Internet engineers urge security against online spies

Members of the Internet Engineering Task Force discussed at its meeting in Vancouver, Canada last week how the organization could turn its plan to protect the web from government spying into action.

IETF chair Jari Arkko also spoke at a UN event in Bali about the need for the engineers behind the Internet to push for new standards that would make it more difficult for government intelligence agencies like the NSA to spy on Internet users en masse. In his speech, Arkko suggested two main tenets to the plan extending SSL-like encryption to all pages of the Internet, and improving encryption algorithms.

To encourage businesses and website operators to adopt these methods, Arkko suggested making them part of the HTTP 2.0 protocol, which is about a year away from submission as a proposed standard. The IETF convened for its meeting earlier in the week, sparking the longer conversation that is needed to put these and other plans into place. Arkko provided an update on the IETF blog in a post titled "Strengthening the internet," explaining that the discussion at the meeting this week largely revolves around improving privacy on the web.