Internet Society Frontpage

Events Membership
About the Internet Standards
Publications  Public Policy
About ISOC Education

Individual Members 

Become an ISOC Member

ISOC Monthly Newsletter


Recent Editions

February 2010

Follow-up to the IETF 76 Hot Topics Rough Guide

In November, we published the Rough Guide to IETF 76’s Hot Topics. Here now is the follow up to the meetings highlighted in that guide.

For IETF 76, which was held in Hiroshima, Japan, we focused our attention on working groups, BoFs, plenaries, and other events at IETF 75 in the following broad categories:

  • Common and Open Internet
  • Global Addressing
  • Security and Stability

In addition to the main IETF content, ISOC also held another expert panel, this time on “Internet Bandwidth Growth: Dealing with Reality”. You can listen to a recording of that event, or read the transcript, here:

http://www.isoc.org/bandwidth

Looking ahead, the final preparations are underway for IETF 77, in Anaheim, USA, 21-26 March 2010, so we will soon be bringing you a guide to the expected highlights of that meeting.
_____________________________________
Common and Open Internet
As P2P and VoIP technologies become more prevalent, and network usage patterns sometimes deviate from their architects’ expectations, managing bandwidth to allow best use for customers becomes an increasingly important topic.
_____________________________________

mptcp (Multipath TCP)
This is a new working group since the successful BoF meeting held during IETF75. The Multipath TCP (MPTCP) working group develops mechanisms that add the capability of simultaneously using multiple paths to a regular TCP session. The primary output of the group will be the protocol extensions needed to deploy MPTCP, and adaptations to congestion control to safely support multipath resource sharing. Initially the WG will only produce documents that are experimental or informational.

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter/mptcp-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • A productive and lively meeting took place during IETF76.
  • The MPTCP WG (Multipath TCP) scheduled an Interim meeting by audio on
  • Wednesday 10 February 2010.
  • The WG is now mainly focussed on meeting it’s first milestone, namely establishing WG consensus on the mptcp architecture.

Related activities:

  • There was also a separate mptcp implementers meeting held in Hiroshima. There are several ongoing implementation efforts. The plan is to have a publicly available reference implementation in under 6 months. A Linux implementation from UC Louvain in Belgium is here: http://inl.info.ucl.ac.be/mptcp
  • There is a good web page on mptcp including details of the UC London implementation here: http://nrg.cs.ucl.ac.uk/mptcp/

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/mptcp.txt

Meeting materials: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/mptcp.html#slides

IETF wiki here: http://trac.tools.ietf.org/area/tsv/trac/wiki/MultipathTcp


conex (Congestion Exposure) BOF
Congestion Exposure (ConEx) is a proposed new IETF activity to enable congestion to be exposed along the forwarding path of the Internet. By revealing expected congestion in the IP header of packets, congestion exposure provides a generic network capability which allows greater freedom over how capacity is shared. Such information could be used for many purposes, including congestion policing, accountability and inter-domain SLAs. It may also open new approaches to QoS and traffic engineering.

Outcomes:

  • The meeting in Hiroshima was packed and lively.
  • The meeting went well, considering that the topic is complex and has many architectural implications. Many speakers thought that the problem space was important, and that the IETF should begin some work here.
  • The discussion of Re-ECN as an example solution got sidetracked for a bit, because people needed to ask clarification questions about the proposal, and then tried to understand in more detail all the different aspects of the proposal.
  • There is significant interest and energy in the community, but there is a need for more time to discuss and work through exactly what problems to try to solve. Discussion is continuing on the re-ecn mailing list.
  • A draft charter has been sent to the IESG for consideration, and there is a possibility it will meet as a WG in Anaheim. Although not yet approved, it is likely that this group will at least meet as a BOF at IETF 77.

Related activities:

  • There is an article discussing congestion exposure in the latest issue of IETF Journal

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/conex.txt


homegate (Broadband Home Gateway) BOF
This is a new initiative. Device manufacturers, and/or the organizations what specify requirements for such devices, are not certain which IETF standards and best current practices should be supported, and when/why that support is needed. As a result of this, millions of devices are being deployed every year which do not work with important IETF protocols, standards, and best practices that are central to the future of the Internet. The primary objective of this group is to document a baseline of ‘core’ RFCs/BCPs which must be supported, followed by some ‘advanced’ RFCs/BCPs which are to be considered optional. A secondary problem is compatibility with and capability for the use of the Internet of tomorrow. New security needs related to DNS are motivating a move to DNSSEC. However, many if not most home gateways cannot handle DNSSEC, which is expected to be a major problem that could significantly impede the deployment of DNSSEC globally. Support for IPv6 is also lacking to a great degree and there is no clear understanding of how such devices should support IPv6.

Outcomes:

  • The BOF went well, and there is interest and energy in the community to take on work in this space. There were people from ISPs, vendors, and others in the room, which was promising.
  • However, it is not entirely clear what exactly the scope of a homegate working group would be. There’s also a need to better understand how an IETF effort can complement the efforts of other groups in this space.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/09nov/minutes/homegate.htm

ppsp (Peer to Peer Streaming Protocol) BOF
The purpose of PPSP BOF is to determine whether a working group should be formed to develop standard signaling protocols (called PPSP protocols) for multiple types of entities (such as intelligent endpoints, caches, content distribution network nodes, and/or other edge devices) to participate in P2P streaming systems in both fixed and mobile Internet.

