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# IGF 2018 WS #229 Measurement & specs to support net neutrality enforcement

Format:

Panel - 90 Min

Theme:

Technical & Operational Topics

Subtheme:

NET NEUTRALITY

Organizer 1: Hartmut Glaser, Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br)
Organizer 2: Nathalia Patrício, NIC.br
Organizer 3: Vinicius W. O. Santos, NIC.br / CGI.br
Organizer 4: Lisandro Granville, SBC - Sociedade Brasileira da Computação

Speaker 1: Chris Marsden, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Klaus Nieminen , Government, Eastern European Group
Speaker 3: Lisandro Granville, Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 4: Sunil Abraham, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

Additional Speakers:

Mr Christopher Lewis, Public Knowledge, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Mr Sunil Bajpai, TRAI, Government, Asia-Pacific Group

Ms Alissa Cooper, IETF, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Relevance:

Within the broad landscape of Internet Governance subjects, there is the issue of Network Neutrality, a principle which covers several levels in Internet Governance discussions, ranging from physical infrastructure, the protocols governance and the impacts for the applications layer. Net Neutrality means that the network treats all contents in a non discriminatory way, enacting and maintaining a pro-innovation environment. It is a principle that supports the equal treatment of data by the network, with no discrimination of any data packets by content, origin and destination, device, service or application. In the background, there is the policy evolution aimed at the Internet and its development, shaping the overall future of the global Internet. Several net neutrality regulation frameworks have been adopted since 2010, when Chile became the first country to enact a net neutrality law. After that, other initiatives have been developed and consolidated in other countries like the Netherlands, Norway, Slovene, Brazil and United States of America, including common rules for the European Union countries. The subject is again in the center of the policy debates, for example with the reversal of the previous measures adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, which has triggered a broad discussion along the country, with the approval of local rules by the states and also a strong confrontation inside the US Congress. In the European Union, in August 2016, new rules were enacted by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), starting a new stage in the local debate. Previously, in February 2016, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had already adopted measures to prohibit zero rating and other types of content based discrimination, which were considered harmful to the network neutrality principle. Academia, technical community, the industry, and the diverse Internet standardization arenas (IEEE, IETF, Sandvine, Nokia, Cisco, IBM etc.) have been discussing standards and specifications which could help to improve the measures and practices of the diverse players in the Internet Ecosystem. In addition to the challenges inherent to bureaucracy in identifying those responsible for enforcement activities, there are previous challenges linked to these difficulties of prospecting the right and clear technical standards for network activities, so as enforcement procedures and decisions have better support.

Session Content:

This workshop aims at discussing measurement issues and techniques, as well as the challenges inherent to standardization and the consolidation of technical specifications for discriminatory practices and throttling actions in network management and operation regarding network neutrality, as well as supporting enforcement activities. The session intends to identify the types of demanded specifications, and discuss possibilities for their acceptance throughout the Internet ecosystem, as well as the role played by entities responsible for establishing technical guidelines to support enforcement procedures. The net neutrality debate has been evolving around the world and new rules have been enacted in different countries. However, the so-called standards, specifications and best practices for a better balance in management and operation practices are still considerable bottlenecks in the system. The session will be organized in a panel format and will last 90 minutes. There will be five experts from different sectors, analyzing the issue of standardization and technical specifications to net neutrality conformity. The aim is to map research and initiatives throughout communities enrolled in this subject and put them in perspective together with the audience. Each of the speakers will handle a presentation scrutinizing the context and the debate state of the art, the representation sector perspectives, along with an explanation of some initiative she/he and/or her/his organization are involved with. The main questions to be answered by participants will be: (a) what are the main challenges for the consolidation of network neutrality in network operation and management all over the Internet ecosystem?; (b) how law enforcement have been dealing with network neutrality issues worldwide?; (c) what are the current and ongoing initiatives to establish common standards, technical specifications and measurement tools that could support efforts of harmonizing practices for network neutrality conformity? After the presentations there will be time available for a conversation with the audience to contrast different views. Each of the five speakers will have 10 minutes to present, totalizing 50 minutes of presentations. Afterwards, the moderator will handle a debate with the audience for 40 minutes.

Interventions:

The session is structured around a 90 minutes panel format. The moderator will make a brief 5 minutes presentation on the topic, and then there will be five different 10 minutes presentations, followed by a debate together with the audience for 30 minutes. After that the moderator will use the last 5 minutes to close the debate, recalling key issues raised as well as important statements by stakeholders. The policy questions to guide this session are: (a) what are the main challenges for the consolidation of network neutrality in network operation and management all over the Internet ecosystem?; (b) how law enforcement have been dealing with network neutrality issues worldwide?; (c) what are the current and ongoing initiatives to establish common standards, technical specifications and measurement tools that could support efforts of harmonizing practices for network neutrality conformity? Speakers: Ms. Alissa Cooper (Cisco/IETF, Private Sector, US) [TBC] Ms. Michela Meo (POLITO, Technical Community, Italy) [TBC] Mr. Klaus Nieminen (Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA, Government, Finland) [CONFIRMED] Mr. Sunil Abraham (CIS India, Civil Society, India) [TBC] Mr Chris Marsden (University of Sussex, Technical Community, UK) [CONFIRMED] Moderator: Mr. Lisandro Granville (SBC, Technical Community, Brazil) [CONFIRMED]

Diversity:

The list of confirmed and prospective speakers comprises people from all stakeholder groups and individuals who have convergent and divergent economic, political and social perspectives on the policy question proposed. It also follows a roughly 50/50 gender balance at the time of this submission. Moderator and speakers come from six different countries and most of them being newcomers to the IGF space.

Online Participation:

Online participation and interaction will rely on the WebEx platform. Those joining the session using WebEx (either invited members of the round-table or the general audience) will be granted the floor in the Q&A segment of the workshop. People in charge of the moderation will strive to entertain onsite and remote participation indiscriminately. Social media (twitter and facebook) will also be employed by the online moderator who will be in charge of browsing social media using some hashtags (to be defined).

Discussion Facilitation:

The discussion will be facilitated by the onsite moderator who will guide the panel in each of the proposed intervertions for the workshop as well as during the Q&A and comments session. The online moderator will make sure the remote participants are represented in the debate.

Onsite Moderator:

Mr Lisandro Granville (SBC, Technical Community, Brazil) [CONFIRMED]

Online Moderator:

Ms Nathalia Sautchuk Patrício (NIC.br, Technical Community, Brazil)

Rapporteur:

Mr Vinicius Santos (NIC.br)

Session Time:
Tuesday, 13 November, 2018 - 16:40 to 18:10
Room:
Salle II

## 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

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## Contact Information

United Nations
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