FNCAC Resolutions

Resolution - Cryptography and the Internet

April 15, 1997

Resolution - Internet Performance Measurement and Statistics

December 4, 1996

Resolution - WIPO - Proposed Treaty Database

November 18, 1996

Resolution - Next Generation Internet Initiative

October 21, 1996

Resolution - Domain Name Service

October 21, 1996

Resolution - Internet and Copyright Legislation

May 15, 1996

Resolution - Internet Statistics and Metrics

May 7, 1996

Resolution - New Internet Paradigm

May 23, 1995

Resolution - "30% Fund"

May 9, 1997

"The NSF should work with NSI to create a mechanism to ensure that the "30% Fund" will be available for the future development of Internet IntellectualInfrastructure, such as the funding of efforts like ARIN and IANA."

Resolution - Internet Access

May 9, 1997

"The FNCAC firmly believes that the Internet is a critical resource for thenational reseach and education communities. This resource should be madeavailable to the widest possible customer/user base with the highestpossible level of service.

For this reason, the FNCAC recommends that the FCC in its deliberationsabout the pricing of communications services to Internet service providersgive serious consideration to policies which encourage and promote the rapidemergence of Internet access alternatives (ADSL, ISDN, wireless) and otheroptions which provide market differentiation through quality of service."

Resolution - Cryptography and the Internet

April 15, 1997

The FNCAC enndorses the IAB and IESG "Statement on Cryptographic technology and the Internet" of July 24, 1996, published as RFC 1984, with the exception of the language on complete and unlimited export of all cryptographic technology. This exception is a complex issue which brings into play multiple social objectives and which requires further consideration.

While it may be appropriate for national policy to limit the deployment of Federal production systems or exported private systems, it is inappropriate to constrain research or experimentation on security or privacy technologies.

Resolution - Internet Performance Measurements and Statistics

Decemeber 4, 1996

The FNCAC applauds the progress that has been made in the development of tools for the measurement of Internet performance. Standard suites of these tools now need be identified both for traffic flow analysis at the networklevel and for end-to-end performance analysis at the user level. These toolsshould produce results which are easy to interpret, compare, and track. Inaddition to providing much-needed performance metrics, these tools are alsoessential for the identification of network interconnection problems andpotential failure points. Therefore...

The FNCAC recommends that the FNC agencies continue to fund research onInternet performance methodologies with a particular emphasis on thedevelopment of suites of tools that could be adopted by the Internet industryas standard metrics.

The FNCAC recommends that the FNC agencies continue to deploy these tools in both their production and experimental networks. Furthermore as Internetservice customers, the FNC agencies should strongly encourage the industryto develop and employ such suites of tools.

The FNCAC recommends that the FNC agencies fund studies of interpretation ofInternet statistical data and its trends. The results of these studies wouldbe shared with network providers to help them optimize their operations andengineer improvements using new technologies and protocols.

The FNCAC recommends that the FNC encourage those agencies which are traditionally involved with the collection and dissemination of industry-wide statistics and data on other national resources become involved in the area ofInternet statistics.

The FNCAC supports the privacy rights of individual users and networks, andhopes that these rights will continue to be protected during the acquisition,analysis, and dissemination of Internet performance data.

Relevant Links:

Resolution - WIPO Proposed Database Treaty

November 18, 1996

The FNC Advisory Council shares the concerns voiced by the Presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institue of Medicine and by the leadership of several national library assocations regarding the lack of full discussion and the potentially adverse consequences of the draft "Treaty on Intellectual Property inRespect of Databases." The FNCAC urges the U.S. delegation to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) torefrain from pursuing this treaty at the December 1996 diplomatic conference, in favor of further deliberation by theAdministration and public at large.

Related Material:

Letter from NAS, NAE, and IM

Letter from Library Association

Resolution - IP Study

November 13, 1996

The FNCAC endorses the concept paper developed by the NRC Computer Cience and Telecommunications Board and recommends the scope of the study be expanded to included the addition of relevant database issues. The FNCAC recommends that the FNCagencies promptly fund the proposed National Research Council study of Intellectual Property Rights in Networked Environments.

Resolution - Next Generation Internet Initiative

October 21, 1996

High-performance research and education (R&E) networking is critically needed to support today's advanced applicationsand for the early deployment of tomorrow's protocols, network services, and applications. Such networking promotes bothcontinued leadership for U.S. R&E and accelerated availability of new services and applications on the commercial Internet.

