The Network Research Review Committee
Internet2's Research Advisory Council (RAC) have created a network research review committee (NRRC) under the RAC to make recommendations for Internt2 priorities in network research, consistent with the Internet2 strategic plan, to vet and recommend prioritization of requests that come in from network researchers, and to make policy recommendations in the network research space. Note that Internet2 supports many forms of academic research and that network research is just one type. However, Internet2 can play a unique role in network research because it runs a backbone network. One goal of the committee is to change Internet2's network research stance from being just reactive to having a set of prioritized goals, providing focus.
Internet2 Priorities in Network Research
Internet2 has not had specific goals with respect to supporting network research, although it has tried to be responsive to researcher requests and expressed interests in particular data or architectural support. Establishing a more formal framework for communicating research priorities and operational or budgetary constraints in meeting them will equip both Internet2 and the research community to make more effective use of their own resources. An articulated set of priorities can guide Internet2 decisions in several areas: handling of unsolicited requests from network researchers, deciding which grant opportunities to pursue, and planning equipment upgrades and data collection. A simple list of priorities could also inspire new requests from network researchers and granting agencies in these areas, and elicit partnership opportunities that might otherwise be missed.
Request Review and Prioritization
The committee will discuss unsolicited requests -- and potential future requests based on stated priorities -- from network researchers. The committee will provide two functions:
- Vetting: verify scientific merit of project, including independent review
- Prioritization recommendations (how projects fit together given limited resources)
The committee will review requests to ensure there is some research merit, and verify that it is appropriate for Internet2 to fulfill the request; provide external review to ensure requests are treated fairly. In the event that there are multiple requests outstanding, or not enough resources to fulfill all requests, recommend a prioritization among requests.
For projects that might affect the running network, and for equipment placement requests that use scarce space and power, we anticipate additional operational network review. A researcher request might also kick off a policy discussion, if the request is important and against enters unexplored policy space.
Policy
The committee will recommend changes or additions to current Internet2 network research support policies.
There is a current strong need to discuss policy regarding passive measurements and privacy. The current unwritten policy is [Do not record any data that might identify an individual, or reveal any packet payload transferred]. This policy has been relaxed for a narrow set of operational security reasons; in particular, to identify and stop network attacks. There is good reason to adjust the policy for network security research, and for network characterization research. However, there are a number of questions. How do you balance the need for science against privacy concerns, and concerns that certain data is more desirable for use in lawsuits that tie up equipment or resources? Are there different anonymization techniques that balance privacy and the need to disambiguate endpoints for research? Are there such techniques along with policy (such as you can only do this research as an employee, or only do it under a strict MOU, or only do it under the evolving PREDICT framework, or Internet2 runs code for you and returns results) that can minimizes risk for great potential reward?
One of the first tasks of the committee is to look at this set of policy questions, and suggest a course of action. It might be easier to do this after setting some priorities for network research for Internet2, but there have been many recent requests of Internet2 for data, and this work can proceed in parallel.
