1. law, govt and politics
2. government

Internet Governance in Ecuador:
Infrastructure and Access
First National Summit on Internet Governance in Ecuador
by J. Andrés Delgado1
1
Gualberto Arcos N28-64, Postcode: EC170102. Quito – Ecuador. Email: andres@delgado.ec
Internet Governance in Ecuador by J. Andrés Delgado is licensed Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Infrastructure and standardization
Telecommunications infrastructure
Liberalizing the telecommunications market
The last mile
The radio spectrum
TCP/IP
DNS
Net neutrality
Cloud computing
Cyber-security
Encryption
Legal
Copyright
References
Preface
When the decision of organizing the First National Summit on Internet Governance in Ecuador
was made, the need to have a base document that would enable any person to understand the
development of the governance processes that had occurred so far in the country was
established. This was the original intention for the presentation of this text, and so it was to be
divided into sections that would have mirrored those used by the Diplo Foundation:
infrastructure and standardization, legal framework, economy, development, society and culture.
However, as time grew short to prepare this document, the spectrum of subject matters it would
cover was reduced to preserve the quality of the document. Drawing from supplemental
research documents, such as the most recent Freedom of the Net report, became indispensable
to carry out a serious discussion of the topic of internet governance in Ecuador.
This preliminary study includes the following sections:
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Telecommunication infrastructure
TCP/IP
DNS
Net neutrality
The cloud
Cyber-security
Encryption
Intellectual property
The study of these areas was carried out by a review of available academic literature, from
international as well as national sources. The study also includes news coverage originating in
government publications. Where relevant, further documentation from specific government
working groups was sought. This was important as the current state of some of the study topics
is under constant evolution, as is common in any study of the internet.
Most of the sources are available online and are cited with an URL that will be accessible to any
reader. This study will also be made available to the public online, as a part of one or of many
different websites. It is the hope that any future work on the topic of Internet Governance in
Ecuador considers a similar method so that those who take part in decision-making processes
can have easy access to all available informational tools.
Introduction
At its genesis, no one could have foreseen the global impact the Internet would have. During the
early years, governmental or corporate intervention in the governance of the Internet was
difficult to perceive. The creators of the internet designed it so, and enshrined in their design
openness, neutrality, and decentralization. As time went on, the network attracted the attention
of a variety of sectors. Today the private sector and the public one are keenly interested in how
the internet is to be managed. As the web came to play an ever more important role in global
geopolitics, particular interest developed around the points where telecommunications, content
management,2 and the internet converged.
The increasing intervention from these actors has grown gradually. There has been no move to
establish a government for the internet, operating under the guidance of any governments. We
talk about multi-stakeholder governance instead. Though ultimately the resolutions, accords,
policies, laws and regulations adopted by countries create the governance structure, the
wording for new policies or laws is often drafted months before, at the international multistakeholder meetings.
Several important precedents led to the adoption of the multi-stakeholder model. In 1994 the
National Science Foundation created controversy when it sought a private subcontractor to
manage the domain name system. The controversy didn't come to an end until 1998. States
and international non-governmental organizations finally intervened to establish the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The 2003 and 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conferences, sponsored
by the United Nations, included 19,000 participants from 174 countries. The main objective of
the summit was to reduce the digital divide separating rich and poor countries' access to
information technologies, especially the internet. WSIS defined internet governance as follows:
Internet governance is the development and application by Governments,
the private sector, and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared
principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that
shape the evolution and use of the Internet.3
The Secretary-General of the United Nations announced the First Internet Governance Forum
(IGF) in July 2006 which has since become an annual event.
Still, developing countries must overcome economic and human resource limitations to equally
participate in the discussions about Internet governance. It has been difficult for many to assist
In addition to the Web and the original protocols for file transfer and messaging, Internet allows
transmission of multimedia content and communication, telephony (VoIP), television (IPTV), the use of
online games, among others.
3
Definition published by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and approved via
Resolution l56/183 of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
2
the forums and equally influence the decentralized and multi-institutional proceedings with
positions that are considerate of multiple variables.
In a quest to deconstruct the hegemonic entrenched powers of the internet, which includes
private companies often based in the United States, countries such as Russia and China have
advocated for an inter-governmental model that would allow governments to take control of their
part of the network more directly. The 2009 IGF took steps to anchor the IGF within the United
Nations framework more directly.
In August 2010, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the NUPEF Institute,
and the Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Center (LACNIC) organized the 3rd
regional preparatory meeting for that year's Internet Governance Forum in Quito, which helped
arouse the interest of local actors in the thematic content of the event.
In October 2013, during the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Pakistan proposed
on behalf of Ecuador and nine other countries the creation of a new intergovernmental internet
governance mechanism. That same month Fadi Chehadi, the president of ICANN, and Dilma
Rousseff, President of Brazil, inaugurated the NETmundial initiative, a multi-stakeholder
process for internet governance which included a significant delegation from Ecuador's public
and private sectors, as well as its civil society.
It is convenient to advance in the definition of an Internet governance agenda for Ecuador.
Infrastructure and standardization
At its most fundamental level, the internet is a collection of standards, protocols, cables and
structures. Without this technical infrastructure, the internet as we know it could not exist. The
cyber-security of this infrastructure is becoming an increasingly pressing concern. It would be
difficult to confine the development of cyber-security protocols at exclusively local levels, due to
the global nature of the internet.
Telecommunications infrastructure
The regulation of telecommunications must include the consideration of all the mediums by
which telecommunications occurs: the cellular networks, radio frequencies, fiber optics, and
more. Each of these modes of access follows a different set of regulatory principles.