Therefore,

The Federal Networking Council Advisory Committee (FNCAC) endorses the Administration's Next Generation InternetInitiative, one component of which is designed to catalyze the emergence of new Internet applications and services bypromoting a vigorous partnership among the private sector, the R&E community, and the Federal Government. The FNCACapplauds the Administration's stated direction of a budgetary increase for participating Federal agencies to support thisinitiative.

Further, the FNCAC encourages the Federal agencies to support initiatives such as the R&E community's Internet II initiative,which is designed to provide focus and coordination for R&E institutions that may be investing at a high level in theaccelerated development of new Internet applications and services.

Resolution - Domain Name Service

October 21, 1996

The FNCAC reiterates and underscores the urgency of transferring responsibility for supporting US commercial interests in ITLD administrations from the NSF to an appropriate entity.

Resolution - Internet and Copyright Legislation

May 15, 1996

A National Academy Study on Copyright and the Emerging Information Infrastructure

New information and communications technological developments in theemerging information infrastructure have raised serious questions aboutwhether existing copyright law adequately protects the creators, users,and distributors of information. To most expert observers, the answer is,"probably not." However, the issue of what changes to make is moredifficult to resolve. For example, Congress is currently consideringlegislation proposed by the Administration to modify the Copyright law,but the legislative proposals have been highly controversial.

In an era of rapid change in communications and informationtechnologies, an increasing range of industries, constituencies, andstakeholders are affected by copyright policy. The developmentalpractices and requirements for innovation of some of these high-techstakeholders may be quite different from the traditional intellectualproperty stakeholders. The FNCAC is concerned that, however copyrightlaw evolves, it do so in a manner that is both technologically sound andthat promotes the growth of an advanced information infrastructure in away that maximizes its benefits to creators, users, and distributors in thegovernment, the public, and the private sectors.

The Federal Networking Council Advisory Committee recommends thatthe Federal Networking Council request that the Computer Science andTelecommunications Board of the National Research Council undertake astudy of Copyright and the Emerging Information Infrastructure. Thenetwork, the way it is used, and the rapidly changing structure ofinformation and communications industries that operate and providecontent for it, as well as the implications for the research and educationcommunities as information providers, distributors, and users of content, raise a number of issues that should be identified, framed as researchquestions or workshop topics, and studied by the CSTB.

The study should examine the implications of ways in which newcommunications technology may vitiate existing protections the lawoffers to creators, users, and distributors, or may provide newopportunities to protect property rights and public interests; as well asthe implications of ways the technology may create entirely newopportunities and new forms of publishing which have no precedence inexisting media or current copyright law.

Questions the study might address regarding the intersection ofcopyright policy and network structure, efficiency and use include:

The changing nature of liability and responsibility for service providers.
The effects of electronic distribution of information products.
The importance of network efficiency mechanisms such as localservers, "caching," and the necessary but often temporaryreproductions in computer memory in the course of normal network andsystems activity, and the impact of these mechanisms on proprietaryinterests.
The effectiveness of technological protection mechanisms, and theirpotential impact on browsing and access to public domain information.

The FNCAC hopes the CSTB would be interested in such a study. To bemost useful to the increasing variety of stakeholders, to the ExecutiveBranch, and to the congressional committees considering legislation, theresults of such a study should be available in about a year, withadditional time required for full dissemination.

Resolution - Internet Statistics and Metrics

May 7, 1996

An Internet Infrastructure to Make Measurements, Gather Statistics, and DevelopMetrics on Network Performance

The Federal Networking Council Advisory Committee (FNCAC) wascreated to advise the Federal Networking Council (FNC) on computernetworking, especially as it impacts the research and educationcommunities which receive funding from FNC agencies. The FNC playeda critical role in the administration of major components of theInternet before its recent transition to commercial providers.The Internet continues to be the network on which the research andeducation communities depend, even as it is rapidly becoming animportant information source for the general public and a valuabletool for commerce. It is in this context that the FNCAC makesthe following observations and recommendations.

It is widely reported that there has been serious degradation to theservices available on the Internet in the year since the NSF backboneservice was phased out. The problems include poor availability andresponse times, limited capacity, and a lack of outage information.Unfortunately things appear to be getting worse rather than improvingwith time. Some of the problems are undoubtedly the result of the rapidgrowth which the Internet has been experiencing. However, it isgenerally agreed that a substantial part of the problem can be attributedto the birth pangs of a new industry where many vendors of differentsizes are in direct competition, and have yet to develop the cooperativemechanisms that will be necessary for a healthy and successfulInternet.

