e Silva, H B G (2024) Mitigating information asymmetry in the 5g era: Unveiling practices that restrict users' internet access. PhD thesis, Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
Abstract
Since John Barlow's declaration of cyberspace independence over two decades ago, many transformations have unfolded in the digital ecosystem. The utopian vision of free space has given way to a reality where information flows are shaped by the Internet architecture, its communication protocols, and the intervention of telecommunications network operators, which influence the behavior and autonomy of users.Nowadays, the fifth generation of mobile communications systems (5G) materializes a programmable network that provides the flexibility and scalability required to handle the exponential growth of data traffic and the heterogeneity of use cases. Central to the 5G technology, network slicing introduces new traffic differentiation paradigms that segment users, applications, and services into customized logical domains with dedicated radio and computational resources.This 5G feature potentially conflicts with the net neutrality principle, which seeks to ensure that Internet communications are treated in the same manner, without discrimination. In this context, it has become an issue of public interest to assess traffic differentiation mechanisms implemented by Internet service providers (ISPs) that could interfere with the flow of information and the freedom of choice in the virtual locus.Thus, this study aims to characterize the practices employed by ISPs that discriminate Internet traffic, examine the regulations established to discipline these practices, discuss the net neutrality principle, and analyze the contradictory nature of network slicing and net neutrality. The first contribution of this thesis involves the portrayal of ISPs' practices that restrict users' Internet access to applications, services, and legal content. The second contribution showcases a comparative analysis of the regulations implemented to discipline these practices. The third contribution presents an innovative application of the standardized Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF), designed to enable the evaluation of Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs) through the controlled exposure of information to regulatory authorities. Via the NWDAF, regulators may obtain direct and automated access to performance metrics in 5G networks.As the methodological pathway, this study adopted an interdisciplinary approach, combining three dimensions of analysis: informational, technical, and legal. The results obtained show a divergence in regulating the zero-rating practice, indicate that net neutrality can be evaluated from an intra-slice perspective in 5G networks, and demonstrate the NWDAF's ability to extract key performance indicators (KPIs). The NWDAF may be a relevant tool for improving network transparency and supporting regulatory oversight, which are indispensable elements to guarantee the coexistence of network slicing and net neutrality.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communication; conflicts; differentiation; discrimination; flexibility; key performance indicators; traffic |
| Index terms: | public interest, key performance indicator, neutrality, regulator, transformation, traffic management, paradigm, transparency, internet, dimension, information asymmetry, guarantee, performance metric, comparative analysis, information flow, telecommunication, regulation, discrimination, exposure, differentiation |
| Subjects: | sociology, information systems, political science, public and environmental health, education and knowledge transfer, performance measurement, contract structure, professional development, communication, project delivery, health monitoring assessment and metrics, data analysis and analytics, business, computing systems, professional ethics, operations management, ethical practice, transaction economics, organization |
| Topics: | Legal Issues, Quality Management, Health and Safety, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Procurement, Digital Applications, Organizational Design, Site Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Information Management, Stakeholder Management, Governance |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here