(fwd) Information Infrastructure Project

["E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>]

From:	IN%"rre@weber.ucsd.edu"  1-MAY-1996 00:50:15.50
From: Phil Agre <pagre@weber.ucsd.edu>

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 17:21:36 EST
>From: Tim Leshan <LESHAN@ksgrsch.harvard.edu>
To: IIPLIST@ksgrsch.harvard.edu
Subject: Workshop Announcement and Call for Papers 


               Information Infrastructure Project 
                       Harvard University 
                
         Commercial Internet Exchange Association (CIX) 
  
                        Internet Society 


        COORDINATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNET 
 

           Workshop Announcement and Call for Papers 
 
This is a first announcement and call for papers and proposals 
for a workshop to be held at the John F. Kennedy School of 
Government, Cambridge, MA, USA, on September 8-10, 1996. 
The workshop will address issues in the international 
coordination and management of Internet operations.  We are 
seeking papers which address the economic, organizational, 
legal and technical issues in migrating to internationally 
sanctioned, industry-supported processes and institutions. 
What should a fully internationalized Internet look like, and 
how do we get there from here? 
 
Topics to be explored in the workshop and resulting publication 
include: 
 
      - policy and management issues concerning: 
         network addresses 
         domain names 
         routing policy 
         settlements 
         interconnect points 
         intercontinental connectivity 
         quality of service standards 
 
      - legal and institutional structures for supporting core 
       Internet functions; 
       
      - institutions and policies needed to ensure the future 
       scalability and extensibility of the Internet; 
       
      - technical and implementation issues presented by 
       heterogeneous national information policies; 
       
      - the need for data in support of Internet planning, 
       including issues of how data should be collected and 
       maintained; 
       
      - coordination needed for the deployment of new 
       technology; 

      - international crisis management for the Internet. 
       
Although the Internet is already substantially privatized, 
certain essential functions -- notably the domain name 
registry, network number assignment, and the routing arbiter -- 
are still funded by the U.S. Government.  Unlike the local 
telephone exchange, these integrative services are managed by 
third parties, contributing to an open competitive environment 
which has helped enable rapid growth of the Internet.  Rapid 
growth, commercialization, and internationalization are putting 
stress on current institutions and procedures -- which are 
neither self-sustaining nor officially recognized at the 
international level.  The National Science Foundation plans to 
phase out support for core administrative services and for 
international connections, just as it has withdrawn support for 
production-level backbone services.  Conflicts over tradenames 
and number assignments suggest that international legitimacy is 
needed for domain name and network number management. 
 
Beyond support for essential functions, there are many 
practical and policy issues where some greater degree of 
coordination or institutional leadership may be desirable.  For 
example, how can the implementation of new technology and 
protocols be expedited? What common definitions and guidelines 
should exist to describe network performance?  Should the 
functions performed by current Internet institutions (such as 
the Internic, RIPE, APNIC, and the IANA) be brought into a more 
robust international infrastructure, and if so, how?  To what extent 
are multilateral peering arrangements and settlements needed to 
encourage continued growth and competition in the Internet 
access industry? 
 
The conference will engage scholars, practitioners and policy 
makers in examining and discussing these issue.  It will bring 
together stake-holders, academics and individual leaders within 
and beyond the Internet community to help define the future 
institutional infrastructure of the Internet. 
 
Workshop papers will be revised and edited following the 
workshop for publication by MIT Press as part of the Harvard 
Information Infrastructure Project series.  Potential 
participants are encouraged to submit papers that can be 
developed and revised for publication (copyright assignment is 
not required).  Please send an abstract by June 15, 1996, for 
review by the program committee. 
 
Please direct papers, proposals, and requests for future 
mailings to: 
 
James Keller 
Information Infrastructure Project 
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University 
79 JFK Street 
Cambridge, MA  02138 
617-496-4042; Fax: 617-495-5776 
jkeller@harvard.edu 
 
The Harvard Information Infrastructure Project is a project 
in the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the 
John F. Kennedy  School of Government, with associated 
activities at the Kennedy School's Center for Business and 
Government and the Institute for Information Technology Law 
and Policy at Harvard Law School.  This event and publication
are funded in part by a grant from the National Science 
Foundation, Division of Networking and Communications Research 
and Infrastructure.