The FNCAC feels that it is particularly important for Internet serviceproviders (ISPs) to incorporate the concept of quality of service in theirofferings. In order to do this it will be necessary to establishinfrastructure to make measurements, gather statistics, and developmetrics on network performance. These data will in turn be useful forproblem avoidance and resolution, as well as for designing andimplementing network improvements. Performance metrics would alsohelp Internet consumers make informed provider choices.

The FNCAC recognizes that market forces should be the principaldeterminants of the evolution of the Internet, and that the role of thegovernment should be as a catalyst. With this in mind we make thefollowing recommendations to the FNC:

We commend the FNC for the collaborative development ofperformance measurements and trouble ticket tracking on theFederally-sponsored segments of the Internet. We urge that this processbe continued and expanded. Of particular importance is the attentiongiven to the impact of such measurements on the privacy of Internetusers and providers, and on the security of Internet facilities and usage.
We recommend that the FNC agencies fund research onmeasurements and measurement techniques that can be employed byISPs and users (or their representatives) to quantify Internet quality ofservice (packet loss, packet delay, route availability, etc.). These shouldinclude methods that can be employed in the NEAR TERM.
We recommend the FNC agencies stimulate the formation of anISP-industry-wide neutral body empowered (by its constituent members)to make measurements and quantify performance under strictconfidentiality, and to share its data and conclusions with individualproviders in ways that are collectively acceptable, for the purpose ofimproving the performance of the Internet as a whole.

We believe that the above steps will help to restore the levels ofdependability and service that were previously available on theInternet, and to maintain and improve their quality in the future.Furthermore we feel that because of urgency and importance of thesituation these measures should be given very high priority.

Resolution - Internet Access

June 29, 1995

Controlling and Facilitating Access to the Internet by Children

Because the Internet interconnects users and information resources inlocal, state, and national jurisdictions, it is inevitable that thefederal government will become involved in issues of network useand information content.

A recent example of an issue before the federal governmentis the "Exon Amendment" to the telecommunicationslegislation passed recently by the U.S. Senate (S.652) which seeks toprohibit the use of telecommunications devices (including networks)for obscene communications unwelcome by a recipient or involvingminors.

The Federal Networking Council Advisory Committee believes thatsocietal goals in research, education, and lifelong learning willbe best served by an information infrastructure that encouragesthe publication of a wide variety of viewpoints and creativeworks, while empowering users to determine the kinds of informationthat is accessible at their access points to themselves and theirchildren.
The Federal Networking Council Advisory Committee wishes to pointout that technical means may be used to restrict access to unsuitablematerials. Such technical solutions may obviate the need for newlegislation regarding content.

We urge that strong priority be given to encouraging:

The exploration of technical means to implement mechanisms that allow parents, teachers, librarians etc., to control the access by children to information accessible via the Internet
The enforcement of existing laws which apply to the use of electronic means to disseminate obscene messages, and to the conduct of other illegal activities covered by those existing laws.

It is the view of the FNCAC that existing and emerging technology cancreate mechanisms which allow parents, teachers, librarians, etc. tovoluntarily restrict children's access to sources of informationaccessible via the Internet which they have directly or indirectlyselected as suitable for those children.

In today's framework of paper books, parents, teachers, and librarianscan select the books they wish children to have access to by:

Choosing books published by reputable publishers whose editorial policies with respect to children's books they trust and agree with.
Using lists of books which are suitable for children which they have obtained from sources of their choosing to create children's libraries.
Personally selecting books which they have examined and determined to be suitable for children

In the framework of the Internet, and its associated technology, itis possible to create Internet access software which will limitaccess by children to electronically stored lists of information sources thatparents have selected, based on their own standards. As in thecase of paper books, these lists can be created by third partiesacting in a role analogous to publishers of children's paper books and otherorganizations who recommend paper books as suitable for childrentoday. Such third parties can include for profit and not-for-profit organizations ranging from publishers to library and teachers'associations.

It should be noted that some existing on-line services restrict access tobulletin boards and Web sites that they consider to be unsuitablefor their customers, and that products are emerging in the marketplacewhich will allow users to limit their access to sites which theydeem suitable and/or to prevent access to sites which they deem unsuitable.

It should also be noted that mechanisms such as those described abovecan be used not only to restrict access to unsuitable information,but also to facilitate access by children and others to informationthat is most likely to meet their needs--e.g., access to informationmost suited for grade school children vs high school children,access to information in specific languages, etc.

The FNCAC recognizes the seriousness of the concerns which the ExonAmendment is seeking to address. We encourage the federal government toexplore technical means which allow parents, teachers and librariansto control and facilitate access by children to information which isdetermined by those responsible adults to be appropriate, and we encourage the federal government to enforce existing laws regarding the dissemination of obscene information and other illegal acts covered by those existing laws.

