RFC 2031 (rfc2031) - Page 2 of 4

IETF-ISOC relationship

RFC 2031                 IETF-ISOC Relationship             October 1996


   Society (ISOC) is the obvious choice for this task. A straw poll at
   the open plenary session of the IETF in december 1995 in Dallas
   clearly confirmed this notion.

   However, since this is an issue that is crucial to the functioning of
   the IETF as a whole it is necessary to get a broad (rather than a
   rough) consensus on this issue. At the same time it is necessary to
   clearly indicate the extend of the relationship between the IETF and
   ISOC. So both the IETF participants and the ISOC board of trustees
   get a clear picture on the division of responsibilities.

   The details of the Poised WG recommendations on the IETF - ISOC
   relationships can be found in the appropriate places in a series of
   Poised documents in progress: - The IETF Standards Process - The IETF
   organizational structure - The IETF charter - The Nomcom procedures -
   The Appeals procedures

   The current document is meant to summarize the Poised WG
   recommendations in order to gauge the consensus. This document does
   not have, and is not intended to get, a formal status. The current
   and upcoming working documents of the Poised WG will become the
   formal documents. Readers who are interested in the nitty gritty
   details are referred to these working documents of the Poised WG.

Main boundary condition

   The IETF remains responsible for the development and quality of the
   Internet Standards. The ISOC will aid the IETF by facilitating legal
   and organizational issues as described below. Apart from the roles
   described below, the IETF and ISOC acknowledge that the ISOC has no
   influence whatsoever on the Internet Standards process, the Internet
   Standards or their technical content.

   All subgroups in the IETF and ISOC that have an official role in the
   standards process should be either:
   - open to anyone (like Working Groups); or
   - have a well documented restricted membership in which the
     voting members are elected or nominated through an open process.

   The latter means that within the IETF the IAB and the IESG need to be
   formed through a nomination process that is acceptable to the IETF
   community and that gives all IETF participants an equal chance to be
   candidate for a position in either of these bodies. For the ISOC this
   means that the Board of Trustees should be elected by the ISOC
   individual membership, where all individual members have an equal
   vote and all individual members have an equal opportunity to stand as
   a candidate for a position on the Board of Trustees.




Huizer                       Informational