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Communications Law

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Internet interconnection

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Full-Text Articles in Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law

The Evolution Of Internet Service Providers From Partners To Adversaries: Tracking Shifts In Interconnection Goals And Strategies In The Internet’S Fifth Generation, Rob Frieden Jul 2015

The Evolution Of Internet Service Providers From Partners To Adversaries: Tracking Shifts In Interconnection Goals And Strategies In The Internet’S Fifth Generation, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

At the Internet’s inception, carriers providing the bit switching and transmission function largely embraced expanding connections and users as a primary service goal. These ventures refrained from metering traffic and charging for carriage based on the assumption that traffic volumes roughly matched, or that traffic measurement was not worth the bother in light of external funding from government grants. Most Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) bartered network access through a process known as peering in lieu of metering traffic and billing for network use. As governments removed subsidies and commercial carriers invested substantial funds to build larger and faster networks, identifying …


The Evolution Of Internet Service Providers From Partners To Adversaries: Tracking Shifts In Interconnection Goals And Strategies In The Internet’S Fifth Generation, Rob Frieden Jan 2015

The Evolution Of Internet Service Providers From Partners To Adversaries: Tracking Shifts In Interconnection Goals And Strategies In The Internet’S Fifth Generation, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

This paper will examine new models for the carriage of Internet traffic with an eye toward providing insights on how the interconnection process has changed and what positive and negative consequences have resulted. Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) interconnection used to constitute a cooperative undertaking, but now it increasingly requires difficult and protracted negotiations between ventures that consider themselves adversaries in a winner take all transaction. The paper concludes that new commercial arrangements, such as paid peering, can achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. However, the paper also identifies instances where migration from traditional interconnection arrangements can harm consumers by reducing some of …


New Models And Conflicts In The Interconnection And Delivery, Rob Frieden Jan 2014

New Models And Conflicts In The Interconnection And Delivery, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

As the Internet has evolved and diversified, interconnection terms and conditions have changed between Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”). These carriers experiment with alternatives to conventional models that classify interconnection as either peering or transiting. The former typically involves interconnection between high capacity carriers whose transoceanic traffic volumes generally match thereby eliminating the need for a transfer of funds. Historically smaller carriers have paid transit fees to larger Tier-1 ISPs for the opportunity to secure upstream links throughout the Internet cloud. With the growing availability of bandwidth intensive, video content carried via the Internet, traffic volume disparities have increased between ISPs. …