Technical Notes:

The lists of "suitable" Web sites and bulletin boards can be stewardedby servers which are queried each time a client wishes to link toa new Web site or bulletin board, or they can be downloaded and cachedin the client or a router to which clients connect to access the Internet.

There may be many such lists, which parents, teachers and librarians can choosefrom, or combine into aggregate lists.

Webs sites and bulletin boards maintained by responsible organizationsneed only police their own content. Although they would not intentionally"point" to another site which is unsuitable, the connection to anothersite would only occur after the suitability of that site is checkedagainst the list of sites which was selected by the adult responsiblefor the client.

Web sites that are not created and maintained by organizations whichare trusted to be responsible for their content can become trustedby seeking a trusted third party to certify their suitability---justas an unknown author can seek out a trusted publisher to publisha children's book.

Resolution - New Internet Paradigm

May 23, 1995

FNCAC Recommendations to the FNC Concerning the New Internet Paradigm

The Internet is currently in a state of transition from a small set of federally subsidized networks to a large number of commercially run networks. The Federal Networking Council (FNC) is chartered to "oversee the operation and evolution of the Federal Internet Program in support of research and education". In this charter and in the recommendations thatfollow the term Internet is meant to refer to those unclassified networksthat were initially sponsored by Federal agencies for the support ofresearch and education computing, and which are either undergoingtransition now or may be in the future. The long term goal of thistransition should be a global system of open networks that areinterconnected with a minimum of restrictions.

To ensure that the research, education, and library communities continueto have robust Internet access, the Federal Networking Council AdvisoryCommittee (FNCAC) makes the following recommendations to the FNC. TheFNCAC recognizes that with the transition of the Internet, many of theissues addressed in the recommendations may not, in the end, be amongstthe responsibilities of the FNC to manage or execute. However, duringthe transition, the FNCAC believes that the FNC should attempt toarticulate who should assume these responsibilities. FNCAC is also awarethat the list of recommendations is not exhaustive and could be subjectto additions or modifications in the future.

It is imperative that the funding agencies represented on the FNCbe aware that commercialization of the Internet may place additionalburdens on the recipients of research and education grants. Without acorresponding increase in support the activities supported by thesegrants may be impaired. Traditionally networking has been treated as agenerally available service like a library and its costs have beenabsorbed on a campus-wide or lab-wide basis. Although we believe thatthis is still appropriate, it is clear that if networking costs increasethere may be be no choice but to implement more complex billingprocedures such as direct charges to individual groups or departments.Furthermore, in some cases special arrangements may be required tomaintain the levels of connectivity that are required by various programsand that were previously made available by federally sponsored networks.
It is urgent that the FNC should study what Internet-wide committeesand organizations are necessary for the successful operation of theInternet both during and after its transition to commercial providers.This study should be done in consultation with both domestic andinternational network service providers. Some of the necessary bodiesmay already exist and others may need to be chartered; in both cases itis important to ascertain who will charter and fund them, and to whomthey will report. It is particularly important for the FNC to recommendthe extent to which the government in its role as provider of researchand educational networking should be involved with these entities. Someexamples of relevant issues are:

a) Assignment of address space and domain names as currently done by IANA,

b) Network protocol development and other IETF activities,

c) Network operations coordination as previously done by the NSF.

d) The future need for a new addressing architecture and global routing system as the existing system approaches its limits.
High priority should be given by the FNC to coordinating Federalnetworking research programs - in collaboration with the private sectorwhenever appropriate - to make the best use of available funding, andthen to facilitate the transition of networking research results andfindings into operational networks that support the research andeducation community.
The FNC should investigate what the potential impact of the post-FTS2000telecommunications system is on federally sponsored research and educationnetworking. If possible recommendations should be made that will make thissystem useful as a component of the Internet.
The FNC through its policy committee should formulate a newacceptable use policy for the any federally sponsored portion of theInternet that is intended for research and education use. The policyshould to the greatest extent possible reflect community traditions ofacademic freedom and inquiry, and respect the diversity and opennessthat nourish the R&E enterprise.
The FNC should commission a study on the implications of intellectual property rights on the use of the Internet by the research and education communities. Recommendations should be made as to how these rights can be protected without compromising the fair use,library, and educational exemptions in the copyright law, and withoutcompromising the "open" nature of the Internet. Any recommendationsthat are made should also take into account the impact they may have onthe use of the Internet by private individuals and commercial ventures. Consistent with the goals for the National Information Infrastructure,these recommendations should be formulated so as to encourage theproductive use of the Internet by all user communities.