Skip to main content
The IGF is a global multistakeholder platform that facilitates the discussion of public policy issues pertaining to the Internet
العربية | 简体中文 | English | Français | Русский | Español
Welcome to the United Nations | Department of Economic and Social Affairs

- Login
- Register

# IGF 2018 WS #40 Internet Mega-Trends' Impact on the Internet’s Architecture

Format:

Other - 90 Min
Format description: Interactive, informative session

Theme:

Technical & Operational Topics

Subtheme:

INTERNET PROTOCOLS

Organizer 1: Wout de Natris, De Natris Consult
Organizer 2: Alissa Cooper, IETF
Organizer 3: Maria Ines Robles, Aalto University

Speaker 1: Alissa Cooper, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Jari Arkko, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Maria Ines Robles, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Relevance:

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the premier Internet standards body, developing open standards through open processes, and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) provides long-range technical direction for Internet development, ensuring the Internet continues to grow and evolve as a platform for global communication and innovation. The work of the IETF and IAB is often seen as too difficult to understand for policymakers, civil society and industry representatives. Yet, it directly impacts all stakeholder groups at the IGF, e.g. from a policy, technical, financial, investment or enforcement point of view. This session provides the opportunity for work of the IAB and IETF related to major trends in the Internet’s evolution to be more accessible to other stakeholder communities. At the IGF in Geneva 2017 the IETF was invited by representatives from government, business and NGOs to interact more pro-actively with other stakeholders on its work on Internet protocols. This interactive informative workshop invites all stakeholders, especially those from the non-technical communities, to learn how mega-trends are impacting the Internet's architecture and about the work underway within the IETF to deal with the impact of these trends. This session allows other stakeholders not only to reflect on the IETF’s work as such, but also allows them to assess how these new Internet standards impact their respective work, decisions and priorities. By facilitating this session, the IGF assumes a coordinative role between stakeholders, contributes to a better understanding of IETF work, and aids potential cooperation between stakeholders and the IETF. This is in line with a recommendation from the report ''Strengthening cooperation within the context of the IGF” presented to the MAG in the winter of 2018.

Session Content:

This session will explore some of the most significant trends in the Internet’s technology and architecture, including: * The shift from device-centric to service-centric networking. When the Internet was originally designed, the paradigm that drove network engineering centred on getting devices (or “hosts”) connected and ensuring the existence of paths between those hosts. These days, network engineering has become service-oriented, focusing on giving people access to the services they need regardless of which device they are using or where they are located in the network. The engineering and governance implications of this shift are important for everyone to understand; * The rising use of encryption in the Internet’s core protocols. Over the last several years the impetus to “harden” the Internet’s core protocols by improving their cryptographic properties, expanding the use of encrypted modes, or removing unencrypted modes altogether has greatly accelerated. We can discuss the design strategy that has allowed secure communications to flourish as well as some of the impacts this shift continues to have on the way that people experience the Internet and the overall Internet security landscape; * The increasing consolidation across various providers and platforms. Observers of Internet traffic patterns have noted increasing traffic consolidation, that is, a larger fraction of traffic involving a smaller number of content providers, social networks, and hosting companies. There are likely numerous technical and non-technical drivers of this trend; these include, for example, the ability of larger providers to better defend against large-scale denial of service attacks that have been on the rise in recent years. We will discuss both how the design of Internet technology may have contributed to this trend and its implications for future technology development. To make this session a success, proper preparation is key. This proposal comes with active outreach to all relevant stakeholders. They will be directly approached, informed and prepared for this session. This allows for the content to be understood and for the preparation of questions and interventions. Finally, participants are invited to assess the impact on their own line of work and share this assessment in the workshop. Furthermore, options for future interaction and the early incorporation in policies, business decisions and/or the adoption of developed Internet standards can be taken into consideration. The results of the workshop will lead to a report that also allows the MAG to assess the effectiveness of interactive informative sessions at the IGF.

Interventions:

1) Through active outreach community leaders in the different stakeholder groups are not only invited to participate, but also to reflect on the presentations by the IETF. The preparation provides active knowledge before the session starts. This leads to an interactive discussion on impact, scope and adoption of new standards. 2) The workshop is prepared by providing a limited number of questions, to be developed with the IETF leadership and Internet Society, allowing to prepare and participate actively. 3) Short introductions by IETF leaders (i.e. chair and former chair) set the stage for a discussion. 4) The moderator makes sure the session is interactive and result driven. Interventions are foreseen from the business community, government (policy and political) and civil society. (The technical community is the driving force.) Expressions of interest in active participation have been collected already from different stakeholder communities. 5) The session concludes with recommendations on how to follow up (on future topics).

Diversity:

The session organisers, Internet Society and IETF in collaboration with De Natris Consult, will work actively with the different stakeholder communities, including the NRIs, to ensure a balanced participation from the respective stakeholder groups, by region and gender. However, as the respective communities decide who actively participates in this workshop, the organisers do not have a final influence over who actively participates nor who makes the interventions.

Online Participation:

Online participation is ensured when an assigned participant is not able to attend in situ. All online participants are actively invited to join in order of flagging. Where possible audibly, if necessary by way of the online moderator. The onsite moderator will be in constant contact with the online moderator to determine the moment and number of interventions. The online moderator is experienced in handling this task and is briefed actively beforehand.

Discussion Facilitation:

Discussion in the room is facilitated in several ways: 1) Participants are well prepared, upfront, to provide focus to the discussion and their interventions; 2) The experts are prepared to not only present, but actively solicit feedback form the audience; 3) There is no panel, only introductory presentations aimed at explaining and clarification to start the discussion; 4) Introductions by IETF are concise and aimed at interaction; 5) The onsite moderator is not seated but moves through the room, soliciting responses; 6) The online moderator actively engages participants; 7) The intended aim and outcome of the session is familiar to all at the start; 8) The session ends with feedback and recommendations for all concerned, including the MAG through the report.

Onsite Moderator:

Wout de Natris

Online Moderator:

Vanessa Berning

Rapporteur:

Ines Robles

Background Paper

Reference Document: https://www.ietf.org/

Agenda:

1. Opening/introduction

2. Presentation Alissa Cooper: "Rising use of encryption in the Internet’s core protocols" (10 minutes)

3. Presentation Jari Arkko: "Consolidation" (10 minutes)

4. Presentation Maria Ines Robles: "Shift from device-centric to service-centric networking" (10 minutes)

5. Discussion (50 minutes)

6. Conclusions (10 minutes)

7. Closing

Session Time:
Monday, 12 November, 2018 - 11:50 to 13:20
Room:
Salle VI

## Archived Content

- 2017 IGF: Geneva
- 2016 IGF: Jalisco
- 2015 IGF: João Pessoa
- 2014 IGF: Istanbul
- 2013 IGF: Bali
- 2012 IGF: Baku
- 2011 IGF: Nairobi
- 2010 IGF: Vilnius
- 2009 IGF: Sharm El Sheikh
- 2008 IGF: Hyderabad
- 2007 IGF: Rio de Janeiro
- 2006 IGF: Athens

## Resources

Documents

Publications

Press

Glossary

## Additional Information

IGF Funding

IGF Donors

Participant Funding

Vacancies

## Contact Information

United Nations
Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

Villa Le Bocage
Palais des Nations,
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

igf [at] un [dot] org
+41 (0) 229 173 678