1. Key Policy Questions and related issues:
What is the role of the IXPs in facilitating Internet connectivity?
What are the essential aspects local legislations include when they regulate IXPs?
What are the policies of democratic and non-democratic regimes regarding IXPs when considering forms of extreme government control?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed:
Speakers agree on the following:
The importance of increasing IXPs, especially in the developing world, as the main drivers for connectivity and Internet service access. Agreement: there are more difficulties to build new IXPs in terms of equipment supply, especially in Africa. In other regions of the developing world, like Latin America, challenges come from the regulatory environment.
All competitors within the telecom market must agree to build and maintain IXPs that serve them and the population. Agreement: IXPs create resilience and are vital for connectivity, especially in crisis times like the current Covid-19 crisis.
Neutral data centers are required and that negotiation contracts should not impose extra costs for the developing world, where there are no enough IXPs or no IXPs at all
-More discussion is needed: consequences of damaging, not protecting/maintaining, and bad regulations over the IXPs. Specifically, what role they play when governments or other actors decide to act over the Internet infrastructure.
7. Reflection to Gender Issues:
As Dr. Vargas observed, countries with fewer IXPs have a less resilient technical backbone, which is problematic both in normal times and times of crisis. The problems this creates are especially salient when the population is unevenly distributed across the country.
Low-resilience networks exacerbate the digital gender divide, which manifests itself differently across the world. Low-resilience infrastructures bring instability in the midst of political turmoil and network disruptions, especially when countries flip the Internet kill-switch; they also erect barriers to access to online education and other services that have proven vital during the pandemic.