Hi Dan, we both referred to a balance... I did not say at any cost... I spoke of a spectrum... and respecting diverse opinions along that spectrum. I respect your point of view. I think we need to find a way to minimize cybercrime... and make it harder for certain countries to enable the hosting of cybercriminals. Best, Alain On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 4:39 PM, Dan Krimm <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Just to take this point on the merits: > > On Fri, October 14, 2011 12:43 pm, Alain Berranger wrote: > > Can we all agree that there is malfeasance on the Web and that it should > > be brought down as often and as much as possible? > > Not necessarily. > > One of the enduring realities of any real-world law enforcement regime is > that perfection is not an option. Either you are going to impugn > innocents or you are going to let malfeasance slip through, or some > combination of both. The question is one of balance (how many innocents > will you impugn in order to catch how many malefactors?), and usually the > answer to that in a modern democratic system is called "due process" (and > may involve ancillary principles like "innocent until proven guilty" > etc.). > > The statement above constitutes a maximalist policy at the extreme, where > innocents will often get caught in the net, creating what might be > considered "unintended consequences" -- or even worse, it may provide > tools to those who hold power to abuse law enforcement privileges and > actively harass innocents, perhaps for political purposes. The innocents > that will be most affected by this are the ones without power (i.e., > without money, or friends with money). > > We should be seeking to extend these principles to the Internet, not to > undermine them there. > > Dan > > > -- > Any opinions expressed in this message are those of the author alone and > do not necessarily reflect any position of the author's employer. > -- Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA Member, Board of Directors, CECI, http://www.ceci.ca<http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/> Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business, www.schulich.yorku.ca Trustee, GKP Foundation, www.globalknowledgepartnership.org Vice Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/ O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824 Skype: alain.berranger