Internationally, regulation is carried out by the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU). In Ecuador, the entity empowered with regulating this sector is the
Telecommunication Superintendency (SUPERTEL). However, this body's regulations are
crafted by a separate entity: the National Council of Communications. This relationship is
currently under debate, as part of the drafting of a new Telecommunications law. 4
Liberalizing the telecommunications market
Many countries have liberalized their telecommunications markets, hoping to boost the
development of new communication services by permitting access to the often governmentowned infrastructures. In Ecuador, however, this type of practice is discouraged by current laws.
Article 316 of the 2008 Constitution says that “the government can delegate participation in
strategic sectors,” including telecommunications, “and public services to companies of mixed
public/private holdings in which the government controls a majority of the shares,” which limits
the participation of the private sector in this market.
In Ecuadorian law, even if free trade agreements are signed that would seem to weaken this
protectionist principle, telecommunications must still be treated as a “strategic sector” (Estévez,
2012). A 2014 study conducted by CEPAL showed that the central importance of the National
Telecommunications Company (CNT) was taken into consideration in the trade deal signed that
year with the European Union. This is important because telecommunication is one of the
European continent’s most powerful economic sectors (Maldonado & Torres, 2013:148).
Recently Ecuador's Constitutional Court approved the wording for a possible constitutional
amendment to say: “communication as a public service5 [that] will be carried out by private,
public and community media,” and there is a high probability this amendment will be approved
When this document was published, the National Assembly had approved the committee report to give
way to the first public debate on a new Telecommunications Law. According to this draft law, the
SUPERTEL is to be absorbed by the Ministry of Telecommunication and the Information Society
(MINTEL). MINTEL will become, via its Regulation and Control branch, the organism responsible for
control, regulation and enforcement in the telecommunications sector (“El control total a las
telecomunicaciones”, 2014). This state of affairs would contravene the current Constitution and article 143
of the 2014 trade deal signed with the European Union, making it unlikely for the bill to remain unchanged
after first debate in the plenary of the Assembly.
4
by the National Assembly and become constitutional law. Some have interpreted this
constitutional reform as additional regulation of the communications sector, (“La
comunicación, ¿un derecho constitucional o servicio público?”, 2014) which may be seen as a
disincentive by investors. The current state of relations between the government and the private
telecommunications companies are indeed poor (“Claro: 'Negociaciones para espectro 4G
están estancadas'”, 2014).
The last mile
Ninety percent of Ecuador's internet traffic travels via two submarine fiber optic links: the PanAmerican or Pan-Am cable, and the Emergia or Sam-1 (Cabrera et Col, 2014:3). For both6
cables, Ecuador solicited “delivery of a determined capacity for international internet access, for
the social development and educational use of the submarine cable end-points,” to be
administered by the FODETEL. Ecuador's capacity is equal to 1% and 2% of those cables’
traffic, respectively. In March 2015 a third cable will initiate operation: the Pacific Caribbean
Cable System or PCCS, which will give Ecuador access to bandwidths of 100 Gbps (“Ancho de
banda de Ecuador será igual que países desarrollados”, 2014).
In Ecuadorian territory, the main distribution network consists of 20,000 kilometers of fiber optic
trunk lines. There are an additional 15,000 kilometers of cable in what is known as “the last
mile”, the fibre that connects individual consumers to the network. This resource is available in
67% of the national territories. The number of homes connected to broadband internet in 2013
was 891,000 (7.7 %),7 and the percentage of homes connected to high speed internet was
0.89%.
Article 79, Ecuador's Communication Law says: “Social communication carried out by communication
outlets is a public service that must be carried out with responsibility and quality, respecting the rights
established in the Constitution, international treaties, and contributing to the good living of the people.”
6
See Resolutions 392-21-CONATEL-2007 and 067-04-CONATEL-2010.
7
According to MINTEL reports, Internet price is affordable only for wealthier four deciles of the population.
If access to the Internet in general is counted, the figure rises to 28.3%, according to figures from INEC
(2013).
5
Figure 1. National network of fiber optic trunk lines. Source: MINTEL
On the other hand, the number of active mobile telephone subscribers8 in Ecuador is 17 million,
equal to 109% of the national population (Armijos, 2013). Only 337 parishes in the Ecuadorian
territory don't have mobile data coverage (3G or 3.5G). That equals 32% of Ecuador's parishes,
but only includes 6.43% of the population (674,246 people). The advantages of mobile internet
in this scenario are obvious: low implementation costs, and an existing infrastructure. It is
possible that mobile technology could be assembled in-country in the near future, due to a
growing interest in developing new industries to contribute to a radical transformation of what is
called the “productive matrix”. If not assembly, import taxes on mobile phones could be reduced
as part of the new trade deal with Europe, which could lead to wider adoption of mobile internet
(Valarezo et al., 2014).
In the scenario where mobile telephony prevails,9 we must consider how reliance on this type of
infrastructure could affect governance of the internet, especially where privacy protection is
concerned. Mobile technology employs closed standards. Much of its firmware is not accessible
and closed-source (Bini, 2014), and in Ecuador there is a mandatory registry of mobile devices.
In this scenario surveillance has the potential to cause harm not only to personal privacy and
freedom of expression, but could lead to remote attacks, legal sanctions, vulnerability to thirdparty attacks, and in general harm the exercise of human rights (Torres 2014). These dangers
are by no means exclusive to Ecuador (Tejada et al., 2014).
