NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Google's new "Measurement Lab" (and my "non-comments" -- for now)
Gang,
I'm receiving *numerous* requests for public comments about the Google
effort announced below. As it happens, I am intimately familiar with
the backstory of this project, so much so that I feel it best to
withhold most of my thoughts regarding this for the moment, for
reasons that will become apparent later.
I will simply note for now that obviously these server facilities will
provide useful resources for network measurement researchers, and that
there are a variety of complex issues involved.
I'll have much more to say about this in the very near future. Thanks.
-- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]
----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave@farber.net> -----
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:18:04 -0500
From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: [IP] Google announces tools to determine if your ISP is blocking or
throttling traffic (fwd)
Reply-To: dave@farber.net
To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com>
Begin forwarded message:
From: Matt Mathis <mathis@psc.edu>
Date: January 28, 2009 4:25:09 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Google announces tools to determine if your ISP is blocking or
throttling traffic (fwd)
FYI,
Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, and Stephen Stuart,
Principal Engineer
When an Internet application doesn't work as expected or your connection
seems flaky, how can you tell whether there is a problem caused by your
broadband ISP, the application, your PC, or something else? It can be
difficult for experts, let alone average Internet users, to address this
sort of question today.
Last year we asked a small group of academics about ways to advance
network
research and provide users with tools to test their broadband connections.
Today Google, the New America Foundation <http://www.newamerica.net/> 's
Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium
<http://www.planet-lab.org/> , and academic researchers are taking the
wraps
off of Measurement <http://www.measurementlab.net/> Lab (M-Lab), an open
platform that researchers can use to deploy Internet measurement tools.
Researchers are already developing tools that allow users to, among other
things, measure the speed of their connection, run diagnostics, and
attempt
to discern if their ISP is blocking or throttling particular applications.
These tools generate and send some data back-and-forth between the user's
computer and a server elsewhere on the Internet. Unfortunately,
researchers
lack widely-distributed servers with ample connectivity. This poses a
barrier to the accuracy and scalability of these tools. Researchers also
have trouble sharing data with one another.
M-Lab aims to address these problems. Over the course of early 2009,
Google
will provide researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the U.S. and
Europe. All data collected via M-Lab will be made publicly available for
other researchers to build on. M-Lab is intended to be a truly
community-based effort, and we welcome the support of other companies,
institutions, researchers, and users that want to provide servers, tools,
or
other resources that can help the platform flourish.
Today, M-Lab is at the beginning of its development. To start, three tools
<http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools> running on servers
near Google's headquarters are available to help users attempt to diagnose
common problems that might impair their broadband speed, as well as
determine whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled by their ISPs.
These tools were created by the individual researchers who helped found
M-Lab. By running these tools, users will get information about their
connection and provide researchers with valuable aggregate data. Like
M-Lab
itself these tools are still in development, and they will only support a
limited number of simultaneous users at this initial stage.
At Google, we care deeply about sustaining the Internet as an open
platform
for consumer choice and innovation. No matter your views on net neutrality
and ISP network management practices, everyone can agree that Internet
users
deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up
for
broadband, and good data is the
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280909A3.doc>
bedrock of sound policy. Transparency has always been crucial to the
success
of the Internet, and, by advancing network research in this area, M-Lab
aims
to help sustain a healthy, innovative Internet.
You can learn more at the M-Lab website
<http://www.measurementlab.net/about> . If you're a researcher who'd like
to
deploy a tool, or a company or institution that is interested in providing
technical resources, we invite you to get
<http://www.measurementlab.net/getinvolved> involved.
--
Posted By Google Public Policy Blog to Google
<http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/01/introducing-measurement-lab
.
html> Public Policy Blog at 1/28/2009 03:32:00 P
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----- End forwarded message -----