Outcomes:

  • The meeting concluded with agreement that the proposed charter needed more work before a decision could be made about forming a WG. Discussion is continuing on the mailing list and a revised charter will be sent to the IESG for consideration very soon.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/ppsp.txt

_____________________________________
Global Addressing
There is steadily increasing momentum to deploy IPv6 as the IPv4 address pool approaches depletion. While much work is ongoing to support interoperability in coexisting IPv4 and IPv6 network environments, there are also interesting developments in emerging IPv6 environments.
_____________________________________

6lowpan (IPv6 over Low power WPAN)
The 6lowpan WG deals with the use of IPv6 over low powered networks (such as sensornets). This is protocol development for devices on “the Internet of Things”. The basic concept in 6lowpan is that IP may become a unifying layer for low powered devices for interoperability, potentially over the Internet. 6lowpan is intensely focused on developing the protocols to enable this to happen.

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/6lowpan-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • There was an agreement that the routing requirements document would be submitted to the IESG for approval. There seemed to be some agreement that SNMP could be used for managing these kinds of devices although details remain. No document for this has been accepted as a working group item.
  • Although this working group has been going on for some time and has a sense of urgency now due to the SmartGrid efforts currently gaining a lot of attention in the United States, there remains some churn on the neighbor discovery document. There was a consensus call about how to proceed with the document after the meeting in Hiroshima and it was determined to split out the basic 6lowpan ND functions from the rest of the document. That draft has now been created.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/6lowpan.txt

Meeting materials: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/slides/6lowapp-0.pdf

behave (Behavior Engineering for Hindrance Avoidance)
While behave was chartered to create mechanisms for transiting NATs in reliable ways, most of its activity is now focused on protocol translation from IPv4 to IPv6 in a number of different scenarios. Of particular interest in these scenarios is how the proposed mechanisms deal with DNS operation across the two protocol realms (and whether it is possible to maintain any kind of reasonable operation of secure DNS in such a scenario).

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/behave-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • The working group last call is about to be issued on 6 documents related to v6v4 translation and reviewers for all of those documents were requested to identify themselves. The WGLC was in fact issued on 12/18. The documents are:
  • Reviews have been completed and posted to the WG mailing list.

Related activities:

  • Of interest to people who are following this work, the 3gpp and the IETF are holding a joint meeting 1-3 March in San Francisco to go over IPv6 in 3gpp scenarios and identify areas where work may need to be performed in both organizations.  It is an open meeting. Details are here: http://webapp.etsi.org/meetingcalendar/MeetingDetails.asp?mid=28391

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/behave.txt

Meeting materials: http://www.ietf.org/proceeding/76/behave.html

v6ops (IPv6 Operations)
The IPv6 Operations Working Group (v6ops) develops guidelines for the operation of a shared IPv4/IPv6 Internet and provides operational guidance on how to deploy IPv6 into existing IPv4-only networks, as well as into new network installations.

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/v6ops-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • Discussion in Hiroshima included recommendations for IPv6 CPE devices, new transition tools, new measurements of IPv6 traffic, IPv6 deployment scenarios for ISPs, and IPv6 deployment in Internet exchange points.
  • There is now a CPE requirements document that represents more of a unified view of possible requirements. The list is however extensive and it’s not quite clear to what extent all requirements will be adopted in all CPE devices and in what timeframe, so there is still the possibility of fragmentation in the market.

Minutes: not yet published

Meeting materials: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/v6ops.html

aplusp (Address Plus Port) BOF
There are a couple of efforts underway to standardize the use of NATs further in the network rather than at the edges. One of the approaches is called DS-lite and it is being standardized in softwires. Another approach uses address and port sharing. It may be used on its own or in a way to supplement DS-lite.

Outcomes:

  • There was no consensus to do new work in this space and there will be no new working group on this topic in the IETF at this time.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/aplusp.txt

6lowapp (Application Protocols for Low-power v6 Networks) BOF
6LOWAPP is a BOF considering whether different protocols, or modifications to existing protocols, are needed for very low power devices that may proliferate for sensor type networks. There is a great deal of enthusiasm not just to define the work of a potential working group coming out of this BOF but also to start defining problems and protocols.

Outcomes:

  • The mailing list for this BOF had a lot of traffic before the meeting and continues to have traffic after the meeting. It was agreed that there is work that needs to be done in this area and there is now on the BOF mailing list discussion about the charter for a working group to do that work. It appears the name of the new working group will be CoRE. To subscribe to the mailing list send a request to 6lowapp-request@ietf.org.

Minutes: not yet published

Meeting materials: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/slides/6lowapp-0.pdf

_____________________________________
Security and Stability
Securing the DNS and greater assurance in routing is critical for the ongoing expansion and evolution of the Internet in all areas of our societies and economies.
_____________________________________

dnsext (DNS Extensions)
This working group is involved in developing a wide range of functional extensions to the DNS. dnsext also tracks the DNS implications of the behave WG.