The dominant cell operator is Claro, with 68% of the market, and Movistar, with 30%. The government
telecom CNT only controls 2% of the market.
9
According to 2013 MINTEL projections, by 2017 the number of land connections to the internet will have
increased by 16%, while the number of mobile internet connections will have increased by 43%.
8
Community networking, a right guaranteed by the Constitution (Alvear, 2011) would be an
additional option in rural places where the penetration of mobile networks is low. Although it has
been suggested that rural community networks become a government priority (Torres, 2014),
there are no known systematic efforts to implement them as such.
The radio spectrum
Article 408 of the Ecuadorian Constitution (2008) reads:
Nonrenewable natural resources and, in general, products coming from the ground, mineral and
petroleum deposits, substances whose nature is different from that of the soil, including those that
are located in areas covered by territorial sea waters and maritime zones, as well as biodiversity
and its genetic assets and the radio spectrum, are the unalienable property of the government,
immune from seizure and not subject to a statute of limitations. These assets can only be
produced in strict compliance with the environmental principles set forth in the Constitution. The
government shall participate in profits earned from the tapping of these resources, in an amount
that is no less than the profits earned by the company producing them.
After a complaint filed by radio and television broadcast stations and telecommunications
companies, and by request of the now-defunct National Council of Radio and Television, the
Constitutional Court determined that the radio spectrum “is not to be considered one of
Ecuador's non-renewable resources. Nevertheless with an eye to avoid congestion in the use of
telecommunications (...) it must be treated as a limited resource,” as well as a strategic sector10
(“Espectro no es recurso no renovable, interpreta la Corte Constitucional”, 2009). Thenpresident of the National Assembly, Fernando Cordero, said in anticipation of this court decision
that by their interpretation users of the radio spectrum “do not have to surrender 50% of their
profits” (“En video, asambleístas constituyentes de PAIS hablan sobre espectro
radioeléctrico”, 2014).
Despite this, public displeasure erupted after a government announcement in 2014 that it would
reassign the profit-shared marginal utilities generated by the telecommunications companies to
itself. This announcement affected the 80% share of utilities that so far was distributed to
telecommunications companies' employees. The change would affect about 4,500 families,
according to the government's estimate (“Utilidades de las empresas de
telefónia [SIC] celular se reinvertirán [SIC] en proyectos de inversión social”, 2014).
The discrepancy between the two ways of interpreting the telecommunications spectrum will
apparently be resolved when new regulations falling under the Communications Law pass. The
draft regulations restore the employee profit shares of telecommunication companies' marginal
utilities (“Concluyó el primer debate en proyecto de ley de telecomunicaciones”, 2014).
MINTEL meanwhile is implementing11 a master plan for the shift to digital television. It's hoped
that migrating television signals to digital landlines will free up the radio spectrum. A black-out of
This implies the Ecuadorian government reserves the right to administer, regulate, control and manage
use of this resource.
11
CONATEL issued the plan via resolution RTV- 681-24-CONATEL-2012. On Dec. 23, 2013 a set of
technical regulations (Reglamento Técnico RTE 83 para Televisores) was issued, after which date all
televisions manufactured, imported, assembled or sold in Ecuador must meet ISDB-Tb standards.
10
TV signals is expected to happen in 201612 (“Ecuatorianos deben adquirir televisores con
estándar ISDBT-TB”, 2014). Another consequence of this migration is that television will no
longer be a one-way medium. A “return” channel must be implemented by December 2018 that
will enable interaction with TV programming (Martínez, 2014).
TCP/IP
Once the physical layer of the Internet was established, a set of standards had to be developed
to assure robust global interconnectivity. Thus the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) became
a core component of the Internet Protocol (IP) suite. TCP/IP is based on three principles which
we will explore briefly:
packet-switching. This refers to the subdivision of data into smaller packets to ease their
transmission. The packets are reassembled upon arrival at their destination.
2. robustness or static discipline. In the words of Jon Postel this means “being conservative
in what you do and liberal in what you accept from others”. This apparently contradictory
principle attempts to explain standards that are strict and functional but at the same time
open to modifications that serve the needs of users.
3. End-to-end networking. End-to-end refers to data networks where two nodes can talk to
each other across the net without the need of an intermediary analysis point.
1.
There are two governance aspects to TCP/IP: the introduction of new standards, and the
transition from IPv4 to IPv6, as IPv4 exhausts its capacity. Because any modification of the
existing standards carries with it risks to the existing internet, the body responsible for setting
standards, the IETF, does not do so lightly (Kurbalija, 2014).
In 1981, when the fourth version of the IP, and the first to be implemented at a mass scale, was
planned, it did not consider the exponential multiplication of the number of devices that would
later become connected to the internet. At that point, 4.3 billion unique identifiers seemed
sufficient. Today, with every device connecting to the network needing a unique IP address, the
4.3 billion available are running out. In Ecuador by mid-2012, only 5% of their remaining
identifiers were available (“El congreso de Internet se inauguró hoy en Quito”, 2012). On June
10, 2014, LACNIC released a statement saying “the region is at the final stage of exhausting the
internet's old technology (IPv4)”.
Although many local ISPs are ready to roll out IPv6, and some government and academic
institutions are already operating on both protocols (Pérez, 2014), as of today the majority of
Ecuadorians connect to the internet via secondary networks administered by our service
providers, via “patch” solutions like NAT or CIDR mechanisms. This means that while my device
has access to the public internet, the internet does not have direct access to my device. This
infringes on the end-to-end principle and could compromise the integrity of the information.
