] and Steve Bielagus [IronBridge Networks].  for
   their comments and contributions.

> If you actually want to see certain technical practices made mandatory
> for Internet service providers globally, then you need a development 
> process for those practices which fairly robust to insure that the 
> practices are equally germane and reasonable to many different service 
> providers in many different parts of the world.  It's actually relatively
> easy to get governments to require compliance with accepted technical
> practices for the Internet, the problem has been we've never taken the
> effort to produce best practices with sufficient rigor than any given
> government can know that it has the necessary backing (of many of the
> service providers in its domain) needed to actually require compliance.
> 
> (With regard to the FCC, there is some question as to whether or not 
> their mandate would allow establishing required practices for ISPs...
> To the extent that VoIP traffic is being carried, this is far more 
> likely to be possible, and hence folks should be aware of various
> activities such as the CSRIC "Communications Security, Reliability 
> and Interoperability Council", which develops recommendations that
> could effectively become requirements on Internet Service Providers
> in some contexts. 
> <http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/communications-security-reliability-and-i
> nteroperability-council-iii>
> Noe that the problem with this sort of approach is that having dozens 
> of countries all developing their own specific technical best practices 
> is most likely to cumulatively interact in ways impossible to comply 
> with...  Hence, the need for clear global technical best practices,
> through which countries with a particular desire to "improve the
> state of the Internet" can channel their legislative desires...)
> 
> FYI,
> /John

-- 
Mark Andrews, ISC
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: marka at isc.org