The Internet Distinction

(Click here for blog post version of this commentary)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Seth Johnson
Date: Tue, Nov 26, 2013 at 8:13 PM
Subject: WTDC/Plenipot: 2) Cybersecurity, ICT Apps, IP-Based Networks: Understanding Impacts on the Internet (was: Re: Critical Notes for WTDC Prep)
To: “[protected]” , “Zoller, Julie N”

Hello Julie, ITAC, and all:

As promised, here are parts 2 and 3 of my analysis of ITU Resolutions.
This constitutes a comprehensive view of the implications of the
failure of the WSIS project and the ITU to recognize the key
characteristics that make the Internet unique. It is focused on WTDC
resolutions and is organized in terms of the WTDC Action Plan, but
also covers PP and WTSA Resolutions.

Part 2: Cybersecurity, ICT Applications and IP-Based Network Issues:
https://internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/11/25/cybersecurity-ict-applications-ip-based-impacts-on-the-internet/

Part 3: the Enabling Environment, Capacity Building and Digital Inclusivity:
https://internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/11/25/enabling-environment-capacity-inclusivity-understanding-impacts-on-the-internet/

This analysis has guided my contributions since at least April,
allowing me to prioritize the revisions needed and address the
approach of the US Delegation as the WTDC approached.

Only a few WTDC resolutions require revisions, and the most important
of these are attached to this email and the next.
Broadband Study Question 2 – ID Edits
WTDC 45 – ID Edits
WTDC 63 – ID Edits

The important part of the analysis turns out to be the relationship of the WTDC resolutions to a set of core PP Resolutions that present the key terms IP-based Networks, Internet and Next-generation Networks in a confused manner. I have placed commentary on this aspect under “IP-based Network Issues” at the above link for Part 2.

Also as promised, you may find my comments on identifiers under that
heading as well, which relates to several resolutions in Parts 2 and
3.

Contributions:

I am attaching a number of contributions I have offered since the
US began its approach to the WTDC, both in the form of revisions to
WTDC resolutions and in the form of revisions to other inputs the US
Delegation is providing to the WTDC, notably those on Broadband and
Conformance and Interoperability.

The US Delegation’s contributions on the topics of Broadband and
Conformance and Interoperability are matters of great concern. With
the broadband contribution, the US is encouraging the implementation
of ICT applications for the Information Society under the term
“broadband,” by reference to the ITU’s work on 3G/4G, the managed
service framework used by wireless providers. With the conformance
and interoperability resolution, the US is promoting the certification
of ICTs under concepts of conformance and interoperability that may
easily be applied in concert with managed service frameworks to
implement policy, rather than in terms of more flexible and open forms
of interoperability made possible by the Internet Protocol.

The last thing we want to do is roll out next-generation networks
all over the world, without recognizing the tradeoffs brought by these
types of networks as compared to the open Internet platform — and
then to place that under a conformance and interoperability
certification regime that fails to recognize the difference.

The US proposal on broadband might be placed under the heading of
ICT Applications in general, so I attach it to this email. Conformance
& Interoperability can be addressed in relation to Capacity Building,
so I attach it to my next email, under Part 3.

Below I describe the purposes of all the revisions to WTDC resolutions
I am attaching.

Seth

Further notes:

The following covers resolutions related to Programme 2 of the
Hyderabad Action Plan, in the areas of “Cybersecurity, ICT
Applications and IP-Based Network Issues.” My next email will cover
Programmes 3 and 4, on “the Enabling Environment, Capacity Building
and Digital Inclusivity.” The analysis covers WTDC, WTSA and PP
resolutions, while focusing on revisions to WTDC resolutions that are
needed at the upcoming WTDC.

You can find the first part of this analysis, on the Conformance and
Interoperability initiative, here:
https://internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/04/28/wsis-impacts-conformance-interoperability/
. I determined early on it is not necessary to address the Regulators
Forum.

Also as promised, you may find my comments on identifiers under
“IP-based Network Issues” in Part 2 here:
internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/09/09/cybersecurity-ict-applications-ip-based-impacts-on-the-internet/#Identifiers

On the Analysis:

Only a few WTDC Resolutions need revisions in terms of their usage
of the terms IP-based Networks, Internet, Next-generation Networks,
etc. (though plenty of PP and WTSA resolutions do).

The key part instead turns out to be the relationship of the WTDC
resolutions to the core PP Resolutions that have guided the ITU’s
activities since 2010. I address these core resolutions under the
“IP-Based Network Issues” heading here:
https://internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/09/09/cybersecurity-ict-applications-ip-based-impacts-on-the-internet/#ITUInternet
. There I describe the confusion in the key terms IP-based Networks,
Internet and Next-generation Networks that PP 101, 102 and 133 convey,
and the fact that PP 137 is much more explicit about the commitment by
the 2010 Plenipotentiary Conference to deploying Next-generation
Networks to developing countries.

The remaining parts of the analysis end up being placeholders for
important notes, listing PP, WTSA and WTDC resolutions in the
Hyderabad Action Plan Programmes and commenting on them, but noting
only a few WTDC Resolutions needing edits. Among these notes are
comments illustrating how the failure to recognize the nature of the
Internet in the Information Society project impacts both the Internet
and the goals of the Information Society project itself, as expressed
in the Geneva Action Lines.

Not yet in place are some comments on the core resolutions on
bridging the Digital Divide and the Standardization Gap, PP 139 and PP
123. I have already presented these points however, in the
Conformance and Interoperability analysis:
https://internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/04/28/wsis-impacts-conformance-interoperability/#DigitalDivide
https://internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/04/28/wsis-impacts-conformance-interoperability/#StandardsGap

Describing the Revisions:

On this email you will find attached my contributed revisions on
WTDC 45, WTDC 63, and the US’s Broadband proposal.