Although they are not ideal, these patchwork solutions are easy and cost-effective to apply.
They might even cause indirect profits, as they can work within the existing infrastructure. By
In 2016 this process will begin in Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca. Later, in 2017, the analogue signals will be
switched off in other provincial capitals, and eventually, by 2018, the entire country will have migrated to
digital television.
12
capitalizing on the use of information (Kleiner, 2014) and the speculation on the remaining
available IPv4 addresses.
However, a permanent solution exists in the form of the sixth version of Internet Protocol, or
IPv6 (Coellar & Cedeño, 2013). IPv6 has a near infinite capacity for the generation of identifiers,
re-establishing a symmetric network that abides by end-to-end principles. This new protocol is
not, in principle, compatible with the old one, so they must co-exist until IPv4 is definitely shut
down.
The migration to IPv6 touches on public policy, economics, operations, and technical and
engineering aspects. All sectors involved in the transition must be committed to the process and
cooperate with each other and the government, industry and academic sectors (Tejada et al.,
2014). Faced with this enormous task of facilitacion, MINTEL led that way by implementing IPv6
protocol as a prerequisite on public contracts related to Information and Communication
Technology, and set out general guidelines for the implementation of a Transition Master Plan
(“Se agotan dominios IPV4 , pero en Ecuador se fortalece protocolo
IPV6”, 2014).
In parallel to MINTEL, representatives from related industries (Internet providers, software
developers), the education sector (universities and research institutes), and Internet users have
formed an open and participatory group to assist the transition. Ecuador's IPv6 Task Force has
been active since 1999 coordinating activities related to the migration. Despite these efforts,
there is not widespread consensus about the importance of implementing IPv6 (Tejada et al.,
2014; LACNIC, 2014), and besides the public telecom CNT only about 0.08% of usage13 on all
providers is via IPv6 (Aizprua, 2014).
DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is that which enables a web page to be rendered via an IP
number to simplify routing across the network. The DNS consists of root servers14, top-level
domain (TLD) servers, and a large number of DNS servers located around the world (Kurbalija,
2014). The international system is standardized, making a discussion about its local application
not pertinent in this paper.15 Nevertheless, one type of top-level domain is geographic: by
country code (ccTLD), reserved for use by a country.
Ecuador's ccTLD is .ec16, its management was initially delegated to Intercom-Ecuanex, the first
Ecuadorian ISP, at the beginning of the 1990s by IANA. However, because of its limited
technical capacity and because it did not have a dedicated Internet connection, this
administration was assumed by EcuaNet - Corporación Ecuatoriana de Información, owned
This statistic only represents traffic to Google, but it's a useful indicator because Google is the most
used search engine in the country.
14
Ecuador has two root servers. Server F was installed in 2007 and is administered by the Ecuadorian
Association of Internet Providers (AEPROVI). This implies that the first domain search theoretically does
not leave the country, but this has never been independently verified. The infrastructure was installed by a
private company mentioned in the Snowden documents as an NSA partner.
15
Ecuador has only participated in one major incident related to generic top level domains (gTLD).
Ecuador supported a Brazil/Peru initiative to protect the .amazon gTLD from registry by the U.S. company
of the same name.
16
The code is assigned in accordance with ISO 3166-1
13
at the time by the Pacific Bank group (Roggiero, 2008). After the banking crisis in the late 90s,
NIC.ec (NICEC S. A.) is created and has since become the administrator (IANA, 2014).
Ecuanet was a private non-profit entity17 that created the first internet connections in Ecuador.
Its first nodes were in Guayaquil, Quito, Cuenca, Ambato, Machala, Manta and the Galapagos
(Corporación Ecuatoriana de Información, 198?). Ecuanex, on the other hand, was the first
email node to operate in the country.
Because the 2008 Constitution (known as the Montecristi constitution) designates
telecommunications as a strategic sector, it could allow the domain system to be nationalized in
the future. This would not make Ecuador a unique case. ICANN's Governmental Advisory
Council18 adopted principles for the delegation and distribution of ccTLD (2000a) and
established best practices for ccTLD administration (2000b) to prepare for such eventualities.
To resolve disputes originated by third persons, NIC.EC has implemented ICANN's Uniform
Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), an administrative arbitration process to resolve disputes
over domains occurring between domain registries and third parties. Nevertheless, there are
cases like Chile where a multisectoral committee is responsible for the administration of its
ccTLD policy.
Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is isonomic treatment of any and all data packets traveling on the network, without
distinctions based on content, origin, destination, server, terminal or application. In simpler
terms, it means “cables are only cable, they have no ability for decision-making about what
travels on them” (Dans, 2010).
At the beginning, the flow of content on the internet was free of discrimination, whether it was
generated by emerging enterprises or multinational conglomerates. One did not need
permission or market power to innovate online. This quality has been recognized as one of the
internet's great strengths (Kurbalija, 2014). The United Nation's Human Rights Council (2014)
recognized the open and global nature of the internet as a force that propels development in its
various forms.
In Ecuador, net neutrality became a topic for public discussion in the mid 2000s, but there was
scant description or analysis of the subject. Academics suggested the creation of legislation that
would protect net neutrality in 2006 (Richero & Cerbino, 2006). Perhaps the most important civil
society action in Ecuador was the “Campaign for the inclusion of the net neutrality principle in
the Communication Law” initiated on July 30, 2011, by the online news site GkillCity.com.
