Description:

This roundtable workshop will discuss the impact of regulatory frameworks affecting Internet openness. Recent initiatives in some countries dealing with over-the-top services (OTT), and that intersect and possibly conflict with regulations and principles on network neutrality, may impose risks to interoperability of the Internet and may result in unintended consequences such as Internet fragmentation.

This workshop aims to analyse current networking behaviours and policy frameworks using recent case studies of new policies that impact the interconnectedness of the Internet. This includes efforts in South Korea, and recent debates in the European Union, related to regulation of paid peering between network providers. For instance, there have been increasing regulatory efforts to require Internet Service Providers to charge for traffic they receive from each other as well as from content providers.

From the technical point of view, we can discuss the relationship between new online services, deployment models and openness of the Internet. From the regulatory perspective, we explore how interventions in interconnection policies can impact network behavior.

The roundtable format of the workshop will provide the opportunity to share and discuss a diverse range of perspectives on these issues.

Ultimately, this session’s objective is to foster a greater understanding of network neutrality and its roles in the functioning of the Internet, and the importance of maintaining an open and global Internet for all.