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MIT Communications Futures Program

MIT Communications Futures Program. Fall 2013 Plenary . Morning 8:45 What’s the Internet For, Anyway? Dave Clark, MIT CSAIL Panel: Rob Hunter, ESPN Sam Chernak , Comcast Hannu Flinck , Nokia Siemens Networks Tessa Sproule , CBC Digital 9:45 Break

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MIT Communications Futures Program

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  1. MIT Communications Futures Program Fall 2013 Plenary

  2. Morning • 8:45 What’s the Internet For, Anyway? • Dave Clark, MIT CSAIL • Panel: • Rob Hunter, ESPN • Sam Chernak, Comcast • HannuFlinck, Nokia Siemens Networks • Tessa Sproule, CBC Digital • 9:45 Break • 10:00 Ultimate Media, Andy Lippman, Henry Holtzman, Mike Bove, MIT Media Lab • 11:00 Visions of the Wireless Future: Insights into Emerging Technologies, Dina Katabi, • Wireless Center @ MIT • 11:45 Lunch • Afternoon • 12:45 Media and Telecom: The Canadian Experience • Ana Serrano, Canadian Film Centre • Tessa Sproule, CBC Digital • Caitlin O’Donovan, Corus Entertainment • 1:45 Break • 2:00 Money Flows in the Internet Ecosystem, • Dave Clark, MIT CSAIL • 2:45 Mobile Broadband Working Group, Dave Clark, MIT CSAIL • 3:15 Break • 3:30 Sports over IP, Charlie Fine, MIT Sloan • 4:15 Trust Frameworks, Karen Sollins, MIT CSAIL • 4:45 Next steps Today’s Agenda

  3. What is the Internet for, anyway? David Clark MIT CFP October, 2013

  4. Well-known history • Internet started out as non-commercial tool for interconnection of research computers (and interconnection of researchers). • DARPA and NSF • Backbone became commercial in mid-1990’s. • The Web proved a powerful platform for all sorts of activities. • Commercial experiments evolved. • Goal was generality. • Both hosts and applications.

  5. Today • Most activities are “commercially facilitated”. • Wide range of behaviors. • Provisioning of Internet is cheap but not free. • Engineering of lower layers is influenced by high-volume uses. • Streaming content. • Is this what the Internet is now “for”?

  6. Value • Even in the pre-commercial world, what mattered was that which was valued by the users. • Discussion about “value” is not just a commercial discussion. • Discussion of “capturing value” is. • Content is not king, the user is king. • To paraphrase an old marketing saying.

  7. What do users value? • Concretely: their favorite apps. • Facebook, twitter, Netflix, etc. • Shopping on line • Email, if you are old. • A rich and diverse space of experiences. • Abstractly (and more importantly) • Availability, reach, generality, performance, ease of use, trustworthy character. • The ordering may be debated… • Test case: rural regions. • The non-users talk about lack of value. • As well as cost, lack of skills, fear, etc.

  8. Its not just commerce • We should value the non-commercial uses of the Internet. • Do not lose track of “public and social goods” in the rush to commercialization. • Public sector investment is justified on this basis. • But they have to get paid for somehow. • In many cases, they can “free ride” on the commercially supported infrastructure.

  9. Other answers • Innovation and economic growth. • A popular theme in Washington right now. • The word “innovation” occurs 260 times in the FCC National Broadband Plan. • Efficiency and cost reduction. • Companies love this. • Surveillance • Convergence helped a lot…

  10. Asking the right question • Perhaps asking “What is the Internet for?” is the wrong question. • Perhaps we should ask “What are the barriers to meeting the needs of the user?” • Availability, reach, generality, performance, ease of use, trustworthy character. • Which actors must deal with these issues? • To what extent are the barriers economic?

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