As a multiplicity of services converge on the internet (voice, audio, multimedia, video, live
broadcasting, etc), economic interests want to have differential treatment on the network, as for
EcuaNet was registered as a company in 1990, a Banco del Pacifico (bank) initiative. It was founded
with additional financial and infrastructure support from Almacenera del Agro, IBM Ecuador,
L.E.A.S.I.N.G. del Pacífico, MasterCard, Pacific National Bank and Sucre Insurance
18
Ecuador is not listed as a member of this committee (“GAC Members”, 2014), but there is a record of
the participation (Acuerdo Ministerial N° 017-2012) of Mario Ortega at the 2012 meeting. Ortega is a
ministerial attaché of MINTEL.
17
example exists in the differentiation between network television and cable (Betancourt, 2011).
Because of the power of these economic interests, the principle of net neutrality has become a
controversial topic in recent years, along with privacy, free expression and the right to copy
(Regattieri et al., 2014).
The power play is such that although President Dilma Rousseff mentioned the importance of net
neutrality in Brazil's own law, Marco Civil, at NETMundial the gathering in Brazil hosted by
Brazil's Internet Management Committee (CGI.br) with the international multi-stakeholder /1Net,
the summit did not produce a final resolution that mentioned the net neutrality principle (La
República, 2014). Also, Ecuador's delegation to NETMundial failed to mention net neutrality
(Correa, 2014).
In 2012 the organism CONATEL emitted its regulatory framework, which in article 15.6 says:
Service providers should not distinguish nor prioritize for arbitrary reasons content, services,
applications or anything else on the basis of brand, ownership, origin or preference. Service
providers can implement technical actions which they consider necessary for the operation of
their network of services, this includes the management of traffic exclusively for the purpose for
which they were contracted or authorized to operate in order to guarantee their services.
Thus, Conatel's regulation in principle protects net neutrality, but simultaneously imperils it by
allowing Internet Service Providers to manage their networks according to their own criteria
(Kelly et al., 2013; Correa, 2014). We have already seen practices by ISPs that attack the
principle of net neutrality19, where for example clients cannot reach the transfer speeds they
contracted and cannot access the content they desire (Andrade, 2011). There is also a lack of
information and transparency about how services are managed and guaranteed technically
(Merchán & Carrillo, 2009).
These incidents, and other instances of two-tiered provision that give advantageous access to
the network to certain services over others, have resulted in user complaints to stop the
commercialization of the internet in this way. Users have asked the Telecommunications
Superintendency to seriously commit to enforcing quality control in the internet service provider
sector (La Revista, 2014).
Meanwhile, the National Secretariat of Higher Education, Science and Technology
(SENESCYT) has put forward a proposal as a part of the draft law Organic Code of the Social
Knowledge Economy (COESCI). Article 36 reads:20
An internet service provider configures its servers to host a certain number of its users. Users share the
allotted server connection. This is cost effective for the ISP as it maximizes the number of users it can
have, and also helps prevent congestion by compartmentalizing usage. For example, if an ISP decides it
will have rates of 10:1, 10 users will be automatically grouped together and share the same data
connection to the network. Once ten users have been assigned to one server line, that one is full and the
system automatically opens a new server connection to group ten more users.
19
20
Full text at: http://coesc.educacionsuperior.gob.ec/
The government will create the necessary conditions to progressively guarantee the
universalization of access to information and communication technologies. The government will
prioritize the use of free libre open source technologies that comply with the following principles:
technological sovereignty, security, net neutrality, free access, without censorship of the
information and prioritizing user privacy. These conditions will be respected without distinction by
service providers. The relevant regulatory organisms will ensure these conditions are met.
It's estimated that this draft law will be reviewed by the National Assembly at the end of 2014.
Whether it be approved or not, there have been no proposals for a regulatory framework that
would enable the SENESCYT to penalize ISPs which contravene it. Procedures for the
evaluation of ISPs must be more proactive and applied more evenly, according to short term
and long term goals, to encourage ISPs to improve competitively (Merchán & Carrillo, 2009).
Ecuador's government, in the form of foreign minister Ricardo Patiño, has stated the importance
of “an international binding set of norms that should accompany the internet governance
processes and guide its decision-making on sensitive matters like the protection of privacy, the
promotion of cyber-peace and the eradication of cyber warfare, the neutrality of the net and the
unequivocal protection of its open and distributed qualities” ("Ecuador debe proteger a Assange
y a quienes sacrifican su libertad para informar", 2014). Civil society has also signalized the
need for a new international treaty of cyber-peace (Burch, 2014a).
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the shift of data from hard discs on our computers to centralized servers our
computers access via a network. The cloud allows a user to be physically anywhere and yet, by
accessing the internet, to be able to get to their set of informational resources (including
networks, servers, data storage, applications and other services) with minimal effort and
minimal interaction with the service provider.
There are three models of service a cloud computing provider can offer (Morocho, 2013):
Software as a service (Saas), enabling usage of a previously installed application
Platform as a Service (PaaS), permitting the creation of applications with tools and
languages previously defined by the provider.
3. Infrastructure as service (IaaS), permitting the installation of any type of software on
remote hardware, known as a virtual machine.
1.
2.
Software as a service cloud computing has emerged as a worldwide force because it's
considered a flexible, scalable, low cost and easy solution to many different needs (Jara, 2012;
Zuñiga, 2014:62). Ecuador is no exception. Within the small and medium business categories,
about 40% of the cloud computing done falls in this category. Users' most visited web pages,
such as Facebook, are also software as a service websites (Armijos, 2013).
