Please e-mail your comments, suggestions, and potential additions regarding this document to: PFIR-Issues@pfir.org.

This list represents only one possible ordering and categorization of these topics.
Overlap will occur between some categories and subcategories.

• INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
  • capacity

  • reliability/dependability/dependence
    • risks in assuming that communications links, bandwidth, systems, Web sites, e-mail, etc. will reliably be available and error-free, especially in telecommunications, business, medical, or various other crucial areas

    • inability to revert to non-Internet, non-electronic procedures when Internet failures or problems occur, particularly if funding for those other procedures has been cut, or those procedures are not being well maintained

    • ease with which outdated, incorrect, unattributed, or propagandistic information can be disseminated, and the difficulty of correcting such information after the fact

    • problems introduced by caches, mirrors, and similar systems in terms of entities controlling their own sites and distributed information, and problems of verifying that copies of data on such systems are accurate and timely

    • mirrors and Usenet archives which modify articles to include their own commercial links, etc. which were not present in the original articles as posted

    • high vulnerability of Web sites, e-mail servers, and other Internet services to being disrupted both by excessive legitimate traffic, and by purposeful "denial of service" (DoS) traffic flooding attacks (often with no reliable ways to protect against such attacks or to identify the individuals who launched them)

    • sites and systems allowing publicly viewable "annotations" to Web pages without the knowledge or permission of the sites where the original material was authored and is (or was) hosted

    • fraudulent Web sites, masquerading as "official" sites (e.g., fake "Alaska Air" sites attempting to defraud users within hours of the recent Alaska Air crash)

  • e-mail issues
    • easily forged e-mail

    • e-mail reliability (and unreliability)

    • encrypted e-mail

  • security

  • survivability

  • quality of service

  • peering equity

  • IP address allocation policies

• COSTS
  • flat rate vs. usage sensitive services

  • e-rate issues (educational discounts, etc.)

  • low income access issues (economic stratification vs. info resources)

  • Internet taxing issues

  • mergers vs. competition, access (Cable, DSL), etc.

• ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES
  • Internet vs. audio/video broadcasting, radio, etc.

  • Voice over IP, telephone network technical and access charge issues

  • Internet II, higher speed networks, etc.

• SECURITY TECHNOLOGY AND POLICIES
  • encryption

  • communications security vs. site security

  • Internet "wiretapping" and surveillance issues
    • mandated technology to simplify "official Internet wiretapping"

    • clandestine Internet wiretapping

    • encryption issues

    • government mandated or supported Internet/system monitoring for critical infrastructure protection, anti-terrorism, anti-cybercrime, etc.--benefits vs. risks

  • digital certificates
    • reliability

    • security

    • concerns over lack of effective competition

    • government and commercial moves to encourage digital certificate use, vs. persons being "coerced" into such use without really understanding it

    • issues regarding provision of (or lack of) paper backups to digital certificate transactions (e.g., use of unencrypted e-mail for confirmations, lack of proof that such e-mail was ever received)

    • government and commercial efforts to encourage use of these systems, issues involving possible spoofing or hacking of digital signatures, non-refutability, etc.

  • digital receipts vs. security, refutability, data collection

• CRIME/HACKING/CRACKING/VIRUSES/WORMS

• SPAM, UBE, UCE
  • unsolicited bulk e-mail, unsolicited commercial e-mail, and related abuses

• DOMAIN NAME POLICIES
  • who gets what name?

  • new top level domains

  • domain "ghettos" (adult-oriented, etc.)

  • registry/registration competition vs. reliability

  • DNS reliability and growth

  • "cybersquatters" vs. new laws

  • "unlisted" domains -- private info in domain listings vs. necessary info to track down problems and contact admins, etc.

  • international (non-ASCII) characters in domain names from some registrars, compatibility issues

  • very long domain names (up to 63 chars) and compatibility problems

• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES
  • trademarks

  • patents

  • copyrights

  • piracy

  • trade secrets

  • reverse engineering
    • encryption and security software and hardware issues

    • issues unrelated to encryption and security

  • music and video downloads (MP3, etc.)

  • audio and video retransmission (RealAudio, Windows Media, etc.)

  • copy protection and related content control technologies, systems, servers, etc.
    • software packages

    • audio and video

    • digital television (DTV)

    • disk drives, flash memory, other removable and fixed media, etc.

    • implementation and access on proprietary vs. open-source operating systems and software/hardware platforms

  • display of materials from a Web site by another Web site against the source site's wishes, via either copying or direct linking

  • overall "deep linking" issues

• ADVERTISING
  • banner ads

  • "solicited" e-mail ads (e.g. Web signups)

  • conflicts/confusion/influence between ads and editorial content (e.g. medical Web sites)

  • other forms of advertising

• PRIVACY
  • relates to most other main categories

  • adults vs. children

  • FTC action

  • Web sites

  • data aggregation from disparate sources (including Web and non-Web)

  • Web usage tracking

  • uses and abuses of Web cookies

  • informed consent of users to tracking, monitoring, etc.

