seserv workshop alissa cooper - net neutrality practices

Internet Traffic Management in the UK

Alissa CooperChief Computer Scientist

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Discrimination

differential treatment of different Internet traffic

on the basis of application or content

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Potential avenues for discrimination

Blocking/filteringPrioritization/QoS

Traffic shapingInterconnection

Caching

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Potential avenues for discrimination

Blocking/filteringPrioritization/QoS

Traffic shapingInterconnection

Caching

Traffic management Everything else

Operator’s initiativeNo payment

Performance justification

Negotiated with app provider Payment

Revenue + performance justification

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Potential avenues for discrimination

Blocking/filteringPrioritization/QoS

Traffic shapingInterconnection

Caching

Traffic management Everything else

Operator’s initiativeNo payment

Performance justification

Negotiated with app provider Payment

Revenue + performance justification

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Potentially discriminatory traffic management examples

• Blocking/filtering– Preventing pure BitTorrent seeding

• Traffic shaping– Allocating small % of peak bandwidth to

identified P2P protocols– Limiting identified streaming video

traffic to 1 Mbps at peak time

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ISP 0 ISP 1 ISP 2 ISP 3 ISP 4 . . . ISP N

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ISP 0 ISP 1 ISP 2 ISP 3 ISP 4 . . . ISP N

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Competition

Competition reduces operator’s incentive to discriminate because discrimination may drive

customers to competitors

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Competition

Competition reduces operator’s incentive to discriminate because discrimination may drive

customers to competitors

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BT Wholesalebackhaul

BT Openreach access

ISP network

ISP backhaul BT Openreach access

ISP network

Unbundled exchange

Urban

Rural

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UK broadband connection shares

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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

BT Retail

Everything Everywhere

O2

O2 off-net

TalkTalk

Sky

Sky off-net

Virgin

Virgin off-net

Hints of UK application shaping

P2PVideo

P2P, Video

P2P, News

P2P

P2P, News

P2P

P2P

User-reported limits: App experiences 0.5% to 10% of headline speed.Weekdays afternoon to midnight, weekends mid-day to midnight.

P2P, News

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BT Wholesalebackhaul

Openreach access

ISP network

£££

Cost savings

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BT Wholesalebackhaul

Openreach access

ISP network

£

Cost savings

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Price competition

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TM platforms get entrenched

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Why?

• Cost savings• Price competition• Traffic management platforms get

entrenched

Sdf Competition has not safeguarded nondiscriminatory traffic

management in the UK

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BT TalkTalk Virgin Sky, O2 Everything smaller ISPs Everywhere

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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

AT&T

CenturyLink

Comcast

Cox

Other cable

Verizon

Hints of US app limitations

Observed behavior consisted primarily of preventing pure BitTorrent seeding.

P2P

P2P

P2P

FCC Enforcement FCC Rules

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Conclusions

• Traffic management strategies can be highly influenced by market structure

• Competition does not necessarily prevent discriminatory traffic management

• Designers of future traffic management technologies should recognize primacy of incentive structures into which they want to deploy

Questions?

Alissa CooperCenter for Democracy &

Technology

acooper@cdt.org