IGF 2023 DCNN (Un)Fair Share and Zero Rating: Who Pays for the Internet?

This session aims at discussing the so called “fair share” debate, which is rising in popularity especially in the European Union and South Korea and moving rapidly to LatAm; the session will also touch upon zero rating schemes, especially popular in the countries of the Global South. The aim of the session is to adopt an evidence based approach to discuss to what extent fair share and zero rating can be beneficial for the internet economy and to whether they contribute positively or negatively to the sustainability of the internet ecosystem. Furthermore, panellists will explore how these two core issues connect with broader debate on Internet openness vs Internet fragmentation. The conversation on network fees is key for the future of the Internet, because effectively it is a conversation about changing the topology of the Internet. Is this something we should be doing? Are stakeholders fully aware of the multiiple dimensions of such proposals?

To facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees, we will leverage a hybrid event platform that provides real-time communication channels. For the onsite attendees, we will project the virtual attendees and their questions/comments onto the screen to ensure that both groups can engage with each other. In addition, we will use a moderated chat on Zoom for online participants to interact with onsite speakers and vice versa. The session will be designed with both online and onsite participants in mind. The session will be structured with interactive segments to engage all attendees, such as Q&As and debates to cater both online and onsite participants. To increase participation and interaction during the session, we plan to use an online document to allow participants to contribute their thoughts in a shared digital space. We will also utilize social media platforms for pre-session and post-session engagement, such as Twitter and Instagram for live updates.