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter/dnsext-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • During the summary of documents in working-group (WG) last call, it was pointed out that although 5 participants agreed to review the GOST document when it was adopted as a WG item, none have commented during the last call.  (This omission was corrected on the list shortly after the meeting and the draft was advanced to the IESG.  Paul Hoffman’s related draft concerning allocation of new DNSSEC algorithms was described as ready for last call following a small set up updates.
  • Whether the DNSSEC-bis document should specify default policy for trust anchors was discussed without resolution; the document will just document alternatives. Discussion of whether TCP is mandatory transport for DNS included discussion of modified TCP and alternative (such as SCTP) transport protocols.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/dnsext.txt

DNSOP (Domain Name System Operations)
The dnsop WG works on various operational aspects of the Domain Name System.

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter/dnsop-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • The draft on dnssec-key-timing was discussed and adopted as a WG item.  Several questions were asked, but need resolution on the mailing list, regarding resolver priming. The trust-anchor history service was not discussed.
  • The DNSSEC Signing Policy & Practice Statement (DPS) Framework, which has already been used by Verisign and ICANN in drafts for signing the root, was adopted as a WG item.
  • Reverse DNS in IPv6 was discussed but not adopted, although there are strong views that operators are not required to populate the reverse tree, especially for small office and residential networks.
  • Discussion of top-level domain name specification, which concentrates on potential confusion among internationalized domain names, got push-back as more a matter of policy than protocol or technology.
  • A proposal for a DNS query to “local.arpa” to bypass DHCP-provided resolver addresses was introduced, with several problems identified and to be discussed further.
  • IANA described changes to unify protocol port and service registries was described, with an alternative proposal to be posted to the mailing list.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/dnsop.txt

sidr (Secure Inter-Domain Routing)
The sidr WG working group is chartered to formulate an extensible architecture for an inter-domain routing security framework.

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter/sidr-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • At least 12 draft updates were reported; only those with significant discussion summarized here.
  • Discussion of Route Origin Authorization (ROA) validation exposed different opinions whether operators prefer to validate on BGP-routers or on provisioning servers.
  • Different views of whether, or under what condition changing RPKI algorithm were no more complicated than rolling a key were discussed, especially with respect to propagating algorithm change through a tree of authorization.
  • Discussion of Local Trust Anchor Management suggested wider support than at the previous meeting, along with clearer examples.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/sidr.txt

savi (Source Address Validation Improvements)
The savi WG is chartered to design methods for IP source address validation that complement ingress filtering with finer-grained protection.

Full charter: http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter/savi-charter.html

Outcomes:

  • There was an lengthy discussion of the SAVI protocol framework, following which, the draft-vogt-savi-framework was considered by the WG to be a good starting point.
  • This was followed by a discussion of SAVI for locally generated addresses, focused on the local network segment, with address ownership based on FCFS.
  • There were also discussions on DHCP, liaison with the Broadband Forum, and a CERNET/CNGI implementation update.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/76/minutes/savi.txt

karp (Keying and Authentication for Routing Protocols) BOF
Many routing protocol deployments, if they use authentication at all, are using older (possibly deprecated) cryptographic algorithms and missing some modern security mechanisms, like replay protection, algorithm agility, or key rollover. In addition, many use the same key permanently. This needs to be fixed. Additionally, key management for routing protocols needs to be added to easily address the terminated-employee problem of compromised shared secrets. Such key management needs to work over multicast media, and needs to work directly over the link layer in some cases (since routing depends upon it).

Outcomes:

  • A productive meeting took place in Hiroshima and the discussion has continued on the mailing list to agree how to divide up the work and how to refine the charter. The expectation is that karp will have its first WG meeting at IETF77 in Anaheim.

Minutes: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/09nov/minutes/karp.html

Top

Internet Society Publishes Statement on Open Inter-networking

Paper submitted for expert group convened by French Minister of Internet Economy

GENEVA–26 February 2010–The Internet Society this week submitted a paper on “Open Inter-networking” to a Net Neutrality expert group convened by French Minister of Internet Economy, Nathalie Kosciusko MorizetI. The paper proposes a set of policy considerations derived from the need to preserve access, choice, and transparency as key to ensuring the Internet remains a platform for innovation and economic development.

The modern Internet features increasing complexity of uses and demand for bandwidth. The Internet Society believes that openness is the overarching principle that has ensured the success and growth of the Internet to date. Internet standards, development, and governance are open to all to participate, contribute, create, shape, and build. This openness is reflected in key characteristics of the Internet, including:

  • Shared global ownership – no central control
  • Open technical standards
  • Collaborative engagement models – researchers, business, civil society, government
  • Freely accessible processes for technology and policy development
  • Transparent and collaborative governance

Policy and regulatory approaches should take into account the overarching principle of openness, as well as the enabling characteristics of access, choice, and transparency. In practical terms, this means encouraging:

  • Effective competition at the network and services level;
  • A diversity of competitive service offerings that are transparent and enable the user to make an informed choice of provider and level of service;
  • Unimpeded access to a diversity of services, applications, and content offered on a non-discriminatory basis;
  • Comprehensible and readily-available information as to service limitations, network and traffic restrictions that the subscriber is subject to, and;
  • Reasonable network management that is neither anti-competitive nor prejudicial.

