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

[Leslie Daigle]

Hi Olivier,

I agree with your assessment of the challenges to implementing such a  
tariffing plan, but I believe the article is not an entire mis- 
representation of the work being proposed/pursued by China in SG3.

Leslie.

On Dec 18, 2009, at 10:58 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:

> 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
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Leslie Daigle
Chief Internet Technology Officer
Internet Society
daigle at isoc.org