16 April 2007

Private incentives and public networks

This article does a good job articulating the problems that any major redesign of the Internet will face. Quoting the article:

Commercial and policy interests will likely play a bigger role this time as researchers explore "clean slate" designs that scrap the Internet's underlying architecture to better address security, mobility and other emerging needs.

*snip*

Participants in a new network also could include law-enforcement officials, who are already demanding that Internet service providers retrofit the existing network to ease wiretapping of Internet-based phone calls. Governments around the world, including the United States, also could seek ways to block porn and politically sensitive Web sites - and better identify those who distribute the forbidden.


Do you think that one of the reasons that we see an incremental approach to upgrading the Internet has to do with what is possible given the divergent interests of the heterogenous stakeholders? What does the redesign effort have to do with the "Next Generation Networks" that are being widely touted?

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