The complete “Open Inter-networking: Getting the fundamentals right: access, choice, and transparency” paper is avalable at:

English:
http://www.isoc.org/pubpolpillar/usercentricity/20100222-Inter-Networking.pdf

French:
http://www.isoc.org/pubpolpillar/usercentricity/20100222-Inter-Networking-fr.pdf

Top

Chapter update: Nigeria

Report on recent trip to South Africa
Contributed by Giandomenico Massari

The Internet Society Nigeria Chapter, The Nigerian Society of Engineers Port Harcourt Branch, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Rivers State and the Rivers State Government, Nigeria have been in  partnership in a programme tagged “ICT4ALL”. In this programme they are evangelizing ICT to make ICT awareness common in schools and using ICT to boost agriculture with the “Growing Connection” concept. On 8-13 February 2010, the ISOC Nigeria Chapter and the NEPAD team travelled to South Africa to visit an agricultural project and the NEPAD African Secretariat in Midrand, South Africa were they met with the CEO of NEPAD, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, who is a former Prime Minister of Niger Republic.

The ISOC/NEPAD team visited several Earth Box farms in Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa. The team was taken to the farms in the two cities by Jonathan Norton of Operation Lion Heart of South Africa.
On return back home to Nigeria, the ISOC/NEPAD team has held meetings and is working towards the implementation of the project here in Nigeria. A time-line in executing the project in Nigeria has been slated.

Top

How ICTs Are Changing the Way We Live

The eLearning Africa 2010 Photo Competition

Communicating with friends all over the world, putting business ideas into practice via the Internet, learning any time and any place – Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS) have permanently changed life all over the planet.

To help illustrate what this means for Africans, eLearning Africa 2010 has launched a photo competition called “How ICTs Are Changing the Way We Live”.

For full details of the conference, visit eLearning Africa 2010.

Top

Chapter update: New York

Contributed by Joly MacFie

The Internet Society New York Chapter would like to send out best wishes to all who are celebrating the start of the Year of the Tiger, supposedly a time of “great change”.

Eben Moglen’s speech “Freedom in The Cloud”

The webcast of Eben Moglen’s speech “Freedom in The Cloud” is proving to be one of most popular ever, and has received over 20,000 hits representing about a 1000 views since 14 February. In the talk, Eben challenges the tech community to provide the public with the means to recapture its privacy from the social media/cloud juggernaut through the development of personal social media servers operating in a robust distributed network.

Note that free DVDs of this talk are available to libraries, educators, and other interested in running screenings – email dvd@isoc-ny.org and ask for DVD1710. More information…

Harlem Internet Computer Access Project

Now christened with the handy acronym HICAP – Merle Bush’s ISOC-funded effort to bring Internet literacy to seniors in Harlem is on track, and we are just in the process of purchasing the first round of hardware. Something she is needing are good ergonomic and comfortable chairs that are suitable for her clients. If you know of any going spare, or any other good quality equipment, particularly laptops – please feel free to get in touch directly. More information…

ISOC-NY Noticeboard now piped to Facebook

That’s right! Through the wonder of Networked Blogs you can now get the latest hot items of Internet interest delivered straight into your Facebook! No more messing with fuddy duddy old rss feeds! More information…

Top

Chapter update: Belgium

Contributed by Rudi Vansnick

The Internet Society Belgium Chapter started 2010 with a huge list of agenda-points to resolve. First, we had to tackle the new Auvibel (intellectual property) tax on electronic equipment. The new law applies dues to equipment, such as external hard drives, USB stick, flash memory cards, even if they are used for personal storage purposes. A meeting with the minister of economic affairs made clear the next revision of this law will be carried out in collaboration with organizations such as ISOC Belgium.

At the start of February, ISOC-BE’s chair, Rudi Vansnick, was asked to appear at a hearing in the Belgian parliament and senate in regard to the debates related to the European data retention regulation. We defended the position of Internet users and their privacy rights. Blocking and filtering the Internet, or the storage of Internet user connection information, in the name of law enforcement, is not something we could defend. We also question why the ordinary Internet user has to pay the bill for these proposed actions. The outcome of the hearing will be put together in a new draft document, which will be sent to all participants of the hearing. ISOC Belgium proposed to postpone the final law, as the EU is planning a general review of the specific European regulation. Perhaps lessons could be taken from that evaluation and help us to create better solutions.

At the end of the first week of the month, our chair was interviewed by Flemish television in the context of a special session on Internet addiction. We got a lot of attention and are now starting an in-depth questionnaire to better analyse to actual situation. It has been claimed that more than 15 percent of Belgian Internet users seem to suffer from Internet addiction. Some also say that the arrival of social networks doesn’t help, and may, in fact, simulate addiction symptoms.

An ongoing process at Chapter level is the implementation of a new Members only website corner. In the next three months, we will organize at least two seminars focusing on the use of standards, especially web accessibility. We are also preparing the upcoming ICANN meeting in Brussels.

