[Air-L] CFP: IAB Workshop on Barriers to Internet Access of Services (BIAS) (biasws)

[Joly MacFie]

https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/biasws/about/
TeamName IAB Workshop on Barriers to Internet Access of Services (BIAS)
Acronym biasws
State Active
PersonnelChairs Christopher A. Wood
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/person/caw@heapingbits.net>
Dhruv Dhody <https://datatracker.ietf.org/person/dd@dhruvdhody.com>
Mallory Knodel <https://datatracker.ietf.org/person/mknodel@cdt.org>
Mirja Kühlewind <https://datatracker.ietf.org/person/ietf@kuehlewind.net>
Tommy Pauly <https://datatracker.ietf.org/person/tpauly@apple.com>Group
description

The Internet as part of the critical infrastructure affects many aspects of
our society significantly, although it impacts different parts of society
differently. The Internet is an important tool to reach the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG)[1] and to globally support human rights.
Consequently, the lack of meaningful access to digital infrastructure and
services is also a form of disenfranchisement.

Solely having Internet access is not enough. At the same time as we work to
connect the next billion people and reduce the digital divide, it is also
important to understand persistent and novel inequalities in the digital
age when accessing content and services. There are more and more barriers
to meaningful access to the services and applications that run on the
Internet. Even if Internet connectivity is available, information and
services access may remain challenged and unequal.

This workshop aims to collect reports about barriers to access content and
services on the Internet, e.g based on filtering, blocking as well as due
to general inequality of technological capabilities, like device or
protocol limitations. The workshop aims to help the Internet community get
a better understanding of how the Internet functions in different parts of
the world and which technology or techniques need to be used to gain access
to content. Further this workshop aims to build an understanding of what
“being connected” to the Internet means: What is the Internet to users?
What is needed to be meaningfully connected? What are the minimum
requirements in order to be able to access certain parts of the content and
services provided over the Internet?

The IAB is looking for short position papers on the following topics;
however, this list is non-exhaustive and should be interpreted broadly:

   - Discussion of minimal requirements for meaningful Internet access that
   enable use of content and services provided over the Internet
   - Discussion of current inequalities in Internet access in various parts
   of the world
   - Measurements of content blocking, Internet shutdowns, or other events
   that impact Internet access
   - Detailed analysis of filtering and blocking techniques
   - Description and evaluation of circumvention techniques, including VPNs
   and application-level traffic diversion
   - Discussion and measurements of technologies that exacerbate the
   digital divide beyond connectivity
   - Threat modeling for when connectivity and circumvention are misaligned
   with jurisdictions and authorities

Interested participants are invited to submit position papers on the
workshop topics. There are no restrictions on the format. Participants can
choose their preferred format, including Internet-Drafts, text- or
word-based documents, or papers formatted similar as used by academic
publication venues. Submission as PDF is preferred. Paper size is not
limited, but brevity is encouraged. Interested participants who have
published relevant academic papers may submit these as a position paper,
optionally with a short abstract explaining their interest and the paper’s
relevance to the workshop. The workshop itself will be focused on
discussions based on the position paper topics received.

All inputs submitted and considered relevant will be published on the
workshop website. The organizers will issue invitations based on the
submissions received. Sessions will be organized according to content, and
not every accepted submission or invited attendee will have an opportunity
to present; the intent is to foster an active discussion and not simply to
have a sequence of presentations. A workshop report covering all
submissions and the workshop discussion will be published afterwards.

The workshop will be by invitation only. Those wishing to attend should
submit a position paper to address the above topics and questions. Position
papers from those not planning to attend the workshop themselves are also
encouraged.

Please indicate your interest by submitting a research proposal by November
24, 2023 to bias-workshop-pc at iab.org
<https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=bias-workshop-pc@iab.org>

The Program Committee members are Mallory Knodel (IAB, Center for Democracy
and Technology), Mirja Kühlewind (IAB, Ericsson), Tommy Pauly (IAB, Apple),
Chris Wood (IAB, Cloudflare), and Dhruv Dhody (IAB, Huawei).

Feel free to contact the program committee with any further questions:
bias-workshop-pc at iab.org
<https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=bias-workshop-pc@iab.org>
.

This workshop will be held online during the week of January 15, 2024,
likely supporting three 2-3h sessions spread over the week based on
submissions and the availability of the invited participants.

[1] https://sdgs.un.org/goals

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Joly MacFie  +12185659365
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