Re: [Gendispatch] I-D Action: draft-halpern-gendispatch-antitrust-00.txt

[Rob Sayre <[e-mail]>]

On Tue, Sep 7, 2021 at 4:28 PM Brian E Carpenter <
[e-mail]> wrote:

> On 08-Sep-21 10:59, Rob Sayre wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 7, 2021 at 3:35 PM Brian E Carpenter <
> [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>> wrote:
> >
> >     On 08-Sep-21 06:06, Eliot Lear wrote:
> >     > They are related Pete.  The real question is whether this is
> advice that
> >     > should be given by the IETF.  As I have access to anti-trust
> experts, I
> >     > thought I would ask one.  I have done, and am awaiting his
> response.
> >
> >     On that question, I've got email back to 2006 suggesting that we
> need to
> >     do this, as many other SDOs do, and I haven't seen any argument that
> it's
> >     a mistake.
> >
> >
> > Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, there is this:
> > https://www.ietf.org/blog/ietf-llc-statement-competition-law-issues/ <
> https://www.ietf.org/blog/ietf-llc-statement-competition-law-issues/>
>
> As I think someone else mentioned, the LLC doesn't write the rules or
> advice about participants' behaviour. Also, "All participants in IETF
> activities are expected to abide by applicable law" doesn't help anybody
> who is
> unaware of that law. That's the gap.
>

Summarizing "applicable law" in a worldwide context seems like a difficult
task to me, so I agree that the statement is probably not perfect.

But, the draft we're discussing here contains a similar clause: "All IETF
participants must behave lawfully when engaged in IETF activities,
including by following applicable antitrust laws."



> > I think the implications of many messages are that "we're skating on
> thin ice", a question to be left to the lawyers, for sure. But, I'll note
> that it hasn't mattered for many, many years. 15? 20? I think I subscribed
> in 2005 or so. Maybe the ice isn't that thin. Or, something major has
> changed, and no one has explained what that is.
>
> Maybe we've been lucky so far?
>

I think that's possible--but I've just been asking /why/ that might be.

thanks,
Rob