Top

Chapter update: Netherlands

Contributed by Michiel Leenaars

ENUM Discoverer performs magic thanks to ISOC.nl and SIDN

Internet Society Netherlands Chapter has been very active in promoting standards like SIP and ENUM. Now the age of smartphones is dawning, ENUM is becomes very interesting indeed for connecting our online activities to that class of devices. During the annual Internet NY event in Amsterdam on 14 January 2010, ISOC-NL and the Dutch registry SIDN premiered an open source tool called ENUM Discoverer, available for Android phones. ENUM Discoverer runs on your phone quietly in the background, notifying you when people in your address book publish new information about themselves. Why should you manually add every Twitter account, change of email address or new subscription to the latest social media craze for everyone in your address book, when ENUM can do it for you? Corporate users and privacy-minded people will enjoy the automatic retrieval of public keys, so they can secure their communications with 100 percent certainty that they are not being eavesdropped on. We are now looking to make the tool available on many more platforms and extend the functionality. Interested? Contact ISOC Netherlands for more details.

ENUM Business Opportunities

On 2 March, ISOC-NL and SIDN will hold a half-day event, presenting several ENUM business cases as well as relevant background information on ENUM. Speakers are SIDN, Internet Society Netherlands Chapter, Nominet (UK), Instra Corporation (AUS), DigiNotar, and Numiq. Spoken language is English, so if you are interested in ENUM, do join us. Also we will present the results of an inquiry about the ‘new’ ENUM. You can still participate and help ISOC-NL out by letting us know what you think/expect/want of ENUM technology. Please fill out the survey.

The survey findings will be used to support the development of ENUM and to improve the information exchange on this subject. Your opinion and experiences in this area are a valuable contribution to this survey. Completing the questionnaire should take no more than a quarter of an hour. The information you give us will be treated in the strictest confidence, and the general survey findings will be presented at the ENUM Business Opportunities event on 2 March 2010 in Utrecht and published on the web.

More info and registration.

Top

Chapter update: Hong Kong

Contributed by Ka Ping Wong

IPv6World.Asia – Security issues arising from deployment (23 February)

After the first IPv6World.Asia conference held last November, the Internet Society Hong Kong Chapter has established an IPv6 working group to further work on IPv6 development and deployment. Last time, our message focused on taking action, while this time we further investigate the consequential security issues of deploying IPv6. In view of addressing the concern of some corporates and the IT industry players, we held a half-day conference on 23 February. We invited Professor Suguru Yamaguchi from Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan and Mr. Richard Tychansky, (ISC)2 and Chief Cybersecurity Engineer of Identity Dynamics Corporation from USA to be our honorable speakers.  They are both very experienced in the related field. The response has been very good, with registration exceeding 200. We will upload the video and presentation of the conference to the official website soon.  Please check out at www.ipv6world.asia <http://www.ipv6world.asia>.

The 3C – Digital Creativity Dialogue Series 3.0
Public Consultation Forum on Proposals for Strengthening Copyright Protection in the Digital Environment

The HKSAR government issued a consultation document in December 2006 to seek public views on how best to strengthen copyright protection in the digital environment. Taking into account the views that they have received, as well as the latest developments in overseas jurisdictions, the latest paper aims at creating a robust copyright protection regime in Hong Kong.

For ISOC-HK, a number of questions arise. How would the proposal affect the sustainable development of creative industries? What options does it propose to tackle copyright infringing activities across the Internet? While safeguarding personal privacy on the Internet and promoting the development of Hong Kong as an Internet service hub, how does the proposal respond to public’s concern on the possible adverse implication on the dissemination of information due to the enhanced legislation? How to balance between rights of various stakeholders and the freedom of information?

A public consultation forum was held on 28 January, providing an open platform for discussion between the industry and the Government, giving everyone a chance to voice their opinion and contribute to the improvement of the legislation.

Top

Chapter update: Australia

Contributed by Holly Raiche

The big event for the Internet Society Australia Chapter in February was our very joyful reception for Michael Malone, CEO of iiNET on the day the judgment was handed down in the Roadshow vs iiNET case (as reported in the newsletter last month). Board member Narelle Clark and Executive Director Holly Raiche spent the afternoon distributing our press release and answering Chapter queries from everywhere on the decision.

In other news, we have now finalised the ISOC-AU position in response to a Government consultation paper on the Australian ISP filtering policy. As our press release and submission state, we do not support the Government’s policy . We also participated in the committee which is planning this year’s Communications Department cyber-security week, starting on 5 June, and we attended the first meeting of auDA’s New 2TLDs Advisory Panel. Finally, we have begun planning for the 2010 IPv6 Summit, to be held in October this year.

Top

Internet bandwidth growth: Dealing with reality

The latest edition of HotLINX – available now – contains an article summarizing the Internet Society’s panel event “Internet bandwidth growth: Dealing with reality“, held during IETF 76, in Hiroshima, Japan.

ISOC is a regular contributor to HotLINX, published by London Internet Exchange (LINX).

A more detailed account of the bandwidth panel session, written by ISOC’s Mat Ford, is also available in the current edition of the IETF Journal.

Top

Ghana network operators combine with ISOC for sysadmin workshop

The Ghana Network Operators’ Group (ghNOG), in collaboration with the Internet Society Ghana Chapter (ISOC GHANA) and the Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC), announce the ghNOG-2 Unix Systems Administration Workshop scheduled to take place at GTUC from 15-19 March, 2010.

