Minutes of the 2019-03-25 IAB Business Meeting, Prague

1. Attendance

Present:

• Jari Arkko
• Alissa Cooper (IETF Chair)
• Stephen Farrell
• Wes Hardaker
• Ted Hardie (IAB Chair)
• Christian Huitema
• Mirja Kuehlewind (IESG Liaison)
• Zhenbin Li
• Allison Mankin (IRTF Chair)
• Gabriel Montenegro
• Cindy Morgan (IAB Executive Administrative Manager)
• Erik Nordmark
• Mark Nottingham
• Karen O’Donoghue (ISOC Liaison)
• Colin Perkins (incoming IRTF Chair)
• Melinda Shore
• Robert Sparks
• Jeff Tantsura
• Martin Thomson
• Brian Trammell
• Suzanne Woolf

Guests:

• Carl Gahnberg
• Olaf Kolkman
• Konstantinos Komaitis
• Ryan Polk
• Christine Runnegar
• Andrew Sullivan

2. Internet Society Consolidation Activities

Carl Gahnberg and Konstantinos Komaitis updated the IAB on the Internet Society’s activities related to Internet consolidation.

The background for this activity is in the Global Internet Report 2019. The overarching question is, are there trends of consolidation in the Internet Economy, and if so, how will consolidation impact the Internet’s technical evolution and use?

The Global Internet Report noticed trends of market concentration, vertical and horizontal integration, and fewer opportunities for market entry and competition. The main takeaway is that we need to learn more. The Internet Society is planning funding for data collection, interviews and internal research throughout 2019, an issue of the Journal of Cyber Policy on on Consolidation together with Chatham House, and an event Chatham House in December 2019 to present the results of what has been learned.

These are the focus areas in the Call for Papers and Funding for Data Collection:

• Impact of consolidation on “digital divides” and network developments in developing economies.
• Economic or technical dependence, including those that inhibit innovation, competition or constrain the Internet’s natural evolution.
• The extent to which consolidation is a result of particular characteristics of the service involved.
• New Internet traffic patterns and network practices as a result of consolidation.
• The impact of consolidation on the development of new protocols, standards, or practices.
• Technical drivers for large-scale operations and consolidation.
• Regulatory consideration, whether from the perspective of consumer protection, competition, or administrative law.
• Impact of consolidation on innovation and/or cybersecurity
• Consideration of how emerging technologies (e.g. 5G) may impact consolidation and fiber access networks.

Ted Hardie observed that these topics dovetail with the workshop the IAB is planning on Design Expectations versus Deployment Realities.

Christian Huitema noted that it would be nice to see a separation between the measurement and the analysis to ensure that the data isn’t just a support system for the analysis. Carl Gahnberg replied that the data will be publicly available and the articles will be reviewed by experts outside of the Internet Society staff.

Carl Gahnberg asked if it would make sense for the IAB and the Internet Society to work together on the consolidation topic. Ted Hardie replied that the IAB should narrow down the list of areas the IAB would focus on and get back to him.

3. Internet Society Encryption Activities

Ryan Polk briefed the IAB on an encryption simulation that the Internet Society has planned for later this year. The simulation is designed to show the unintended effects of each decision made along the way in a scenario when law enforcement is seeking access to encrypted devices or applications.

The IAB expressed concerns that the simulation may not have the desired outcome. Alissa Cooper noted that such a simulation would be based around a crisis, and using decisions made during a crisis is not a good way to set policy. She also noted that law enforcement agencies are often already aware of the consequences of their decisions, but are choosing different trade-offs.

Christian Huitema suggested that journalists would be a better target audience for the simulation than law enforcement agencies, as they would raise the issues to the general public.

Christine Runnegar thanked the IAB for their feedback.