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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156513419-02042006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>I agree with Bill, and raised network neutrality here some
time ago as a theme for IGF to take up. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156513419-02042006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156513419-02042006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Another way to sort through the various topics and issues
is to try and isolate those where a government led forum might actually make
some headway. In this respect, issues which are largely regulatory such as
network neutrality are good targets where something might be achieved. On the
other hand, topics with strong technical components (such as spam and
multilingualism) can benefit from government attention, but rely on technical
work for resolution, which is proving difficult in both cases. So
resolution will take longer.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156513419-02042006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156513419-02042006><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>It would be good to see IGF addressing issues where
governments could make a difference.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ian Peter</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></DIV></DIV><BR>
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style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> governance-bounces@lists.cpsr.org
[mailto:governance-bounces@lists.cpsr.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>William
Drake<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, 2 April 2006 10:17 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
Governance<BR><B>Subject:</B> [governance] Net neutrality &
IG<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<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>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Book Antiqua">*******************************************************</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><BR>
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