Dear Database WG,

Recent public debates on the ethics and social implications of digital 
technology, as well as the feedback I received on my presentation at RIPE77 
[0], have stimulated me to think more about how value frameworks can inform 
routing decisions. 

Based on the analysis of several discussions in the IETF community [1], the 
ICANN community [2], and the recent book by David Clarke [3], I thought a 
voluntary declaration of values might be relevant for discussion in the RIPE 
community. A way of doing this could be the discussion of the introduction of 
two AS-SET objects in the routing database. This could enable Autonomous 
Systems to declare the values frameworks they adhere to. An example of possible 
objects would be:

[object0]
as-set: AS-GDPR
remarks: members of this set declare to be compliant with the General Data 
Protection Regulation of the European Union
mbrs-by-ref: ANY
[/object0]

[object1]
as-set: AS-UNGP
remarks: members of this set declare to have adopted and implemented the United 
Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
mbrs-by-ref: ANY
[/object1]

Members of these sets would declare to live up to these values. Based on these 
sets, other AS-es could, for example,  choose to preferentially route via AS-es 
that are member of (one of) these sets. 

These value frameworks (the GDPR and UNGPs) were chosen because these are 
widely known and adopted standards in our community [4], so the understanding 
of these values should not be subject to a lot of interpretation and 
discussion. 

Do you think this would be a reasonable approach, and if so, would you consider 
becoming a member of (one of) these sets? Or do you think there are better ways 
to achieve this?

Looking forward to hear what you think.

Best,

Niels

PS I posted a similar e-mail to the routing WG to discuss the routing 
implications of this proposal. Please accept my apologies if this is considered 
as cross-posting, but I thought both aspects of this proposal might be 
interesting to discuss.

[0] https://ripe77.ripe.net/archives/video/2113/
[1] For instance in the discussions on RFC1958, RFC3935, RFC6873, RFC7258, and 
RFC8280
[2] Most notably resulting in the addition of a commitment to human rights 
during the IANA transition, but of course as well during the extensive WHOIS 
discussions
[3] https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/designing-internet
[4] For instance SIDN has engaged in a Human Rights Impact Assessment 
https://www.sidn.nl/a/over-sidn/mensenrechten-daar-voldoen-we-toch-aan , and 
Cisco, Ericsson, Google, NTT, Orange, AT&T, IBM and many others have adopted 
the UNGPs
 - Cisco https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/cisco-systems-0?keywords=cisco
 - Ericsson 
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/ericsson-0?keywords=ericsson#a117755
 - Google https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/google-0?keywords=google
 - NTT 
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/nippon-telegraph-and-telephone-ntt-group-0
 http://www.ntt.co.jp/csr_e/report.html
 - Orange https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/orange-0
 - AT&T https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/att-0?keywords=AT&T
 - IBM https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/ibm-0?keywords=IBM 

-- 
Niels ten Oever
Researcher and PhD Candidate
Datactive Research Group
University of Amsterdam

PGP fingerprint    2458 0B70 5C4A FD8A 9488  
                   643A 0ED8 3F3A 468A C8B3

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