1. Human rights in technical standards: our practical approach
Month Year
doc.: IEEE yy/xxxxr0
January 2018
Human rights in technical standards: our practical approach
Date:
Authors:
Name
Affiliation
address
Amelia Andersdotter
ARTICLE19
Slide 1
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
Page 1
John Doe, Some Company

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January 2018
Abstract
ARTICLE19 is a freedom of speech organisation founded in London in Since 2014, ARTICLE19 operates a digital program to look at human rights implications of design choices in technical standards and specifications, and to promote conciousness about such implications in standard development organisations. This hands-on approach has enjoyed success in other forums, such as the IETF, but is relevant beyond protocols – including in several ongoing projects at the bottom- most plumbing of wireless communications.
Slide 2
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company

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January 2018
What? Who? Why?
Founded in Global focus, regional teams all over the world.
Digital Program: focussing on human rights implications of the design of technical infrastructures.
Previous work: IETF, ICANN, ITU, &c. Human rights impact assessments (HRIAs), capacity building, etc.
Slide 3
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company

4. Two examples of our work:
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doc.: IEEE yy/xxxxr0
January 2018
Two examples of our work:
RFC 8280:
Research into Human Rights Protocol Considerations (published October 2017)
ICANN’s Corporate Responsibility to respect Human Rights: Recommendations for developing Human Rights Review Process and Reporting by CCWP-HR, ARTICLE 19 and IHRB /ICANN_CS_to_respect_HR_report_ALL_FIN AL-PDF.pdf
Slide 4
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company

5. Design choices Centralised pipes for communication?
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doc.: IEEE yy/xxxxr0
January 2018
Design choices
Centralised pipes for communication?
Can end-consumer choose how, why and when he or she accesses information and features, or not?
Support for many languages, including in specification?
Good security, privacy features?
Information leakage?
Enables collaborative networking/presupposes dominant network providers?
And etc.
Slide 5
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company

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January 2018
Why does this matter?
technologies are used by lots of people around the world, for social, political and economic empowerment.
Helping the “good guys do good” (security practises or privacy enhancements under way?)
standards have an impact on downstream markets: whatever is made easy through the standard, is likely to be implemented down the line.
Slide 6
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company

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January 2018
Puzzling things, part 1
Conditional statements are not always expressed as “if X [is true] then Y”. Frequently in the standard text, alternative construction “when X [is true], Y” is used for clearly conditional statements(!)
Examples:
Section (dot11OCBActivated), SS, (priority parameter in MAC Service primitives), etc.
Slide 7
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company

8. Month Year
doc.: IEEE yy/xxxxr0
January 2018
Puzzling things, part 2
No mandatory security and privacy considerations in CSD in the operations manual!
Security considerations exist in the IETF for a long time
Could simplify pre-emption of security and privacy concerns
Ensures security-by-design, privacy-by-design
De-antagonises security and privacy concerns imposed from external organisations (otherwise, lots of hassle when security issues do arise later on)
Cf. co-existence assessments: they’re alright?
Slide 8
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company

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January 2018
References
IETF, RFC 8280:
Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications (IEEE )
IEEE 802, LAN/MAN STANDARDS COMMITTEE (LMSC), Operations manual (last approved: 17 March 2017)
ARTICLE19, What we do,
ICANN’s Corporate Responsibility to respect Human Rights: Recommendations for developing Human Rights Review Process and Reporting by CCWP-HR, ARTICLE 19 and IHRB. _respect_HR_report_ALL_FINAL-PDF.pdf
Slide 9
Amelia Andersdotter, ARTICLE19
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John Doe, Some Company