[Chapter-delegates] Fw: BBC News: China/ITU/IETF

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond]

All:

>
> Very interesting article on the BBC:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8417680.stm
>

My own views on this article is that there appears to be a gross 
misunderstanding by many people of how the Internet works, and I am trying 
to find out in this instance, who's more guilty of this misunderstanding, 
whether it is "China", the gentleman from the European Commission, the ITU, 
or the BBC.

Yes, in some cases, the Internet works with peering agreements allowing for 
flow of traffic from backbone provider to backbone provider. But this is not 
the case for every Internet Service Provider out there.
"Pendants", ie. networks connected to the rest of the network through a 
single link, sometimes pay to get connected to the Internet backbone, with 
no "discount" whatsoever. This has always been the case, and it is therefore 
entirely possible that an end user gets charged according to the amount of 
traffic they send and receive. The great thing about the Internet is that 
charging models at the edge of the network (customer access points etc.) can 
be whatever you design them to be. Of course, you can't charge on a per 
destination basis, but that's the whole point of the Internet.

The use of the word "Borders" in the article is even more confusing: "China 
wants to meter all internet traffic that passes through its borders", ie. 
into/out of the country, and there is allusion to the "Border Gateway 
Protocol - BGP". What an amalgamation! These two, I'm afraid, are completely 
unrelated.

Also, the paragraph "It would allow countries which currently receive no 
payment for use of their lines to generate income." is completely misleading 
too. Short of a few insane volunteers like us lot, I have never heard of an 
actual "country", (1) being in the business of owning and running 
telecommunications lines, and (2) doing it for free.

Finally, I find it... amusing, for lack of better fitting word, to see that 
the ITU, an organisation which has brilliantly excelled in its absence of 
involvement in the development of the Internet, is purported as being "the 
UN body in charge of internet standards".

Is the ITU trying to introduce a PSTN-era monopoly telecom control? Shall we 
all turn back our clocks 30 years?

Red herring or serious political move? I wonder if any of you have sources 
which could validate this article, and whether the perceived threat is real 
or grossly inflated?
Bonus question: if metering Internet access in this way, how will economic 
growth be impacted in Western Economies when their digital economy plans 
collapse?

Warmest regards,

Olivier

-- 
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
http://www.gih.com/ocl.html