On the next email you will find my contributed revisions on WTDC
23, WTDC 13, WTDC 30, and WTDC 47, and the US’s Conformance and
Interoperability proposal.

I describe the purposes of each revision below, along with other
resolutions that need to be revised:

US Proposal for a study question on Broadband:
Revisions to recognize other modes besides wireless, in
particular addressing the Internet platform created on the basis of
competitive access by autonomous, interoperating providers to
infrastructure installed in the public right of way.

US Proposal for a study question on Conformance and Interoperability +
WTDC 47 (Conformance and Interoperability):
Revisions to recognize different types of conformance and
interoperability relevant to different types of networks, including
general purpose interoperability among autonomous networks and
interoperability by the application of a common policy across routers
subject to a core authority.

WTDC 13 and WTDC 30 (Funding Mechanisms and Partnerships):
Revisions to recognize that funding mechanisms and partnership
schemes must be developed to support contexts providing competitive
access at the physical layer, that funding and partnerships in
vertically integrated telecommunications contexts may differ markedly
from those that would serve to support competitive access at the
physical layer, that public-private partnerships that incorporate
explicit recognition of the role of public oversight may better
support competitive access to the physical layer, and that recognizing
the distinction between the open Internet platform and specialized or
managed services allows for clear understanding of when practices,
policies and technologies may affect the Internet and its unique
characteristics and advantages.
(WTDC 52 and WTDC 71 may also be revised similarly)

WTDC 23 (International Internet Connectivity):
Revised to recognize that connectivity to the broader
international Internet does not mean there is an Internet at the
national or lower levels, and particularly noting that the commercial
initiatives to deliver cost savings that the resolution suggests might
address the resolution’s concern for pricing of international
connectivity for developing countries are not necessarily compatible
with the general purpose form of connectivity of the Internet.

WTDC 45, WTDC 63, WTDC 47 (Identifiers):
Revisions to acknowledge that policy associated with
identifiers may affect the flexibility and openness of the Internet
unless recognition of its basic nature is incorporated:

WTDC 45 (Cybersecurity): Cryptographic measures may serve as
part of an implementation of security-related policy in infrastructure
in ways that may impact the free flow of information, ideas and
knowledge and the flexible modes of interaction with and collaborative
use of information the Internet makes possible.

WTDC 63 (IP Address Allocation and IPv6 Deployment): Revisions
recommending that the ITU Council support both the open Internet
platform and specialized services networks in its approval of the BDT
Director’s guidelines for changes in organizational frameworks and
policies necessitated by migrating to IPv6.

WTDC 47 (Conformance and Interoperability): Revisions to
recognize different types of conformance and interoperability may
suffice to address concerns regarding use of identifiers for
enforcement of policy that may be implied in references to
counterfeiting in this resolution

(WTDC 22 may also be revised similarly)

WTDC 64 (Consumer Protection):
Revisions to assure that consumers are able to recognize the
difference between Internet connectivity and other types of
connectivity.

WTDC 37 (Digital Divide):
Revisions to recognize the role of the Internet’s special
characteristics in bridging the digital divide, including its
empowerment of end users and independent providers, and to assure that
references to pro-competitive policies and regulatory contexts
recognize the role of competitive access to the physical layer in
producing the Internet platform among autonomous providers, and in
incentivizing infrastructure development.

WTDC 15, WTDC 20 (Technology Transfer and Non-discriminatory Access):
Revisions to assure references to partnerships should
recognize the inherently public nature of publicly-funded research and
shared infrastructure, and to assure that the value of
non-discriminatory access does not substitute for recognition of the
advantages of competition among providers.

The Upshot:

In developing my contributions, I have been able to prioritize and
focus on parts that needed addressing in terms of the approach of the
US Delegation. The analysis should now serve others in understanding
where the defects are in the ITU Resolutions that need to be
corrected.

However, proceeding in a manner that continues to follow through
according to the process the ITU has laid out will not correct the
basic problem in the approach, which simply reaffirms WSIS goals
without adding the critical insights needed to understand what the
Internet adds to the equation. It will not only undermine the
Internet to continue to pursue the Information Society project the way
it has been, but establishing a form of Internet Governance at the
international level in this way presents the distinct prospect of
undermining efforts within the US to place the Internet back on a
sound foundation by recourse to the law.

The US needs to act at the WTDC to correct the oversight regarding
the Internet in the WSIS project. The US needs to recognize the
difference between a truly competitive Internet and the types of
specially tailored services that are offered within individual
networks — whether they may be individual wireless providers or
incumbents in other modes who enjoy a privileged status in relation to
infrastructure — and in the course of the next year help enable those
engaged in furthering the Information Society project to receive a
proper understanding of its status in those terms.

Seth

On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 9:55 AM, Minard, Julian E wrote:
> ———- Forwarded message ———-
> From: Seth Johnson
> Date: Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 4:58 PM
> Subject: WTDC/Plenipot: 1) Conformance and Interoperability:
> Understanding Impacts on the Internet (was: Re: Critical Notes for WTDC Prep)
> To: “[protected]”
> Cc: “[protected]”
>
>
> At the link below is an analysis showing where the Conformance and Interoperability resolutions open up the risk of the Information Society undermining the Internet. I have pasted the introductory text below, including general concerns and some key points.
>
> The analysis is designed to contribute to upcoming proceedings such as the WTPF, the WTDC and High Level WSIS Review in April 2014, preparing the way to the Plenipotentiary Meeting in October/November 2014, where the necessary actions can be taken.
>
> The full analysis is here:
>> https://internetdistinction.com/wsisimpacts/2013/04/28/wsis-impacts-conformance-interoperability/
>
> Please take it into account on the next WTDC Prep, general ITAC, and Council calls.