Email from DNC - .nz terrorism event and call for global assistance

Forums › ICT Policies and Regulation › Email from DNC - .nz terrorism event and call for global assistance

MichaelNZ

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#248353 21-Mar-2019 22:05

As follows:

Dear colleagues in the ccTLD family,

This email brings sad news and asks for your assistance.

By now, you may be aware of the terrible events that happened in Christchurch, New Zealand on 15 March 2019. A lone shooter conducted a terrorist attack at two mosques during Friday prayers, killing at least fifty people.

The event itself was live streamed, and graphic online footage has been shared across platforms and potentially in various domain name spaces.

The Domain Name Commission has received a request from its partner agency, the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs, to draw your attention to the fact that this material may be being hosted in your jurisdiction.

Please find enclosed a letter from the Department of Internal Affairs which explains how New Zealand is trying to discourage the global distribution of this content.

Our team has also put together the attached list of domain names registered in the past week which may be related to the event which might result in domain name registrations in other jurisdictions. We would greatly appreciate their inclusion in any monitoring or validation processes you may have and alerting us to where they might be registered.

We respect that you will have your own jurisdiction and policy framework in which to consider such content, and that there may be no action you are able to take.

Nevertheless, in this extraordinary situation, the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs would appreciate any assistance you may be able to offer in stopping the spread of the objectionable material in your own jurisdiction.

Should you have any follow up questions about this request please feel free to contact the team at the Domain Name Commission - email info@dnc.org.nz or phone our contact centre on +64-4-472-1600.

Thanks in advance for anything you might be able to do.

Yours sincerely from the team at .nz,

Jordan Carter
Group Chief Executive, InternetNZ

Brent Carey
Domain Name Commissioner

[Mod edit (MF): format]

WFH Linux Systems and Networks Engineer in the Internet industry | Specialising in Mikrotik | APNIC member | Open to job offers | ZL2NET

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#2203114 21-Mar-2019 22:06

The list of domains in the attached CSV:

-------

[Mod edit (MF): domain list removed]

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MichaelNZ

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#2203118 21-Mar-2019 22:15

Text of attached letter from DIA

------

Dear colleagues

On the 15th March, New Zealand experienced one of the darkest days in our history; the terrorist attack in Christchurch is a tragedy and our group in the Department of Internal Affairs is working hard with partners, both domestically and internationally, to remove the online footage related to the attack.

The Department considers that the footage related to the attack is objectionable and therefore considered an offence under New Zealand’s law to possess, share and/or host harmful content. This type of activity may also be illegal in your jurisdiction.

We cannot control the international sharing of this objectionable content, and as such, it is important to leverage our partnerships to assist us managing this terrible situation.

It is highly likely that this content is being hosted or shared in your jurisdiction, we would be grateful if you or your partners could assist us with the removal of it online and support the messaging we are delivering globally. Your support would also be appreciated in any additional assistance and/or suggestions to help us manage this.

Here are the ways you could help us:

If your organisation can – delete the video and/or any footage, share the message that under New Zealand law the content of the footage is considered to be objectionable and therefore an offence,

encourage your customers to report the footage to online platforms,

share this letter with your partners and stakeholders, and/or

your customers can make a complaint through the censorship web page - https://www.dia.govt.nz/web/submitforms.nsf/cencomp

Thank you for your support.

Kind regards,

Jolene Armadoros, Director of the Digital Safety Group (Censorship / Digital Child Exploitation Unit) at The Department of Internal Affairs.

[Mod edit (MF): formatting]

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freitasm

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#2203123 21-Mar-2019 22:25

I have removed the domain list from this topic. There's no need to publicise domains that might be potentially breaking the law.

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MichaelNZ

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#2203138 21-Mar-2019 22:35

freitasm:

I have removed the domain list from this topic. There's no need to publicise domains that might be potentially breaking the law.

I see several domains there which have no negative connotations in the names and no obvious wrong doing if you view their website.

If the website is breaking the law, the DIA should collect their evidence and follow proper legal procedures. Not circulate the websites on a list along with some vague innuendo implying wrongdoing like they are on a fishing expedition.

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Lias

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#2203216 22-Mar-2019 08:26

MichaelNZ:

If the website is breaking the law, the DIA should collect their evidence and follow proper legal procedures. Not circulate the websites on a list along with some vague innuendo implying wrongdoing like they are on a fishing expedition.

Why would they want to let evidence get in the way of a good old fashioned witchhunt?

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Sounddude

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#2203224 22-Mar-2019 09:04

MichaelNZ:

If the website is breaking the law, the DIA should collect their evidence and follow proper legal procedures. Not circulate the websites on a list along with some vague innuendo implying wrongdoing like they are on a fishing expedition.

The DIA is trying to get people to do the right thing rather than the legal route.

The legal route results in people being locked up and charged. Which has happened to a few people in NZ recrently over the same content.

Your choice.....

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michaelmurfy

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#2203225 22-Mar-2019 09:05

Pretty much all the urls on that list are parked, and the person who bought them is clearly domain squatting.

There is one exception however on that list and one worth checking out - https://www.togetherasone.co.nz/

I wish that the DNC could terminate domain squatters.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Beccara

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#2203226 22-Mar-2019 09:06

Does a legal route even exist for content hosted offshore? I dont think a legal method exists apart from asking nicely which is what they are doing here

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Sounddude

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#2203227 22-Mar-2019 09:10

Beccara:

Does a legal route even exist for content hosted offshore? I dont think a legal method exists apart from asking nicely which is what they are doing here

Guess it depends on the circumstance. There have been charges laid with NZ people who have been sharing the video over facebook and other social platforms. They are hosted overseas but yet charges against those people and with them still being held in custody (so serious charges!),

MichaelNZ

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#2203229 22-Mar-2019 09:14

Unfortunately, I am not permitted to post the list.

