Re: [antitrust-policy] Who enforces an Antitrust Policy for the IETF

"John R Levine" <johnl@taugh.com> Sat, 21 January 2012 19:23 UTC

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Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:23:23 -0500
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From: John R Levine <johnl@taugh.com>
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Subject: Re: [antitrust-policy] Who enforces an Antitrust Policy for the IETF
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>> Lawyer: Do you make any attempt to enforce that policy?
>> 
>> IETF person: Not really.
> 
> IETF Person' : We have a clear policy and steps to make sure that
> every participant sees and reads that policy. We also
> provide training to those in leadership positions, such as working
> Group Chairs and higher level chairs.

Russ was saying that we wouldn't have an enforcement plan, you're saying that 
that we would, putting the primary responsibility on WG chairs.  Can you two 
have an argument and decide who won?

Keeping in mind that this policy, unlike all the existing IETF policies, is 
primarily to deflect lawsuits against the IETF, this means that if I were a WG 
chair and some sort of antitrust naughtiness happened in my group, the 
presumption would be that I let it happen so it's my fault. Even if it happened 
at a meeting when I wasn't there. (This is how lawyers think. Ask one if you 
don't believe me.)

I can't say that I would have much interest in being a WG chair under those 
conditions.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. http://jl.ly