Recent years have witnessed the consolidations of Internet
applications, services, as well as the infrastructure. The
Decentralization of Internet Research Group (DINRG) aims to provide
for the IRTF/IETF community both an open forum to discuss the Internet
centralization phenomena and associated potential threats, and a
platform to facilitate the coordination of efforts in identifying the
causes of observed consolidations and the mitigation solutions.

DINRG's main objectives include the following:

  - Measurement of Internet centralization and the consequential societal impacts;

  - Characterization and assessment of observed Internet centralization;

  - Investigation of the root causes of Internet centralization, and
    articulation of the impacts from market economy, architecture and
    protocol designs, as well as government regulations;

  - Exploration of new research topics and technical solutions for
    decentralized system and application development; 

  - Documentation of the outcome from the above efforts; and

  - Recommendations that may help steer Internet away from further
    consolidation.

DINRG will operate as an open platform to different technology
solutions, not limited to specific technical approaches. We expect
DINRG to foster a better understanding of the merits and constraints
of specific technologies with respect to Internet decentralization.

Way of Working 

DINRG will meet at least once per year at IETF meetings, and may hold
additional meetings, either as standalone interim meetings, or
co-located meetings at technical conferences and similar events. DINRG
may also organize workshops that focus on specific research topics.

DINRG will coordinate, and leverage synergies, with other IRTF groups
and with the IAB and broader research community.