Assignment 1

Q1
How does the concept of Net Neutrality affect the need for a country (like Canada) to develop more
Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)?

Network neutrality is an important principle that promotes free and open internet for everyone. The
principle states that all data on the internet should be treated equally and fairly, regardless of the
service, application, user, content, platform, or mode of communication used to access the data. In
other words, organizations such as Internet service providers should not use traffic-management
techniques to give preferred treatment to one data stream over the other. With the increasing demand
for internet connections with greater bandwidth, it’s becoming challenging for ISPs to keep their
networks running smoothly without using any congestion-management or traffic-shaping practices. And
that is what causes the needs for more Internet Exchange Points or IXPs.

Internet exchange point is physical locations where multiple participating networks exchange traffic, and
they serve as hub for technical activity. Presence of an IXP at any location helps in strengthening the
quality and affordability of local internet connectivity as more local internet traffic is exchanged and
routed locally, thereby reducing costs and network delays. To put it another way, an IXP helps the
internet data to reach its destination more efficiently and cost effectivity with the same country.

As internet traffic keeps going up and load on country’s internet increases, IXPs have an important role
to play as they are a key component of internet architecture. More IXPs means more stable internet
connectivity and reasonable network management to keep their networks running effectively.

How would you assess Canada’s maturity to developing IXP’s relative to other countries and where
you think it should be positioned?
Canada has lagged behind in provisioning IXPS for many years compared to other similarly developed
countries because of its close proximity to the US IXPs. In 2012 there were only two operational IXPs
(TORIX and OGIX) in Canada, averaging to one operational IXP per 17 million people which was three to
thirty times fewer than its international peers. ** Insert citation for report

Canada has seen rapid Internet Exchange Point development in recent years. By 2016, 5 new IXPs were
established in major Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax. As of
2021, there are 12 operational IXPs ** in Canada which are far less compared to around 90 IXPs in US.

https://wiki.cybera.ca/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=7242538#:~:text=In%20Canada%2C%20as
%20of%20March,including%20two%20in%20Alberta%20129.
Canadian internet access is still heavily and unnecessarily relied on the US infrastructure even for
domestic data exchange which raises many concerns such as service prices, network speed, data
examination by foreign governments and companies.

Canadian IXPs have a lot of room for expansion to allow more domestic network transit and reduce
the amount of traffic travelling through foreign countries from one point in Canada to another.
Additional IXPs will increase the amount of bandwidth available to Canadian networks by providing
high-speed domestic links.

How does Net Neutrality affect Ecommerce? What are some of the challenges that may result if
Net Neutrality were to end?
Net Neutrality concept promotes unbiased treatment for all data and services on internet which
means any tiny start up should have the exact same chance to succeed as an established
corporations.** An open, fair and free internet is essential to protect innovation and create a level
playing field for all E-commerce businesses and the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Open internet lowers the cost of launching a new idea and give control to public instead of ISPs to
decide the winners and losers in E-commerce business. Net neutrality encourages new online
services and content.

economic growth without ISPS acting as paid gatekeepers.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/net-neutrality
challenges without net neutrality
Paid Prioritization – ISPs providing “fast lanes” for extra fee would undermine fair competition in
Ecommerce. Dominant market players can very easily take advantage of data promotion if there are
no rules protecting the internet.
Data Blocking\Data Throttling – without net neutrality, ISPs could potentially block or slow down a
website or service that is not commercially affiliated to them and instead promote the one they
hold interest in.
Data transparency – Regulations are required to maintain data integrity and confidentiality. An
internet without net neutrality can share a competitors trade secrets or confidential information
with the other.
All these factors combined can give unfair advantage to some companies over other and i
Unfair competition, innovation is limited could become a become a huge road block for small
business who probably do not have enough resources to compete with the market players
net neutrality helps foster more investment and innovation
the internet has been one of the greatest gifts for modern economy and we need to ensure that it
promotes fair competition, innovation, and investment.

Should business support the concept of Net Neutrality? What are some of the arguments FOR and
AGAINST?
As mentioned above, net neutratility creates level playing field and stimulates innovation and
competetion