The Workshop is an initiative of Internet Society, in partnership with AfNOG to build ICT capacity at the country level. Applications are invited from suitably qualified IT personnel, especially women, working with network operators, who wish to upgrade their skills.

Full details are available here.

Top

Small ICT business innovation still big in Asia Pacific

Published on behalf of the Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF)

The Asia Pacific is still proving to be a centre of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovation in small business, with the release of 2009 figures showing the sector is surging. APNIC’s Chief Scientist, Geoff Huston’s report, 2009 in Review – the IP Address Registry Perspective, shows despite a 5% global downturn, the Asia Pacific accounted for nearly half of the IP addresses allocated in 2009. Small business is leading the way in innovative approaches to the extension of infrastructure in the Asia Pacific. This approach requires flexible and timely funding strategies to support technical research and implementation, such as the assistance provided by funding programs such as ISIF.

The Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) is a small-grants program aimed at stimulating creative solutions to ICT development needs in the Asia Pacific region. The program was established in 2008 through a partnership between the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Internet Society (ISOC), and with generous support from the dotAsia domain registry.

The 2010 ISIF program received its greatest number of applications so far with 207 submissions received from 25 different economies. The competition was very tough, comprising a strict set of selection criteria and a rigorous process followed by the Grants Evaluation Committee (GEC), to finally select 8 projects from Australia (to be deployed in Timor-Leste), Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The successful projects showcase innovation, cooperation, and technical knowledge, and have the potential to create social change in their communities in areas such as IT infrastructure, health, or multilingualism. The projects also reflect current issues in technical and social discussion, including two projects that focus on IPv6 research and deployment; exploring the opportunity for developing economies to get ahead in the IPv6 challenge. Two other projects focus on the deployment of wireless technologies to serve isolated communities providing alternative services thus making communications cheaper and more accessible.

Details of the 2010 grant recipients are available here.

The ISIF program has received an increasing number of applications and requests for support. This indicates there is a vibrant community of reliable organizations and qualified IT professionals eager to test and develop new ideas, recognizing the need to boost R&D investment for ICT4D initiatives.

The ISIF program has reviewed its partnership and sponsorship strategy, opening the possibility for other interest parties to join the program. This will allow a higher number of projects to be sponsored per year, as well as fund sponsor workshops and produce in-depth publications.

For more details on how your organization can support cutting edge ICT programs in the region, contact Sylvia Cadena, ISIF Project Officer.

During 2010, results of the projects funded during 2009 will be shared with the Internet community.

ISIF is planning to continue with a new call for applications. Details will be available at www.isif.asia in late-2010.

Top

Chapter update: Bulgaria

Contributed by Julia Velkova

The Internet Society Bulgaria Chapter chairman recently held two public lectures at the Sofia Math High School, together with chief inspector Yavor Kolev (Combating Organized Crime Unit of the Bulgarian Police), and Georgi Apostolov of www.safenet.bg (the Bulgarian National Center for Safer Internet). The three lecturers spoke in front of about 100 kids from different ages (12 to 15), and gave them a vivid picture of the dangers confronting young children online. A recent case in Sofia, Bulgaria, was on the front page the following day, and Mr. Yavor Kolev described the actions of the police in locating the cyber criminals, gathering the evidence, and the arrest itself, which took place on the day of the lecture. The lectures were initiated by ISOC-Bulgaria’s chairman of the Board Veni Markovski. He presented the good side of the Internet, which kids could get inspiration from – the way they do their classwork, prepare for next lesson, and communicate with each other. The lectures were quite a success, and children sent the lecturers home with applause.

Top

Chapter update: Colorado

Contributed by Chris Grundemann

The Internet Society Colorado Chapter is incorporated! The Chapter is now an official nonprofit corporation established under Colorado law. We have also filed for and received our federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service. Additionally, we have started the registration process with the state of Colorado as a charitable organization, which will then let us legally solicit donations. This process should be complete within the next few weeks. Simultaneously, we have started the application process for federal tax exemption as a “501(c)(3)” charity.

Top

Chapter update: Mexico

Contributed by Alejandro Pisanty

The ISOC Mexico Chapter had a significant participation in consultations about ACTA, the Anticounterfeiting Trade Agreement. As is well known, ACTA is being negotiated by the US, the European Union, Mexico, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, and a few other countries, and there are signs that its drafts may include clauses which could have significant effect on the Internet.

Several members and the Chair of the ISOC Mexico Chapter helped shape and took active part in the consultations organized by IMPI, the Mexican governmental authority for intellectual property rights, and lead representative to the ACTA negotiations. They have also been active in making available information and opinion on what is known of ACTA through magazine articles, blogs, a Facebook group, and Twitter.

The session allowed diverse points of view to be expressed and ended with an agreement by the director general of IMPI to push for the maximum transparency possible in the negotiationns, and to open consultations after the meeting of the ACTA negotiating parties in Guadalajara.