  • aggregated data vs. individual data--collection, analysis, distribution and sales to other firms, etc.

  • changes in privacy policies vs. realistic consumer notifications

  • surreptitious monitoring of the recipients of e-mail (opening, forwarding, etc.) via "hidden" images, HTML code, and other mechanisms

  • attribution issues

  • data collection

  • tracking and profiling of Web browsing by "free" Internet access services

  • opt-in vs. opt-out policies

  • monitoring and interruption of Web browsing by live "customer service" agents, without warning to or agreement by the user

  • privacy policies

  • data sharing

  • online access to credit card account statements and other billing information

  • online bill payment systems

  • personal data research services (sources for Social Security numbers or other widely used personal identifiers, date of birth, addresses, other personal info for a fee or free)

  • credit history/rating data via Internet

  • public record data
    • voter registration data

    • DMV data

    • real estate data

    • criminal record data (accusations, convictions, arrests, etc.)

    • lack of "need to know" qualifications

    • lack of controls over commercial use/abuse of this data

    • other public record data use and abuse

  • data mining

  • data sales and transfer

  • insurance data

  • medical data

  • privacy policies

  • company consolidations/mergers and customer personal info/data transfers to new firms

• FILTERING/RATING/CONTENT CONTROL/CENSORSHIP
  • freedom of speech issues

  • "forced" ratings (no access if not rated, etc.)

  • arbitrary blocking criteria

  • errors in blocking

  • blocking of medical information, educational sites, political speech, etc.

  • domestic and international issues
    • local, state, or national governments attempting to limit, specify, or control categories of Internet/Web speech/information through the use of enforced ratings, prohibitions, or required gateway/proxy centralization, possibly including criminal sanctions

  • libraries

  • educational institutions

  • political agendas' impact

  • adults vs. children

• SOCIAL ISSUES
  • "Digital Divide"--information rich vs. information poor nations, locales, segments of society

  • individuals being "forced" or coerced into participating in (possibly unsecure, unreliable, or privacy-invasive) electronic commerce or other electronic transactions, through removal of support for conventional transaction methods, artificial pricing differentials, etc.

  • Internet's effects on local businesses, personal and community relationships, and related interactions

• LEGISLATIVE and LEGAL ISSUES
  • federal vs. state vs. local vs. self-regulation

  • conflicts between different countries' laws, regulations, and enforcement policies regarding the Internet, communications, privacy, etc.

  • use of E-mail, Web pages, chat room transcripts etc. in court proceedings, law enforcement, etc. with/without court orders or warrants

  • ISPs turning over user identity information with/without court orders

  • impact of Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) legislation on Internet, software, consumer rights, business transactions, copyright law, contract law, etc.

• ANONYMITY vs. RESPONSIBILITY
  • political, religious, and other protected speech

  • crime, fraud, libel, hate speech, propaganda

  • national vs. international laws and regulations

• INTERNET VOTING
  • security

  • reliability

  • authentication

  • capacity

  • errors

  • possible skewing of voting patterns

  • much higher risks than with conventional e-commerce problems

  • vulnerability to manipulation

  • apparent lack of realistic ability to recount votes

  • hacking target
    • modification of vote counts and elections

    • denial of service attacks, from domestic or international points

• POLITICS
  • lobbies and pressure groups vs. net policies

  • use of the Internet/Web by political campaigns for information distribution/gathering, fundraising, etc.

  • the Internet/Web as a scapegoat for social problems, crimes, shootings, etc.

  • conflicts between local, state, national, and international (e.g. EU--European Union, WTO--World Trade Organization, etc.) organizations regarding Internet, information, and privacy policies, controls, guidelines, prohibitions, etc.

• MISC.
  • U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Internet plans
    • assigning each physical address an e-mail address - spam potential

  • Internet gambling
    • state vs. national vs. international control issues

    • deception, fraud, rigged games, etc.

  • Linkage of criminal information databases via Internet

  • Status of Internet/Web documents and E-mail
    • can online Internet/Web documents be considered authoritative (particularly "official" documents) when they're subject to retroactive withdrawal, change, or modification at any time, either purposefully by the document source or through incidents such as error or outside tampering?

    • legislation allowing important notifications of legal and financial matters, etc. to be sent via e-mail only (no paper copies), without confirmation of receipt by the proper parties

    • Moves to cease printed publication of many documents in favor of (cheaper) online formats

    • Risks in dependence on Internet, Web, or other technically advanced media for long-term archival of important information

  • Antitrust issues, market dominance vs. competition and information access, etc.

  • Internet auction sites
    • problems relating to illicit, stolen, or illegal items

    • buyer or seller frauds

    • control and competition concerns