IP: Article on Internet Peering

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 04 Dec 1998 12:00:03 -0500
To: farber () linc cis upenn edu
From: Rob Frieden <rmf5 () psu edu>
Subject: Article on Internet Peering

Colleagues:

        You may find interesting an article I wrote entitled "Without Public Peer:
The Potential Regulatory and Universal Service Consequences of  Internet
Balkanization."  It appears in the current edition of the Virginia Journal
of Law and Technology
http://vjolt.student.virginia.edu/graphics/vol3/home_art8.html.

        I examine the development of private peering with an eye toward assessing
whether smaller ISPs, especially ones in rural areas, will face reduced and
more expensive access opportunities.  I note the maturation of the Internet
and the use of alternatives to Sender Keep All settlements has established
a more hierarchical network of networks operating much like today's
telecommunications network.  If this has occurred and if universal access
to the Internet becomes a public policy mission, then the goal may have
become more challenging and more expensive.  This dilemma arises at the
same time as we face challenges on how to fund a more expansive universal
telecommunications mission.
Rob Frieden
Professor of Telecommunications
Penn State University
105-c Carnegie Building
University Park, PA  16802
office: (814) 863-7996; fax (814) 863-8044
home: (814) 867-2545