So I will offer a breakdown.

There are 45 domains on the list all of which are in the .nz space.

3 have dubious characteristics. A further one may have. I do not know the meaning of it's name.

There is a few miscellaneous looking names in there.

Some looked like they could be associated with the NZ Islamic community or be used for some sort of communral purpose. There were no websites at any of them to be able to ascertain what they may be used for.

Many of the balance appears to have themes such as love, prayer and unity.

I have looked at a handful of the names - 1 of which has a website which could be a scam. If this is the case the Police should investigate. A scam, while unsavoury, is not a DIA matter. The remainder of the ones I viewed were at parking pages.

A letter like this is unprecedeneted as far as I am aware. In the past there has been a good relationship between ISP's / IT industry and the DIA, with many instances of objectionable content being reported by people, myself included. In other instances information is supplied as a consequence of a serach warrant issued in respect of a particular matter.

Never before am I aware of the [DIA or DNC] asking for vaguely defined information on the sly. If it has happened, it has not been at this sort of scale before.

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Lias

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#2203702 22-Mar-2019 23:39

The witchhunt for thoughtcrimes is in full effect in NZ right now. So many people and organisations are looking to virtue signal right now it's just mental and it seems the DNC is on the bandwagon.

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Talkiet

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#2203704 23-Mar-2019 00:52

Get over yourselves. This is a globally unprecedented situation. If you keyboard warriors think you're the last best hope for freedom on the internet and you know better than a LOT of very intelligent, responsible adults with somewhat relevant experience in this area, then you're deluded.

The passive aggressive comments like "virtue signal"ing demonstrate a phenomenal lack of compassion and understanding of what most reasonable people want. Most of the actual experienced, senior policy makers and even engineers I have spoken to about this over the last week share a similar view which can basically be summed up as follows.

"Identifying the line where extraordinary measures like site blocking etc become justified is essentially impossible, however from where we are standing right now, that line is a f&*cking dot in the distance behind us somewhere, we are so far beyond where it might actually be that extraordinary measures are justified"

I _NEVER_ thought I would advocate for site blocking and in fact in a long history of experience in the industry, government and TCF working groups, I have consistently argued against it. But last Friday someone took what we supply and work to make ever better, and used that very thing as an instrument of terror, and all of a sudden compassion and morals took over and made some of our principles look like grossly indulgent luxuries.

Everyone here whinging can circumvent any blocks that have been put in place, so you get to keep using 4chan etc yourselves. But don't you dare assume you're speaking for all the parents in NZ, or all the non technically minded people that don't want to have a link sent to them that autoplays a video of 50 people being murdered.

It's not virtue signalling, it's reacting to an impossible situation in a human and reasonable way... If you can't understand that then I feel sorry for you.

This is my personal view, however I know it is shared by many senior figures in the industry in NZ. It's little surprise to me it's not shared by some of the commenters here who have little to no responsibility beyond their home network.

There are a lot of people here I have lost a great deal of respect for over the last week. There have also been a couple of surprises. I have seen 3 posters here make ill considered comments and then walk them back and apologise after having a think about it and considering a wider viewpoint. As far as I am concerned, being able to shift your opinion in a public arena like this is an extremely impressive display of character.

Let's not forget there are still hundreds or thousands of people in NZ directly impacted by the events of last Friday, families have lost mothers, fathers and children.

Arguing that we should stand by and NOT do what we can to try and prevent the spread or local availability of the videos of their murder, or NOT try and block some of the forums where people are congratulating the shooter and wishing they could do the same? You hold those opinions and whatever principles you think you have, you're arguing against basic human decency and you might want to seek mental help.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

bigalow

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#2203706 23-Mar-2019 01:35

just like to say

when you get a domain name .co.nz .nz .com .net etc

they have a right to suspended and or cancel the domain at any time with or with out warning

bigalow

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#2203707 23-Mar-2019 01:43

michaelmurfy:

I wish that the DNC could terminate domain squatters.

ditto i just got a domain i wanted for a good 15 years after a big domain squatter had over millions of name went bust

and i wasn't going to pay their extortion prices

MichaelNZ

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#2203771 23-Mar-2019 11:31

Talkiet:

Get over yourselves. This is a globally unprecedented situation. If you keyboard warriors think you're the last best hope for freedom on the internet and you know better than a LOT of very intelligent, responsible adults with somewhat relevant experience in this area, then you're deluded.

First off, I draw your attention to the rules of this forum which can be found here

In your post you have mixed up a whole bunch of issues including some which are not relevant to this thread and used your strawman to attack people.

Noone in this thread has in any way supported or justified posting the attack video or anything else untoward as you claim. In those instances it is quite proper the DIA, etc, should act.

This thread is about a list of domains which are being circulated from an official source - most of which have no associated website for context and do not seem to be untoward. Many have themes of love, peace and unity.

Unfortunately, the Admin has decreed the list may not be posted at this time in case there is something untoward in there. I understand and accept the Admin's decision but it does make it more difficult to have a full in-context discussion.

But in any case, this should not degenerate into name calling and attacks.

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