Re: [arch-d] Call for Comment: <draft-iab-for-the-users-02> (The Internet is for End Users)

[Keith Moore <[e-mail]>]

I'm generally ok with the document as written.   But I wonder if (in 
spite of its long history), it doesn't go far enough.   In particular it 
doesn't provide many examples of users' interests like privacy, 
security, reliability, maintainability, supportability, ease of use, 
platform-independence, etc.

The example cited in 4.2 of web browsers having multiple interoperable 
implementations, while somewhat true, seems like a poor one - since 
there seem to be a dearth of independent implementations that are usable 
and actively maintained.   The web has become so complex that a 
reasonably complete implementation is daunting and even Microsoft has 
given up trying to maintain its own.   The very widespread disregard for 
users' privacy on today's web seems to indicate that the web has not 
evolved to favor the interests of end users.   The demands of 
content-providers, rather than those of users, seem to have dictated the 
limitations of the current web, and efforts to reduce users' privacy 
risks seem like a drop in the bucket.

A few additional nits:


    In these situations, when one of those parties is an "end user" of
    the Internet - for example, a person using a Web browser, mail
    client, or another agent that connects to the Internet - the Internet
    Architecture Board argues that the IETF should favor their interests
    over those of parties.

s/those of parties/those of other parties/

    In this document, "end users," means non-technical users whose
    activities IETF standards are designed to support, sometimes
    indirectly.

s/non-technical users/non-technical human users/