[e2e] Congestion control as a hot topic in IETF

[Bob Braden]

I hope that people of this E2E list are reading the current thread on 
the IETF list about choosing a
new Transport Area director who is/is not an expert in congestion 
control. Some of you have
been around long enough to recall the congestion collapse of the 
(NSF-sponsored) Internet, before
Van J showed us how to not be stupid when he defined the basic TCP CC 
mechanism.  They/we
invented the concept of "TCP Friendly" to try to head off a race to the 
bottom while providing
an easy-to-understand criterion for acceptable CC.

It seems like an interesting question for research to determine whether 
widespread adoption
of some future transport protocol with an ill-advised or inadequate CC 
mechanism could still
cause congestion collapse of  large areas of the Internet,or only local 
patches.  Or has
that been researched and I missed it?

Congestion control seems a bit like riding a unicycle -- even after you 
learn how to do it,
you have to pay attention every moment or you are in danger of falling off.

Bob Braden