Author: Nicolas Seidler

During the OECD CISP and WPIE meeting in June 2013, several ITAC members had the opportunity to share their perspectives on key issues such as interconnection and traffic exchange, as well as Open Web Standards in the context of emerging mobile App ecosystems:

Internet Traffic Exchange:
During the CISP meeting, Ms. Jane Coffin, Director Development Strategy at the Internet Society, made a presentation on key Internet interconnection and traffic exchange challenges and opportunities. She provided concrete examples of work undertook by the Internet Society in Africa and other regions (e.g. Internet Exchange Points) to fill infrastructure and training gaps and increase connectivity at the local level.

-> Jane’s presentation: http://tinyurl.com/p3kff8a

Open Web Standards:
The WPIE has recently been working on key policies issues related to the “App economy”. In light of these developments, Mr. Robin Berjon, W3C team & editor of the HTML5 specification, made a presentation on the importance of Open Web Standards such as HTML5.
Among other aspects, the presentation emphasised the benefits of HTML5 for app development (e.g. interoperability, innovation), stressed the fact that that web technologies are already present in the app economy (e.g. Facebook, Gmail), and also provided the example of Firefox OS as a mobile operating system already running web technologies.

-> Robin’s presentation: http://berjon.com/presentations/20130612-OECD/#/3

The 65th session of the Information, Computer and Communications Policy committee (ICCP) was held on 11-12 April at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

The Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) provided concrete proposals for the future activities of the ICCP and its high level events in upcoming years, in particular stressing on the importance to assess the positive impact of open Internet standards on global innovation. In this regard, the OpenStand Paradigm was highlighted as providing key principles that encourage the development of market driven and efficient standards that are global, interoperable and open.

One of the key issues discussed at the ICCP was about the deployment of IPv6 and the importance for OECD member states to further promote its adoption. Marco Hogewoning (RIPE NCC) presented the main findings of a draft paper authored by Geoff Huston (APNIC) on the transition from IPv4 to IPv6. It was preceded by video interventions from Geoff Huston and Vint Cerf highlighting the key challenges and importance to foster IPv6 adoption to ensure a sustainable Internet economy.

• Geoff Huston’s presentation: http://www.potaroo.net/presentations/movies/IPv6-OECD.mp4

The OECD also held a session taking stock of the ITU WCIT conference and inviting guidance on how best to address Internet governance challenges in years to come. ITAC, represented by Nigel Hickson (ICANN), stressed the importance to engage with developing countries and to share best practices in other to address some of the concerns that emerged in Dubai. Ultimately, it is hoped that further exchanges and shared understanding will also lead to greater appreciation of the value of multistakeholder frameworks for Internet policy making.

Earlier in the week, ITAC was invited by the OECD Working Party on Security and Privacy to lead the organisation of a roundtable on developments in Cryptography Policy. Robin Wilton (ISOC), Gershon Janssen (OASIS) and Michael Donohue from the OECD Secretariat, with the help of BIAC, CSISAC and OECD members, pulled together a very good set of speakers, who were able to provide both a technical context and topical examples of the economic and social impact of cryptography policy.
Robin Wilton (ISOC), who moderated the roundtable, remarked in conclusion:

• economic and social activity depend on sound cryptography policies
• governments and business need to pay attention to the evolution of cryptography technologies
• even the most careful deployment of cryptography can be flawed, can suffer from attack
• cryptography works best when mechanisms are hidden from the user, because the less the user has to do, the more likely they are to use it.

Several members of the Internet Technical Advisory Committee to the OECD (ITAC) participated to the IP interconnection workshop organized by the Bureau of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the OECD on June 20 in Brussels.

At the end of May 2012, BEREC published a consultation document – “An Assessment of IP Interconnection in the context of Net Neutrality” – which shaped the baseline and expectations for this workshop, seeking in particular the expertise from the Internet community.

Workshop’s outcomes included overall support for BEREC’s work to date and a call for the continued engagement from regulators with the Internet community, to ensure that Internet traffic/interconnection/pricing and content delivery are better understood.

This workshop – including the participation of companies, civil society, the Internet community and senior policy-makers and regulators – also had a session concerning the revision of the ITU’s International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs). In a context of decreasing revenues for traditional telecom operators, some ITR’s proposals could potentially risk altering the infrastructure growth and competitive access and pricing for Internet users.

More insights on this meeting can be found at the following blog post by ITAC member Geoff Huston (APNIC): http://www.potaroo.net/ispcol/2012-06/berec.html

At the occasion of the 63rd session of the ICCP, Markus Kummer, Vice President for Public Policy (Internet Society), was invited to give one of the expert presentations on recent developments in Internet governance. His presentation, which provided a perspective on the emergence of the Internet governance landscape and current challenges, was very well received by member countries and cited a number of times in the following presentations.

His presentation can be found here.