New Medium vs. Old Models:
Policy and Standards for
the Next Generation Internet
Michael R. Nelson
Vice President, Policy
Internet Society
ITU, Geneva
23 March 2006
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Internet Society’s Public Policy Goals
Ensuring:
• Ability to Connect => preserve end-to-end
• Ability to Speak => oppose censorship
• Ability to Innovate => open standards
• Ability to Share => ensure fair use
• Ability to Choose => foster competition
• Ability to Trust => security and reliability
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Internet-related Policy
Internet Policy
Internet Management
Standards
(IETF)
(ICANN)
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Bottom Line
A PROFOUND PARADIGM SHIFT
– As important as the World Wide Web was in 1995
– New approaches to policy are essential
– It’s not about imposing old broadcasting or
telephony regulations on the Net
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TIME FOR A QUIZ
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Question 1 – Defining Terms
What is the Next Generation Network?
A.
A replacement for the Internet
B.
An effort to resurrect the Intelligent Network, give more control
to phone companies, and hinder new entrants
C.
An effort to make government wiretaps easier
D.
A vague, but useful, marketing term
E.
An excuse for lots of working group meetings
F.
An important effort to help ISPs build and manage their
networks
G.
An effort to promote key Internet standards
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Question 2 – Defining Terms
What is the Next Generation Internet (NGi)?
A. A replacement for the Internet
B. A vague, but useful, marketing term
C. A justification for lots of conferences
D. A collection of new Internet technologies and
standards that will accelerate the evolution
of the Internet and development of exciting
new Internet applications
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Components of the NGi -- Web 2.0
Web 1.0
Tools
Browser, Wired
Standards
TCP/IP, HTML
Web 2.0
Blogs, Wikis, AJAX, Grid,
Computing, Wireless
SOAP, XML, XHTML
Web Services
Enable data access, transactions
Enable collaborative work
Dialogue
Immersive environments
Media
Text, Image, PDF, MP3
Video, Conferencing, Skype
New Concept
Hyperlinks
Application mashup
Business
Positioning
e-Commerce, e-Business
e-Business 2.0?
Focus
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Components of the NGi (continued)
• IPv6
• All-optical, gigabit networks
• Broadband wireless (WiMax)
• Widespread, standards-based authentication
• 100s of billions of sensors and devices
• Distributed computing (e.g. Grid)
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Phase 3 -- Distributed Computing -- many-to-many
Phase 3 -- Distributed Computing -- many-to-many
Grid
Server
Grid
Server
Grid
Server
Grid
Server
user
user
Grid
Server
Grid
Server
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Many
Flavors
of Distributed
Computing
Many
Flavors
of Distributed
Computin
Number of nodes
Number of nodes
1M
10
TheThe
Holy
Grid
Holy Grid
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Everything integrated
Everything integrated
with everything
with everything
(PC-based)
(PC-based)
Number of nodes
1M
Napster KaZaa
Napster KaZaa
SETI@home
SETI@home
GridGrid
Computing
Computing
(Server-based)
(Server-based)
National Grids TeraGrid
National Grids TeraGrid
10
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Power per node
100
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Question 3 – Internet Governance
Who controls the Internet?
•
Governments
•
Telecommunications companies
•
IT companies
•
Users
•
Everyone and no one
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“Phone governance” (1970): Who made choices
about phone service?
International Telecommunication Union
Hundreds of
governments
Hundreds of governmentrun telephone companies
(“subscribers”)
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Who makes choices about the Net?
Dozens of intergovernmental organizations,
standards bodies, and international NGOs
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Question 4 - Levers
Rank in order of importance:
A. Government Policy
B. Technical Standards
C. Business Practices
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Key organizations affecting Internet industry
Internet
Standards
IETF
W3C
IEEE
ITU-T
Allocation of
Internet resources
WTO
National governments
ICANN
RIRs
registries
UN agencies
OECD
EU
Government
Policy and Regulation
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Critical technology choices
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Authentication and directories
Privacy-enhancing technologies (P3P)
Digital Rights Management
Filtering technologies to block spam, porn
Voice over IP
Wireless Internet standards
Web services and Grid computing
Instant messaging
IPv6 deployment
Linking the phone network and the Internet
Rich media standards (SIP, multicast, etc.)
