PIAC says ‘whitelisting’ restricts network access freedoms

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) warns in a new report that whitelisting, a technique to ensure computer and network security, can be used as a censorship tool. “Whitelisting could be used by governments or ISPs to completely control the internet network either for censorship or to restrict consumer internet freedoms,” said the report, released Monday. The report, called Whitelisting for Cyber Security: What It Means For Consumers, said ISPs could use whitelisting to ensure that “only certain content or applications are allowed to travel over their networks.” The report added that none of Canada’s major ISPs use whitelisting for their retail customers but both Bell Canada and Telus Communications Co. offer their business customers the option to use the technology. The report said that the technique is too complicated to be effective for the average computer user. “Whitelisting does not work for consumers yet because it requires a level of technical sophistication and time to set up and manage that most consumers do not have,” Janet Lo, legal counsel for PIAC, said in a release. Whitelisting approves a list of applications, email addresses or websites for use on a network system. The restrictions are more narrow than blacklisting, where programs or emails known to be malicious are blocked. “Deployment of whitelisting in this manner would compromise the historical values of the internet such as openness and network neutrality and stifle its generative qualities to the detriment of the public interest,” the report said. But PIAC said whitelisting has advantages for cyber security, such as providing protection against “zero day attacks,” which attack application vulnerabilities. The report said whitelisting is best suited to closed enterprise environments where network resources and assets must be protected, often at the expense of open access to the Internet.

PIAC says ‘whitelisting’ restricts network access freedoms

Brief | November 16, 2010

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us