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<DIV><SPAN class=663261416-29032006></SPAN><FONT face="Book Antiqua">H<SPAN
class=663261416-29032006>i,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN class=663261416-29032006>Aside from being
an element of Parminder's 'publicness' theme proposal, there's generally been
little discussion on the list of the NN issue. Three Sunday
afternoon prompted by news items:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN class=663261416-29032006><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006>According to the Benton Foundation, Bush just signed
legislation effectively ending the game in the US by giving network
operators what they want <A
href="http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1946">www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1946</A>.
</SPAN></SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006><SPAN class=663261416-29032006>The assault on NN could
now spread. The ITU's recent Next Generation Network workshop was
interesting in this regard. Operators in a number of countries are
already switching from legacy circuit switched PSTNs to packet switched
IP-based networks capable of delivery all IP-enabled services, including video,
and more will follow. They will all want to recoup these investments,
capture new markets (or compensate for losses in old ones, e.g. due to VOIP),
and presumably seek to provide differentiated QoS. One would think
operators in many countries will be emboldened by the US carriers'
win to push for the same treatment, arguing inter alia that they have to
have the same opportunities as the US firms due to globalization and potential
competition to deliver cross-border services. </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN class=663261416-29032006>NN might seem to
be a topic on which there are not shared or generally applicable
international rules in place, aka IG. This may be wrong on at least
two counts. First, there's a lot of standards work under way to create the
conditions for convergent IP-enabled services and by extension QoS
differentiation. Second, the biggest hole in the IG debate has been
attention to the fact that in monopolistic or oligopolistic markets, companies
may in effect set internationally applicable rules through their daily business
practices and strategies without having formally negotiated a shared
framework. Major operators with significant market power pursuing
symmetric strategies could in effect reshape the net in some respects. And
of course, policy coordination could emerge. As with interconnection
pricing and developments in the 'security' field, supposedly dusty old telecom
operators and institutions could prove more important to IG than some people
want to believe.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN class=663261416-29032006>Tim Berners-Lee
recently said in an interview that absent NN, "It stops being the Net... It
would no longer be an open information space." Maybe we should push for
him being a keynoter on this theme in Athens, governments et al.
undoubtedly would like some big name speakers...</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN class=663261416-29032006><A
href="http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1143499812060&call_pageid=968350072197&StarSource=RSS"
eudora="autourl"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1143499812060&call_pageid=968350072197&StarSource=RSS</FONT></A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=663261416-29032006><FONT
face="Book Antiqua">Best,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=663261416-29032006><FONT
face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=663261416-29032006><FONT
face="Book Antiqua">Bill</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><SPAN
class=663261416-29032006> </SPAN>*******************************************************<BR>William
J. Drake </FONT><A href="mailto:drake@hei.unige.ch"><FONT
face="Book Antiqua" color=#000000>drake@hei.unige.ch</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face="Book Antiqua">Director, Project on the Information<BR> Revolution
and Global Governance<BR> Graduate Institute for International
Studies<BR> Geneva, Switzerland <BR>President, Computer Professionals for
<BR> Social Responsibility<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.cpsr.org/board/drake"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"
color=#000000>http://www.cpsr.org/board/drake</FONT></A><FONT
face="Book Antiqua"> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
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face="Book Antiqua">*******************************************************</FONT></P></DIV>
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