Top

Jonathan B. Postel Technical Academy Created to Extend Internet Technical Skills in Kenya

Award winners’ donation funds equipment, personnel, and connectivity for new ICT center in Kendu Bay

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., USA and GENEVA, SWITZERLAND–9 February 2010–Winners of the most recent Jonathan B. Postel Award have donated their award to help establish a technical academy with computer equipment, staff, and Internet connections in Kendu Bay, Kenya. The new Jonathan B. Postel Technical Academy will provide individuals in Kendu Bay the opportunity to gain technical skills and experience, increasing their capacity to communicate, collaborate, and interact with people throughout the world.

The Internet Society presented the 2009 Jonathan B. Postel Service Award to CSNET (the Computer Science Network), recognizing the pioneering work of the four principal investigators that conceived and later led the building of CSNET–Peter J. Denning, David Farber, Anthony C. Hearn and Lawrence Landweber–and the U.S. National Science Foundation program officer and visionary responsible for encouraging and funding CSNET–Kent Curtis. CSNET was the research networking effort that during the early 1980s provided the critical bridge from the original research undertaken through the ARPANET to the modern Internet. The awardees have donated the US$20,000 presented as part of the Postel Award to help create the new technical center.

“We are honored to help create the Postel Technical Academy in Kendu Bay. We believe it extends Jon Postel’s vision of a broadly accessible Internet that brings people together,” said Lawrence Landweber, one of the CSNET principal investigators recognized by the 2009 Jonathan B. Postel award. “The Postel academy also continues the CSNET legacy of empowering people around the world to communicate and collaborate through the use and understanding of networking technology.”

Establishment of the Jonathan B. Postel Technical Academy will be coordinated by Inveneo, a nonprofit social enterprise that gets the tools of information communications technology (ICT), such as computers, telephony, and Internet access, to those who need it most–people and organizations in rural and highly underserved communities of the developing world. The Postel Technical Academy will comprise part of the Kendu Bay Community Knowledge Centre, which is run by the local organization Rachuonyo Online Networks, and will be co-located with a Cisco Networking Academy, providing additional synergy and opportunity for collaboration to the Postel Academy students and instructors.

“The people of Karachuonyo are really looking forward to building ICT skills with support from the 2009 Jonthan B. Postel Award winners,” said Kennedy Kabasa, an ICT coordinator in Karachuonyo, Kenya, where the Postel Technical Academy will be located. “This initiative will enable us to help bridge the shortage of ICT skills and infrastructure in the region, and allow our people to participate more fully with others from all over the world in this wave of technology.”

About the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award
The Jonathan B. Postel Service Award was established by the Internet Society to honor individuals or organizations that, like Jon Postel, have made outstanding contributions in service to the data communications community. The award is focused on sustained and substantial technical contributions, service to the community, and leadership. With respect to leadership, the nominating committee places particular emphasis on candidates who have supported and enabled others in addition to their own specific actions. Previous recipients of the Postel Award include Jon himself (posthumously and accepted by his mother), Scott Bradner, Daniel Karrenberg, Stephen Wolff, Peter Kirstein, Phill Gross, Jun Murai, Bob Braden and Joyce K. Reynolds (jointly), Nii Quaynor, La Fundacion Escuela Latinoamericana de Redes (EsLaRed), and CSNET. The award consists of an engraved crystal globe and a US$20,000 honorarium. For more information, see: http://InternetSociety.org/postel

About Internet Society
The Internet Society (ISOC) is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet’s premier technical standards body. With offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. For more information see http://InternetSociety.org

About Inveneo
San Francisco-based Inveneo is a non-profit social enterprise whose mission is to get the tools of information and communications technology (ICT) to people and organizations that need them most, in rural and highly underserved communities in developing countries. To accomplish this, Inveneo identifies and certifies affordable and highly sustainable ICT hardware, software and power solutions for organizations that provide vital services–healthcare, education, economic development, and relief–to some of the poorest communities in the world. Inveneo delivers these solutions by partnering with in-country ICT entrepreneurs who are trained and certified by Inveneo to design and deploy ICT technologies for challenging environments. For more information see http://inveneo.org/

Media Contacts
Greg Wood
Internet Society
wood@isoc.org
+1-703-439-2145

Peter Brooks
Inveneo
peter@inveneo.org
+1-415-255-1554

Top

New Technique Developed to Identify Cheating in Online Games

Presentation at NDSS 2010 builds on record response to Call for Papers

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA and GENEVA, SWITZERLAND–2 February 2010–In a paper scheduled to be presented at the upcoming 17th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS 2010), Darrell Bethea, Robert Cochran, and Michael Reiter of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill describe a technique they have developed to identify cheating in the rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar industry of online gaming which includes titles such as World of Warcraft. The full paper will be published in the NDSS Proceedings.

Cheating through the use of non-sanctioned client software compromises the gaming experience for players and undermines the revenue of game developers and operators. The approach outlined in the paper to be presented at NDSS 2010 could help ensure the integrity of the online gaming experience by providing an automated, alternative approach to current, manually programmed methods of identifying game cheats. The described approach is server-based and does not increase the required bandwidth, often a critical expense for game operators.

“The technique my colleagues and I have developed helps short-circuit the constant cat-and-mouse game currently underway between game operators and cheaters,” said Michael Reiter, Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “Because of the way the technique works, and the opportunities it provides for game operators to validate clients’ actions, we believe it opens the door for considering new approaches to designing online games.”