This business model presents a challenge for citizen organizations concerned with the erosion
of privacy. Cloud applications can take advantage of users' private information in ways
misunderstood by their clients, without consent (Kurbalija, 2014). In addition, a hostile attacker
doesn't need to infiltrate many different machines to obtain information on a group of people.
The threat model is different when information is centralized in cloud software services (Ramos,
2014). As this market has monopolistic tendencies (Burch, 2014b), the number of possible
victims increases, and we have seen this in recent cases.
According to the Free Software Foundation, SaaS is “equal to running software that surveils you
and has a universal backdoor. It gives the service administrator an unfair power over the users”
(Stallman, 2010).
Nevertheless it's the second most popular business model in the free software sector in
Ecuador (Delgado, 2014). This despite free software developers traditionally having a deeper
understanding of privacy issues (Appelbaum, 2014a).
Massive adoption of cloud computing services could compromise access to essential computer
functionality, like word processing or even simple math, if a connection to the internet is lost
(Kurbalija, 2014). The problem of compatibility between various clouds will become critical, and
a new standard may have to be developed to maintain proper functionality and security
(Kurbalija, 2014; Fox et al., 2009).
Snowden's revelations somewhat stalled the mass migration to cloud services by businesses
(NTT Communications, 2014). There is an idea that there is no longer sufficient user trust in the
privacy and the security of their information stored online. To Ecuador, this is a major concern
(Infantino, 2014). The former NSA analyst has suggested that services could regain user trust
by offering a way, via end-to-end encryption, that the service-provider does not ever have
access to user data (Meyer, 2014). Private clouds will result (which fall under IaaS rather than
SaaS).
For the sake of security, data that is stored and transmitted via the cloud should be encrypted
(Ramos, 2014; Morocho, 2013). Server location is an important consideration, for users. Less
than 5% of those surveyed in the telecommunications private sector think that server location is
unimportant. In fact 92 – 97% of them would prefer their cloud servers to be located in their own
region (NTT Communications, 2014) This is also a concern for governments, as the majority of
server farms are now located in the United States (Kurbalija, 2014).
In November 2013, the then-national secretary of Ecuador's Public Administration Cristian
Castillo (the third most powerful person in the government, after the president and vicepresident), said that “the guiding principle behind Ecuadorian public policy has always been to
guarantee technological sovereignty” (“Una Minga por la Libertad Tecnológica”, 2013).
Regulations of that secretariat forbid public sector employees to use cloud services that have
servers located outside Ecuador.21
It is expressly forbidden that entities of the public sector should contract, access or use cloud email
services whose servers, networks (excluding the internet), equipment, basic software and mail
management means are outside of the National territory, for institutional or bureaucratic purposes.
Additionally it is forbidden to contract any companies if their terms of service do not comply with the
Ecuadorian constitution and law.
21
Although information security is the top concern, one must also consider how widespread cloud
usage can affect identity management, access control, forensic security, virtualization and
distributed computing, and more (Salazar, 2013).
In 2010, a draft law “to protect intimacy and personal data” was archived. Legislators at the time
thought that the draft law was redundant because many of its protections were already included
in the constitution or in existing laws (Organic Law of Judicial Guarantees and Constitutional
Control, Transparency and Access to Information Law), despite the constitution signaling the
need for a law to protect personal data stored in public registries (“Asamblea Nacional archiva el
proyecto de Ley de Protección a la Intimidad y a los Datos Personales”, 2010).
Lacking a specific set of rules to regulate the use of cloud computing, service contracts are the
only binding documents that govern the practice. Salazar (2013:108) proposes a series of
principles to include in an Ecuadorian regulatory framework to protect data stored in the cloud:
Consent: Consider whether data use needs the approval of the party responsible for the data,
interested in the data, etc.
Establish responsibilities: Make clear what shall be the responsibilities of each party engaged in
the contract for cloud computing.
Goals: Establish what the purpose for using a cloud computing platform should be and whether
other purposes should be included.
Security: What technical and structural measures should be incorporated for data management in
a cloud environment. If necessary, makes such measures a requirement for cloud providers.
International transfers: How should the flow of personal information across borders be carried out
and what protections should those involved have.
Third party intervention affecting the data: What requirements must third parties comply with to
intervene in a cloud environment.
Communication: How changes to practice and policy on the cloud platform that affect service are
communicated to clients, with clarity and transparency.
Sanctions, guarantees and insurance: How do providers insure their users against irreparable
damage to their data.
Intellectual property: What intellectual property rights should apply to data in the cloud. What
sanctions could exist for abuse or violation of intellectual property-protected content.
Within Ecuador's current structure, the Regulation, Integration and Control Directorate in the
National Secretariat of Public Administration informatics subdivision is tasked with defining this
sort of regulatory framework.22
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a collection of technologies, processes and best practices designed to protect
one’s network, processors, programs and data from cyber-attack, damage or unauthorized
access. General objectives include maintaining the integrity, availability and confidentiality of
22
Ministerial accord 119, published in the official registry Aug. 1 2007 says its responsibilities
include to “prepare draft laws and regulations to control, evaluate, and do follow-up on computer
processing projects and access to information”.
information. In this document our principal concern is the cybersecurity of the country. Future
papers may wish to deal with cybercrime, the protection of citizen data and privacy.
Ecuador is a developing country and had not been concerned with developing a secure
telecommunications infrastructure, outside of its military communications infrastructure.
In 2011, security researcher Dmitry Bestuzhev said:
Although they have made some efforts, [Ecuador] doesn’t yet have a systematic security
apparatus with defined processes. The government doesn’t have an action plan for the country’s
entities. It’s often not the website’s owner or administrator who can make the decision that would
make it secure, so Ecuador is an easy target for attackers (“Ecuador es un blanco fácil para
ataques de hackers”, 2011).
