At the recently concluded ITU Plenipotentiary Meeting in Busan, Korea, India made a range of proposals to strenghten trust and confidence in the Internet. Although time for discussion at the Plenipot was short and consensus could not be reached, participants agreed that the discussion on these issues should continue in different fora with the participation of all stakeholders.

This round table seeks to make a beginning to that conversation in India itself, by bringing together a small group of about twenty five experts from all stakeholder groups in a round table to discuss each of these proposals, their rationale feasibility and possible implications, both positive and negative, in depth. In addition, for those suggestions where there is agreement that they should be taken forward, or that further investigation is needed to come to a conclusion, the meeting will also aim to lay out the next steps for going forward.

In particular, the round table will investigate India’s proposals at the ITU Plenipot and other suggestions in the following three broad areas:

• Keeping local traffic and address resolution local;

• Improving trust and confidence through technical measures relating to transaction records, non-contingency of names and numbers, etc.;

• Developing principles to better understand whether the current system of IP resource allocation and management is systematic, equitable, fair, just, democratic and transparent, and how the system can be strengthened, if at all.

Agenda #

12.00−1.00 pm: Lunch

1.00−1.10 pm: Welcome and introduction to the meeting

1.10−1.30 pm: Introduction to the proposals and their background

Mr Ram Narain, Deputy Director General International Relations, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India

1.30−2.45: Issue 1: Keeping local traffic and address resolution local

Chair and opening remarks: Dr.Govind, CEO, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)

We’ll explore, among others, India’s proposals:

a) To develop recommendations on network capability for address resolution so that traffic originating and intended to be terminated by the user in the same country/​region takes place within the same country/​region.

b) To develop a system that ensures effectively that traffic originating and intended to be terminating in the same country remains within the country.

2.45−3.00 pm: tea/​coffee break

3.00−4.15 pm: Issue 2: Improving trust and confidence through other technical measures

Chair and opening remarks: Dr.Gulshan Rai, Director General, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT)

We’ll explore, among others, India’s proposals:

a) To develop effective ways for maintaining faithful records of transactions through the network.

b) To develop a naming and numbering system from which different countries are easily discernible.

c) To study present protocols used in telecom networks, and whether they are sufficiently secure, robust and tamper-proof protocols to meet the requirements of future networks in view of the envisaged manifold increase in traffic and end-devices

4.15−4.45 pm: Issue 3: Strengthening the democratic nature of global internet governance

Chair and opening remarks: Mr. Ram Narain, Deputy Director General International Relations, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India 

We’ll explore, among others, India’s proposal to develop principles to better understand whether the current system of IP resource allocation and management is systematic, equitable, fair, just, democratic and transparent, and how the system can be strengthened, if at all.

4.45 – 5pm: Conclusions, going forward and thank yous

Participants #

Participants will come from core ministries and organisations of the Government of India involved in Internet governance as well as law enforcement, the business community, civil society, academia and the technical community, to each contribute to the discussion and exploration of these proposals from their own perspectives. Resource people from APNIC and other technical experts have kindly agreed to participate as well and will provide further crucial expert input on technical and administrative/​organisational matters as required. Participation is by invitation only.