Listers, This might be an interesting conversation to some. Regards ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: parminder <parminder@itforchange.net> Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2017 12:44:43 +0530 Subject: [Internet Policy] Security architectures will balkanise the Internet if nothing else To: "internetpolicy@elists.isoc.org" <internetpolicy@elists.isoc.org> Symantec says it wont open its source code for security inspection to "foreign govs" <http://in.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-russia-symantec/exclusive-symantec-ceo-says-source-code-reviews-pose-unacceptable-risk-idINKBN1CF2SB?utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=ET_batch&utm_campaign=etcio_news_2017-10-11>. Kaspersky, the Russian security software firm, is now increasingly being shunned in the US (not only in the US govbut also outside <http://fortune.com/2017/09/08/best-buy-kaspersky-russia-hacking-fears/> ) even when it has offered its source code for inspection for US gov <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/03/kaspersky_repeats_offer_america_can_see_my_source_code/> ...... Of course, US wants the world to trust it and its global firms even without seeing the source code of their software offerings (BTW, it is an important provision of TPP's ecom chapter) but it will not trust foreign firms even if they offer source code inspection.US wants us to think nothing about what Snowden told us, and we otherwise know through many different means. But Russia's transgressions into US's informational space are evidently absolutely inexcusable, which is what the world should really focus on. .. How long will the hypocrisy last, is the question... Being rich and powerful allows considerable room for indulging in such hypocrisies, but sooner or latter security will be considered too important an issue by all countries for them to countenance it indefinitely. This would happen even with the US being able to successfully manage many front groups globally in the Internet space to do its PR. Not every country will be able to develop its own digital security architecture, but one can well see all non dominant countries moving within the "sphere if influence" of the few dominant one, US, China, and to some extent, Russia. That would be an unfortunate thing, but that is what we are clearly headed towards. Such "digital spheres of influence" (which would be more solidly and structurally separate than the soft word "influence" conveys) will develop from two directions -- one digital security related, as discussed, and the other digital business and trade related, which logics of course combine very well. parminder -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A