Years later, Bestuzhev denounced that there was a cyber-espionage effort in Latin America that
was targeting military, diplomatic and government intelligence that started in 2010 and affected
at least 280 people (“Denuncian ciberespionaje en Ecuador”, 2014). In 2013, the leaks from the
U.S. National Security Agency revealed widespread vulnerabilities in all communications that
led to the violation of the privacy of citizens, public and private companies, think tanks and
diplomatic missions (Greenwald, 2014; Reyes 2014).
Foreign embassies are often hubs for intelligence gathering operations. In early 2014, a
researcher uncovered the possible presence of cell-signal capturing equipment at the U.S.
embassy in Quito (Appelbaum, 2014b). Ecuador’s president denounced attempts to infiltrate his
account and military information, saying later the country needed to prepare for acts of
“cyberwar” (“Ecuador denuncia ataques cibernéticos desde Colombia para extraer datos”,
2014).
In the last three years, we have seen an increased effort to adapt to the new threats inherent in
the government’s digital landscape. Ecuador’s Ministry of Defense has said it considers
cyberspace “vital” to the security of the government and its citizens, and announced it would
invest in developing relevant operations and policies (“Agenda Política de la Defensa”, 2014). In
May 2014, cyberdefense became a curriculum subject in military training (“Formación militar
prevé ciberdefensa”, 2014) and in September it was announced that Ecuador would put $8
million towards the creation of a Cyberdefense Operations Command to open in 2015
(“Comando de Operaciones de Ciberdefensa para el 2015, anuncian Fuerzas Armadas de
Ecuador”, 2014). Ecuador’s joint chief of military staff said:
There are countries with a great economic and military potential that have been affected by
cyberattacks, cyberwarfare, and espionage. This makes them susceptible to attack from
anywhere in the world and affects systems as important as air traffic control (Garzón, 2014).
Members of the president’s cabinet have made similar remarks. Then-national secretary of
Ecuador's Public Administration (SNAP) Cristian Castillo said that “the guiding principle behind
Ecuadorian public policy has always been to guarantee technological sovereignty” (“Una Minga
por la Libertad Tecnológica”, 2013). SNAP’s Technological Architecture directorate supervises
information security management in the government via the creation of binding decrees and
ministerial accords.
In 2011, SNAP along with MINTEL and the National Intelligence Secretariat (SENAIN) formed a
commission for cybersecurity. This commission is in charge of “establishing information security
strategies, the protection of computational and all related infrastructure, as well as the
information held by the the central public and institutional administration”. To accomplish this
task, the commission create a Government Information Security Schematic to be enacted by
February 2015 by all public institutions (Ministerial Accord N° 166).
In July 2013, in a perceived response to the Snowden revelation, then-Coordinating Minister of
Security Homero Arellano announced that high-ranking government officials would start
implementing cybersecurity processes to protect the integrity of their data. Arellano said the
military already used encryption to communicate during war time, but that their experience
would be carried over to the public sector (“Estado inicia planes reservados para asegurar
comunicaciones entre altos funcionarios y evitar espionaje”, 2013).
In addition, private and public institutions have begun to incorporate information incident
response teams (Hidalgo, 2011). SUPERTEL created EcuCERT (OAS, 2014), a central server
for any use but especially for the public sector.
Ricardo Patiño, Ecuador’s foreign minister, has said that Ecuador is interested in “an
international binding set of norms that should accompany the internet governance processes
and guide [ …] the promotion of cyberpeace and the eradication of cyber warfare” ("Ecuador
debe proteger a Assange y a quienes sacrifican su libertad para informar", 2014). Ecuador is
also considering adhering to the Budapest convention (Stel, 2014), the first international treaty
to harmonize national legal structures, research practices, and intergovernmental cooperation
on matters of cybercrime.
The government’s intentions include regional expansion. After receiving recommendations from
several civil society organizations (Burch, 2014c), the Minister of Defense announced it would
invest in the Strategic Defense Center at the UNASUR South American Defense School, and
would help develop a regional agenda for cyberdefense projects (“Agenda Política de la
Defensa”, 2014). Although the Global South has an interest in preventing cyberspace from
becoming a tool of war, these notions were not included in the final recommendations of
NETMundial (Burch, 2014b).
One must consider many aspects to talk about the security of a government. In 1946 the United
Nations general assembly agreed that “freedom of information is a fundamental human right
and [...] the cornerstone of all human rights consecrated by the United Nations”. Nevertheless
nations can restrict access to information under certain circumstances, such as protecting the
rights or reputations of others protecting national security and protecting public health. But when
these exceptions are applied, governments must weigh it against damage to the public interest
(Aaronson, 2014), as some civil rights and freedoms are affected when governments engage in
practices to, for example, combat cyberterrorism (although no known cases of cyber terrorism
have been detected to date) (Reyes, 2014). It’s important to consider, when protecting the
communications of public servants from foreign espionage, these same public servants must
strive for transparency and public accountability of the State, by being forthright about the reach
of their anti-surveillance laws, regulations, powers and authorities (Necessary and
Proportionate, 2014).
In Dec. 2012 a Russian company, Speech Technology Center, revealed that it had signed a
contract with the government of Ecuador to provide biometric identification technology that could
recognize faces and voices (Kelly et col, 2013). There is also some evidence that the
Ecuadorian government has acquired GSM interception technologies (Grey, 2013). Although
the government claims that this technology is only used for law enforcement purposes, there are
documented cases of police spying on civil society organizations and non-profits that has never
been disproved (Ser Publicos Agencia de Comunicacion, 2013).
