A Neutral Internet Full of Opportunities Paul V. Mockapetris Chairman & Chief Scientist, Nominum Visiting Scholar, l'Université Pierre & Marie Curie

What is Network Neutrality? Wikipedia – Network neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the internet. – Specifically, network neutrality would prevent restrictions on content, sites, platforms, types of equipment that may be attached, and modes of communication.

What is Network Neutrality? New York Times – The concept of “net neutrality" holds that companies providing Internet service should treat all sources of data equally. – It has been the center of a debate over whether those companies can give preferential treatment to content providers who pay for faster transmission, or to their own content, in effect creating a two-tier Web, and about whether they can block or impede content representing controversial points of view.

What is Network Neutrality? As explained to me by a big telco employee – If we make any decisions on what to do with a packet based on anything other than the address, including who owns the address, we get in trouble.

Recent Headlines Electronista | Gadgets for Geeks - May 1, 2012 – Sony stalls video service plans over net-neutrality concerns Sony stalls video service plans over net-neutrality concerns The Huffington Post - April 30, 2012 – Josh Levy: A Victory for ATT's Shareholders Josh Levy: A Victory for ATT's Shareholders GigaOM - April 27, 2012 – Even if carriers don't like net neutrality, their investors should Even if carriers don't like net neutrality, their investors should Save the Internet Blog - April 27, 2012 – A Victory for ATT's Shareholders A Victory for ATT's Shareholders PC World - April 27, 2012 – Net Neutrality Provision Gets 5.9 Percent of ATT Shareholder Votes Net Neutrality Provision Gets 5.9 Percent of ATT Shareholder Votes The Verge - April 27, 2012 – ATT stockholders vote down net neutrality measure by overwhelming margin ATT stockholders vote down net neutrality measure by overwhelming margin

Recent Headlines Say Anything - April 25, 2012 – FCC Creates $300,000,000 Entitlement For Rural Internet FCC Creates $300,000,000 Entitlement For Rural Internet Betabeat - April 24, 2012 – Testify! Barry Diller Tells Congress to Rewrite Net Neutrality Laws So They Don't Favor Cable Companies Testify! Barry Diller Tells Congress to Rewrite Net Neutrality Laws So They Don't Favor Cable Companies Post I.T. - April 24, 2012 – Senate hears about online video and lots of brand placements, too Senate hears about online video and lots of brand placements, too

Who’s Rights Are Violated? WiFi provider gives free web access, but substitutes in new ads. Parties: – User – WiFi hotspot – Web page creator – Original ad insert What about the Firefox tool to suppress ads? What about enterprise firewalls?

Who is Responsible? Can Google sell the BMW search term to Mercedes? Who can own the search term for “generic Lipitor”? Who is responsible for malware on a website?

What’s a network? Cable companies typically deliver two types of service: – Digital Video Multiple “channel” packages It may be all digital to a set top box, or real analog channels, or a mix – IP Good old Internet Do we want the same neutrality rules for both types? If priced by usage: – By the show? – By the bits consumed? – Who profits from multicast?

The Most Basic Question

Observations Every party wants no regulation for themselves, but regulation for everyone else – Intellectual property owners vs. users Who decides how many DVD regions? Do copyrights last forever? – Upper level services vs. IP transit IP was once a value added service. – Wireless vs. wired Wireless is special? What about WiFi? A lot of it is “Who pays, and who gets”

My Conclusions 1.Separate solutions for separate societies. – I speak only for my opinion on US policy. – We should learn from differences. 2.The Internet is NOT so special: go back to “Regulate monopolies or create competition” – There’s no purely technical solution, particularly in a single network layer. From photons to Facebook. – No special exemptions for “high levels”, wireless, app stores, APIs, etc.

My Conclusions 3.A policy-free network is not the answer – Everyone accepts filtering spam – The network has a role in security 4.Ensure funding for innovation – Whether Bell Labs or IPO model 5.The Network, like other platforms should remain generative

One last Point Much of the problem is caused by mistrust & conflict between citizens, carriers & government. If we can do more in the network, we can do more for all, but there are hard choices.

Examples If we let the operator watch traffic, it can detect attacks & infections – Should it notify the user? – Should it protect other users from the infected ones? Let the user specify blocking: – Per destination blocking rules: warn/block/pass – Implement in carrier? – Keep the user’s rules private

Questions?