The most important work will get done in the early hours of the last night, as was the case in Melbourne. Lots of countries are lining up to speak on Article 6, the one that has been our focus.
Also unresolved are some important economic issues. Perhaps the most potentially game-changing aspect here involves language that would replace the end-to-end principle (where network operators agree to carry all traffic from its origin to destination without discrimination) with a “sender-pays” system. (You may remember similar issues coming up in the United States during the net neutrality debates.) Right now, network owners generally exchange data with one another for free and get their revenue from charging end-users for the provision of Internet service. But replacing this with a “pay-to-play” system would mean that network operators and possibly event content providers like Netflix would have to pay fees to send their data over other networks. This could increase cost to consumers and create additional barriers for smaller businesses and nonprofits, particularly in developing countries.
1 Comment
Abu Saeed Khan
The drama over domain address kept them awake beyond midnight in Dubai.