Re: [Ianaplan] A draft for your review

[Miles Fidelman <[e-mail]>]

Eliot Lear wrote:
> Miles,
>
> On 9/2/14, 4:02 PM, Miles Fidelman wrote:
>> Yes, but the MOU can be withdrawn from.  Right now, the NTIA contract
>> "backstops" the MOU.  The question becomes: what, if anything replaces
>> that backstop?  If I were NTIA, I'd sure like to see that answered
>> before stepping away.
> Yes, but what does that mean in this case?  If the IETF were to
> terminate the arrangement, would ICANN still review our documents, and
> if so, would we not take them seriously?  The worst case would be
> ICANN's copy of protocol parameters didn't match our own, and at that
> point, developers would have to decide who to believe.  This would not
> be a good state to be in, but realistically anyone else can do the same
> thing.  And truly it would serve nobody's interest for this to happen,
> not ours, not ICANN's and certainly not implementers'.
>

It's awfully important (IMHO) to have a definitive registry for protocol 
parameters.  Right now ICANN provides the registry, under the aegis of 
both the NTIA contract and the MOU.  What will be the process if IETF 
decides that the job isn't being done well and wants to replace ICANN as 
the registry operator?  What if ICANN decides it wants to levy fees?  
Who makes such decisions, and how?  Etc.

Miles Fidelman