Internet Organizations: A study in political science

1
Internet OrganizationsA study in political
science

• Fred Baker
• Chair, ISOC
• Cisco Fellow

2
There are two things you dont want to see being
madesausage and legislation.
Attributed to Otto von Bismark (1815-1898)
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Organizational Chart
Organizations
in the Internet
The
Standards
Service
Government
RIRs
Bodies
Organizations
Interest
IAB
IESG
IRTF
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Address Prefix Assignment

• IETF specified structure of an IPv4 or IPv6
  prefix
• ICANN (historically IANA) assigns them to
  Regional Internet Registries
• RIRs
• Develop assignment policy
• Assign to local NICs, or ISPs, or edge networks
• Local NICs assign to ISPs or edge networks

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DNS Name Management

• ICANN assigns TLDs to registrars
• NSI, ccTLD Operators, etc
• TLD registrars work with registries to allocate
  domain names
• Domain name holders are on their own

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Who makes sure this much works?

• ICANN is responsible for the correct operation of
  its functions
• US Department of Commerce
• Maintains a parental finger in the game
• Participates in root zone changes
• Lots of worried people comment all the time

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Protocol Identifier Management

• IETF owns its protocols
• IAB Charters IANA
• IANA (now) assigns protocol identifiers
• ICANN current operator of the IANA function
• That could change

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Standards Bodies

• The nice thing about standards is that there are
  so many to choose from.
• ISOC and IETF formally related
• Standards bodies have various views of their own
  and each others roles, which do not agree

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Necessity and importance of

• RIRs RIPE, ARIN, APNIC
• IETF
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• ITU-T
• 3GPP/3GPP2
• ETSI
• IEEE
• ICANN
• US Department of Commerce NTIA
• Internet Society (ISOC)

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Necessity and importance of RIRs RIPE, ARIN,
APNIC

• Current address structure
• One or more address prefixes per ISP or
  multihomed edge network
• Requires
• Someone to assign the prefixes
• A venue for multiprovider policy discussions

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Necessity and importance of ICANN and registrars

• TLD structure requires
• Someone to be a registrar
• Someone to maintain root zone
• Is ICANN the only way to manage the root?
• ITU-T would like to do it
• DOC NTIA might think it could
• Alternate root operators suggest roots with
  random content
• A certified organization could manage it
• In short
• Someone must manage root need not be ICANN

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Necessity and importance of US DoC NTIA

• DoC thinks
• US started the Internet and
• Is responsible to make sure it runs
• DoC says
• It would like to step out of parental role
• It currently doesnt trust ICANN
• I think we would agree that someone must ensure
  that root is preserved
• Much disagreement about DoC NTIA

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Necessity and importance of standards bodies

• There exist many bodies that develop standards
  used in the Internet.
• De facto standards
• IETF, W3C, IEEE
• De jure standards
• ETSI Tiphon, ITU-T, 3GPP, 3GPP2
• De facto vs. De jure
• It has not been shown that one type of standard
  is invariably better for technical standards

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Expertise specific to the Internet

• W3C develops/maintains HTML/XML
• IETF has displayed expertise in Internet
  technology
• IETF developed elastic Internet model
• Internet Telephony uses IETF components (SIP,
  RTP)
• ITU-T has developed some Internet Telephony
  H.323/H.248
• Transposition of Telephone model to Internet
  applications.
• Few other obvious claims to fame

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Attempts to cooperate

• Standards bodies attempt to cooperate example,
  ICANN PSO
• PSO recently dissolved for cause
• Cooperation is difficult for all organizations
• Political directions and rivalries
• Structural differences

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Regulatory/Policy issues

• Example
• Should Internet companies be responsible for
  interconnection to transit, or should they share
  the cost of a link?
• How should Internet companies divide/gain
  references in the DNS Root?

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Community deeply divided

• Partially carried on in ICANN now
• Limited success
• ITU-T may be a logical place to have such
  discussions
• Viewed with combination of interest and suspicion
  by various parties

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Place of Government(A very US mindset)

• The purpose and goal of government
• Responsible to its people
• Economic and Military needs need to be met by
  common technology
• Technology
• Policy
• Funds research
• Creates environment for business

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Im from the government and Im here to help

• Can be a means of funding a critical enterprise
• Deployment of telephone technology in 20th
  century largely government initiative
• Often a recipe for disaster
• X.25, ISO/OSI (GOSIP), French VideoTex

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The issue with government involvement with
standards
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton, in a letter to Bishop Mandell
Creighton, 1887
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ITU Direction 1998

• ITU directed to take leadership role in Internet
  Standardization
• Zhao formed relationships with IETF
• Existing relationships with ETSI
• Viewed by IETF as imperialist policy
• Concern about demonstrated expertise
• Largely unsuccessful

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ITU Plenipotentiary October 2002

• The 1988 Treaty will be retained
• ITU actions related to the Internet can only be
  Voluntary Recommendations up until a new World
  Conference.
• Would not take effect until 2009-2010
• Not supported by US, and unlikely to be ratified
  until 2011 or later
• European attempts to modify CS/CV related to the
  Internet unsuccessful.

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Network Security

• Resolution asking the ITU to
• Strengthen the ITU standards work
• Increase the awareness of the importance of
  network security
• The term security is not clearly specified
  could address integrity of the network, or
  integrity of communications, or other subjects
• Impacts
• Strengthen ITU-T and ITU-D work already underway

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ITU view of ICANN

• Modified Resolution 102 (Management of Domain
  Names and IP Addresses) calls for the ITU to
• Take a significant role in the international
  discussions on these topics, including
  internationalization of domain names
• Represent Member State interests in these
  discussions
• Work with other organization on programs to
  assist developing countries

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ITU Website wording

• ITU Website for PP02 highlighted Resolution 102
  progress
• ITU claims Internet names
• Changed yesterday,
• Internet names A matter for government and
  private sector

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Conclusions

• Human motivations
• Organizational infrastructure
• Technology development
• Policy development

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Human motivations in technology

• We develop technology because a need exists
• We deploy technology because it works
• Not because we are told to

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Much of the organizational infrastructure works

• Regional Internet Registries
• Operational internet imperfect but functional
• Technology Standardization
• Works best when standardizing existing technology
• Can be used to develop technology

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There are serious policy issues

• IETF is not a good forum for this
• ICANN problematic
• ITU would like to help

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Internet OrganizationsA study in political
science

• Fred Baker
• Chair, ISOC
• Cisco Fellow