In addition to an outstanding program of technical presentations, the NDSS 2010 program will include a keynote presentation by former White House counterterrorism and cybersecurity czar Richard A. Clarke, an internationally-recognized expert on security, including homeland security, national security, cybersecurity and counterterrorism. The full NDSS program spans the spectrum of current security concerns, including:

  • Security of Web-based applications and services
  • Anti-malware techniques: detection, analysis, and prevention
  • Intrusion prevention, detection, and response
  • Combating cyber-crime: anti-phishing, anti-spam, and anti-fraud techniques
  • Privacy and anonymity technologies
  • Security for electronic commerce
  • Intellectual property protection
  • Security for collaborative applications: teleconferencing and video-conferencing

“The NDSS 2010 program continues the conference’s tradition of providing an unsurpassed breadth of network and system security topics, and of presenting new research into areas such as spam and malware,” said NDSS Program Chair Wenke Lee, a Professor in the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “New to this year’s conference are emphases in online identity and privacy of Web use and traffic, and a focus on ways in which safer Web programming can provide stronger foundations for security and privacy.”

The NDSS 2010 program also for the first time includes a session on the ethical issues raised in networking and security research. The panel discussion will take place on 1 March during the first full day of the conference program.

NDSS brings together innovative and forward-thinking members of the Internet community – including leading-edge security researchers and implementers, globally-recognized security technology experts, and experienced professionals from both the private and public sectors – who design, develop, exploit, and deploy the new and emerging technologies that define network and distributed system security. NDSS 2010 is sponsored by the Internet Society, and will be held in San Diego, California, from 28 February to 3 March. For more information, see: http://isoc.org/ndss10

Top

Latest IETF Journal available

The latest version of IETF Journal (Volume 5, Issue 3, January 2010) is now available online and for download.

The IETF Journal, is an Internet Society publication produced in cooperation with the Internet Engineering Task Force, providing an easily understandable overview of what’s happening in the world of Internet standards with a particular focus on the activities of the IETF Working Groups.

Top

New Organization Promotes New Internet Text Streaming Technology

Real-Time Text Taskforce promotes text equivalent to voice

OSS, NETHERLANDS and GENEVA, SWITZERLAND—1 February 2010—The Real-Time Text Taskforce (R3TF) today announced the establishment of an independent, open forum and centre of excellence where engineers, experts, motivated individuals, companies and organisations can work together to advance the adoption of Real-Time Text (RTT), a character-by-character streaming technology that provides immediacy for text-based communications, similar to what the telephone service provides for voice.

Arnoud van Wijk, Director of the R3TF stated: ”With mature standards in place, it is time to implement and use RTT so that everybody can use it to communicate with each other in a more direct conversational way using text, regardless if you are a person with a hearing or speech disability or able to use voice. I am also excited to see the many new services that are possible with RTT.”

As part of its Enabling Access Initiative, the Internet Society (ISOC) served as an incubator for the R3TF by providing coordination assistance, technical expertise, and implementation support during the early stages of its development. The success and interest generated in the volunteer project led participants to develop the R3TF as an independent organisation.

Karen Rose, Director Access and Development Initiatives of ISOC said: “We’re extremely pleased that the Real Time Text Taskforce is building on the success of its work over the past few years to develop the foundation for these new services. Real Time Text is a wonderful example of the open Internet’s ability to provide a platform for new, innovative capabilities.”

Building on established Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards, Real Time Text provides character-by-character streaming, enabling an immediacy not available with other text-based services such as SMS and Instant Messaging. This is especially important for people with a hearing or speech impairment, replicating the abilities telephone service provides for voice communication. The Real Time Text feature can be included in a call together with other media, such as video and audio, to create Total Conversation and other services with enhanced usability. It can also be used in situations where voice may not be appropriate such as meetings or noisy environments. The R3TF will focus on:

  • Guiding and advising on implementations of Real-Time Text (RTT)
  • Promoting interoperability of different RTT systems and services, and
  • Expanding awareness of RTT among industry, organizations, end-users and governments.

For more information, see: http://RealTimeText.org

About Real Time Text Task Force (R3TF)
The Real-Time Text Taskforce (R3TF) is an open forum and centre of excellence where engineers, experts, motivated individuals, companies and organisations work together and educate each to advance the wide spread adoption of Real-Time Text (RTT). More information is available at http://RealTimeText.org

About Internet Society
The Internet Society (ISOC) is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet’s premier technical standards body. With offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. For more information see: http://InternetSociety.org

Media Contacts

Arnoud van Wijk
R3TF
arnoud@realtimetext.org

Greg Wood
Internet Society
wood@isoc.org
+1-703-439-2145

Top

ISOC Member Newsletter. Suggestions, comments, and questions welcome to, newsletter@isoc.org

ISOC's key initiatives target the critical issues that affect all aspects of Internet development and growth. They embody ISOC's philosophy that the Internet is for everyone and they provide the organization with a solid foundation from which to positively influence standards development, access, business practices, and government policies.
Copyright © 2010 Internet Society | Sitemap | Privacy Statement | Contact us
Valid HTML 4.01! Valid CSS!