End-to-end vs. walled gardens
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Tech answers to policy problems
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Privacy
Piracy
Pornography
Protection
Pricing
Policing
Psychology
Procurement
Payments
Protectionism
P3P, etc.
DRM
Filtering technologies
Authentication
Grid standards
Wireless Internet
Phone-Net merger
Voice over IP
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Question 5 – Focus for Policymakers
To spur development of the Next Generation Internet, policymakers need
to focus on:
A. Controlling ICANN and the Domain Name System
B. Regulating the price of Internet service
C. Controlling content broadcast over the Internet
D. Funding new universal service schemes
E. Setting national Internet standards
F. Fostering competition and innovation
•
•
•
•
•
•
Supporting open global standards openly developed
Supporting open source
Supporting open markets
Supporting R&D, education, & e-government applications
Enforcing competition laws
Opening up more spectrum
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Question 6 – Focus for Standards bodies
To spur the growth and deployment of the Next Generation Internet,
standards bodies need to:
A.
Compete and cooperate
B.
Avoid comprehensive, one-size-fits-all solutions
C.
Encourage experimentation and flexibility
D.
Avoid creating “control points”
E.
Strive for standards that are royalty-free and can be implemented
in open source software
F.
Factor in policy and business considerations
G.
Involve a wider community of “stakeholders” (users, LDCs)
H.
All of Above
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Standards that work
Historical Case Studies:
• OSI vs. TCP/IP
• WAP vs. WiFi
• HDTV vs. Internet video
• Electronic authentication
• Digital Rights Management
Good policy > Good standards > Happy users
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BACKGROUND SLIDES
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Layers of the Information Society
Education and training
Software, e-business, and content
Computer hardware
Internet
Telecommunications networks
Rule of Law (contracts, anti-corruption, etc.)
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What’s New Now?
• 1 billion PCs >> trillions of devices, sensors
• Web >> Web Services, Grid
• Communications media > Computing Platform
• One-to-one + One-to-many >> Many-to-many
• Megabit networks > all-optical gigabit networks
• WiFi >> broadband wireless (e.g. WiMax)
• Open standards openly developed + open
source
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Locus of Decision-making
International
Spectrum policy
Internet standards
Regional
DNS
IP addresses
National
Spam
Company/Local
Trade policy
Cyber-crime
Development aid
Online taxes
Censorship
Telecom regulation
E-government
Cyber-security
On-line privacy
Individual
No government
All government
Degree of government involvement
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Locus of Decision-making
(Many different decisions in many different places)
International
Regional
National
Spam
Company/Local
Individual
No government
All government
Degree of government involvement
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Locus of Decision-making
Telephony Governance
International
Country codes
Spectrum policy
Trade policy
Accounting Rates
Telephony standards
Regional
National
Taxation
Telecom regulation
Company/Local
Individual
No government
All government
Degree of government involvement
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Locus of Decision-making
Where “Internet governance” is needed
International
Spectrum policy
Internet standards
Regional
National
Company/Local
DNS
IP addresses
Spam
Trade policy
Cyber-crime
Development aid
Online taxes
Censorship
Telecom regulation
E-government
Cyber-security
On-line privacy
Individual
No government
All government
Degree of government involvement
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Where are we headed?
Global “Internet governance”
International
Scenario #2
Regional
Scenario #1
National
Company/Local
Scenario #3
Individual
No government
All government
Degree of government involvement
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Clash of Models
POLICY
MARKETS
• Top-down
• Bottom-up
• Hundreds of experts
• Millions of buyers
• One-size-fits-all answer
• Competing solutions
• Treaties
• Products and standards
• 1-10 years
• <2 years
• Lawyers, politicians
• Engineers, entrepreneurs
• Precedent
• Innovation
• Certainty, “coherence”
• Choice, openness
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