RFC 2031 (rfc2031) - Page 3 of 4
IETF-ISOC relationship
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 2031 IETF-ISOC Relationship October 1996
ISOC will, like the IETF use public discussion and consensus building
processes when it wants to develop new policies or regulations that
may influence the role of ISOC in the Internet or the Internet
Technical work. ISOC will always put work related to Internet
standards, Internet technical issues or Internet operations up for
discussion in the IETF through the IETF Internet-drafts publication
process.
The legal umbrella
To avoid the fact that the IETF has to construct its own legal
structure to protect the standards and the standards process, ISOC
should provide a legal umbrella. The legal umbrella will at least
cover:
- legal insurance for all IETF officers (IAB, IESG, Nomcom and WG
chairs);
- legal protection of the RFC series of documents; In such a way
that these documents can be freely (i.e. no restrictions
financially or otherwise) distributed, copied etc. but cannot
be altered or misused. And that the right to change the document
lies with the IETF.
- legal protection in case of Intellectual property rights disputes
over Internet Standards or parts thereof.
The standards process role
ISOC will assist the standards process by
- appointing the nomcom chair
- approving IAB candidates
- reviewing and approving the documents that describe the standards
process (i.e. the formal Poised documents).
- acting as the last resort in the appeals process
Security considerations
By involving ISOC into specific parts of the Standards process, the
IETF has no longer absolute control. It can be argued that this is a
breach of security. It is therefore necessary to make sure that the
ISOC involvement is restricted to well defined and understood parts,
at well defined and understood boundary conditions. The Poised WG
attempts to define these, and they are summarised in this document.
There are three alternatives:
- Do nothing and ignore the increasing responsibility and growth; the
risk here is that the IETF either becomes insignificant, or will be
suffocated by US law suits.
Huizer Informational