On Aug. 10 2014 a new penal code came into effect that criminalizes the publication of
information considered “reserved” (punishable with 5 to 7 years of prison). Espionage and the
destruction of registries is now punishable by 7 to 10 years in prison. The new penal code also
establishes legal guidelines for the interception of communications. There are currently two draft
laws being debated that could influence the state of cybersecurity in Ecuador: the “Organic
Code of the social knowledge economy and innovation,” which includes articles forcing free
software use on the public sector, and draft new Telecommunications law.
Encryption
Encryption is the encoding of documents and communications to make them unreadable to any
third person and only legible to the concerned parties who must have access to the encryption
keys and deciphering software.
There are two important aspects to this topic. The first the international nature of encryption
policies. Regulation of encryption needs to happen on a global level or at least involve the main
countries capable of exporting encryption tools (Kurbalija, 2014). Ecuador has not signed the
Wassenaar treaty which places limits on the use of cryptography. The second aspect is that
legal obligations with regards to cryptography must be implemented at local levels, as we have
seen in recent years with legislation emerging in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia
(Room, 2014).
Ecuador’s new Penal Code penalizes the decryption or discovery of secret keys or encrypted
files and the violation of electronic security measures (Art. 190), punishable with three years in
prison. In Art. 145, though, it creates exceptions for law enforcement to gain access to
decryption keys with a court order approved by a judge.
Legal
Every facet of the internet has a different legal dimension. In recent years we’ve seen the
constant need of legislation to adapt to new technologies, whether it be with new laws (cyber
legislation) or by adapting the principles of existing laws to new realities made possible by the
internet. The predominant approach has been the latter (Kurbalija, 2014).
Too many of these legal facets could be analyzed. We will only focus on intellectual property
rights in this document.
Copyright
Intellectual property legal instruments have two main objectives: first protect the author’s
copyrights of a given work, and secondly ensure the dissemination of a work for public benefit.
The struggle to find a balance between these two objectives is key to understanding current
issues about intellectual property on the internet.
Developing countries can benefit from the limits and exceptions included in international
agreements on intellectual property,23 if the internet can be understood as a medium for
academic exchange, economic development and cultural expansion. Under this interpretation,
Ecuador has promoted, even in international forums, the usage of knowledge for the public
good (Ramírez, 2012). Nevertheless Ecuador’s current legal framework includes copyright
protections that exceed those demanded by international law, and has been called “hyperprotectionist” (Golinelli et al., 2014).
Art. 292 of Ecuador’s current intellectual property law says that the violation of an author’s
copyrights are the responsibility not only of the unlawful copier but of the “operator, natural
person or legal person who controls the computational system connected to the network (...) as
long as they have knowledge or have been warned of the possible infraction, or it was
impossible for them to ignore it without committing gross negligence”.
Although the law indicates that copyright violation notices need to be well-documented, the
current system has been proven to be dangerous and ineffective, and not just in Ecuador. Many
unfounded copyright takedown notices have been used to censor, have given the entertainment
industry unfair powers to abuse individuals, and are enforced without due process (Freedom of
the Net, 2013).
Two recent developments will modify Ecuador’s current framework for moderating intellectual
property uses on the internet: (1) the signed free trade agreement with the European Union,
which has not yet been ratified by the National Assembly thus has not yet been enacted and (2)
the proposals contained in the Organic Code of the Social Knowledge Economy (COESCI).
International treaties generally place additional limits on access to knowledge (Aaronson, 2014).
In the Ecuador-EU trade deal, Articles 251, 252 y 253 open the door for content blocking that
does not comply with a judicial process. By including the “administrative authority” as a
legitimate mediator, those supposedly affected by copyright violations could appeal directly to
23
The term “Fair use” is used often in this context.
internet service providers to takedown content without a court order. The providers, to avoid the
trouble and responsibility of notifying the supposed infractor, takedown the content without
consulting with the alleged violator.
Additionally, the treaty specifies that ISPs must not be liable as long as they do not interfere in
the legal use of technology broadly defined and used by industry to obtain data about the use of
information. This legalizes data retention and enables mass surveillance that citizens are
already victims of (Greenwald, 2014). Although this rule is not negative per se, it could
supercede agreements between users and ISPs where users opt for greater privacy protections.
Another consequence of the EU treaty are obligatory reforms to Ecuador’s recent Penal Code.24
The amendments impose fines of $500 to $500,000 to those who falsify brands and fines of
$500 to $200,000 to commercial pirating operations. Although the office of the president has
said these new rules respond to WTO agreements signed years ago (“Alexis Mera dice que
reforma al COIP responde a tratados”, 2014) the timing of the introduction of these
amendments and others which would modify even Ecuador’s constitution is interpreted to be
related to the negotiations for the EU treaty (Profitas, 2014 & “Reforma al COIP pretende
cumplir con la OMC”, 2014).
As this process unfolds, restrictions on access to content and punitive treatment of infractions to
an author’s copyright are developed which conflict with Art. 36 in the COESCI draft law that
declares “universal free and secure access to knowledge in digital environments are a citizen’s
right.” Unfortunately the COESCI does not establish any clear mechanisms to guarantee this
right.
See memo PAN-GR-2014-0247 iof the National Assembly issued by Assembly President Gabriela
Rivadeneira and addressed to Libia Rivas, General Secretary.
24
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