IGF 2023 Town Hall #32 Internet Engineering Task Force Open Forum

 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Town Hall - Interoperability and the multistakeholder mode

The IETF is the premier Standards Development Organization for Internet protocols. Its mission is to make the Internet work better by producing high quality, relevant, technical standards and engineering documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) of the IETF provides architectural oversight for Internet protocol development and standardization. The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) is a parallel organization to the IETF with a focus on longer-term research related to the Internet. 

In this Town Hall we will discuss and highlight the importance of interoperability based on common, interoperable, and continually evolving infrastructure standards in maintaining a global and healthy Internet, and avoiding fragmentation. The Internet is a network of networks. That means, networks that want to connect to/be part of the Internet must be interoperable. “Internetworking” is the defining characteristic of the Internet [1]. This interoperability can be best achieved by using exactly one protocol at the Internet layer: a common global infrastructure layer, the Internet Protocol, that supports the multiplicity of applications and services we take for granted on the Internet today. On all layers, the Internet Protocol, the link layers below, and the transport and application layer protocols above, the Internet is constantly evolving the existing protocols and adding new protocols and features. Technical standards describe designs for protocols such that different networks or service providers can interoperate. This provides a key role of the IETF in Internet governance by maintaining and developing the Internet protocol suite to enable interoperability based on a common infrastructure and avoid fragmentation that would impact evolvability of the Internet and services on top of the Internet significantly.

The IETF is part of, and through its processes fosters, the multistakeholder nature of Internet governance. The IETF standards development process, and the longer-term research groups in the  IRTF, are open for participation by all, with no individual or organizational membership requirements. The IETF operates by consensus and its standards development is fully transparent and openly documented. These principles provide the basis for the participation by a broad set of stakeholders to enable input and consideration of all perspectives in the standards-setting process. We briefly will discuss and highlight the operational process of the IETF implementing the multistakeholder Internet governance model.

This Town Hall will allow a significant opportunity for delegates to pose questions to the IETF, IAB, and IRTF leadership, and key community members. The main focus will be on understanding the process by which the IETF develops technical standards relating to the Internet, their relationship to partner organizations such as ICANN, IANA, the RIRs, IEEE, W3C, the Internet Society and others, and the role of the IETF in Internet governance. The Town Hall will also address the role of the technical standards developed by IETF in providing an interoperable basis for development, and thereby relates to the role of standards and interoperability in avoiding fragmentation of the Internet infrastructure.

[1] Postel Jonathan B. Postel. 1980. Internetwork Protocol Approaches. IEEE Trans. Comput. 28, 4 (April 1980), 604–611. https://doi.org/10.1109/ TCOM.1980.1094705

(1) How will you facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees?

We anticipate that speakers will be both onsite and online, so we will ensure interaction between onsite and online attendees by requesting all questions throughout the session be submitted through the virtual platform chat function, where we will also maintain the microphone queue. These will be relayed to online and onsite speakers and attendees on a microphone if made in person, through the remote moderator, or directly in the virtual platform.

(2) How will you design the session to ensure the best possible experience for online and onsite participants?

The design of the session will ensure the best possible experience for online and onsite participants as it will build in time for questions and input by participants. We will also set aside the final 20 minutes for questions. We intend to monitor the chat function throughout the session.

(3) Please note any complementary online tools/platforms you plan to use to increase participation and interaction during the session.

The onsite and remote moderators will coordinate in a direct channel and they will play an active role by encouraging questions on specific themes and posing questions directly to the panelists.