Re: Draft IAB conflict of interest policy

[Richard Barnes <[e-mail]>]

I would propose the IAB not adopt this policy, or at least scope it way
down.

Much of the IAB's work is focused on technical issues, at a high enough
strategic level that the impacts to specific people or companies are highly
attenuated.  In those discussions, the IAB's work benefits from having
diverse opinions, including the opinions of those who have skin in the
game.  Trying to introduce some notion of CoI in this context would be
harmful -- because there's no hard conflict, it will inevitably be vague,
and thus primarily a tool for IAB members to try to silence one another or
a cause for IAB members to self-censor.

Where the IAB is directly involved in finance or personnel decisions, there
of course should be guards against self dealing.  That's where any CoI
policy for the IAB should stop.

--Richard

On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 6:16 PM IAB Chair <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> The IAB is considering adoption of the conflict of interest policy below.
> If you have comments on this draft policy, please send them to [e-mail]
> .
>
> best regards,
> Ted Hardie
> for the IAB
>
>
> INTERNET ARCHITECTURE BOARD CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY
>
> This policy covers the nomcom-selected Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
> members and ex-officio members (collectively, “Covered Individuals”). This
> policy has no impact on any other participants in IAB activities, for
> instance liaisons to and from the IAB or IAB program members.
>
> In carrying out their IAB role, Covered Individuals must act in the best
> interest of the Internet community. Occasionally this duty may be—or may
> appear to be—incompatible or in conflict with a Covered Individual’s
> personal interests (including interests of their family members), or the
> interests of an organization of which the Covered Individual is an
> employee, director, owner, or otherwise has business or financial interest.
> If a Covered Individual has a conflict of interest for whatever reason,
> that individual must avoid participating in the work of the IAB that
> touches on the related matter.
>
> The IAB does not directly deal with matters relating to contracts or
> finance. The IAB does, however, have a role in personnel decisions, and its
> decisions and outputs have a potential to indirectly affect contracts
> within the IETF system. IAB's technical decisions and outputs have also a
> potential to impact both work elsewhere in the IETF and businesses that
> employ or develop Internet technology.
>
> Covered Individuals shall not use the IAB’s resources or decisions as a
> means for personal or third-party gain.
> Disclosure of Actual or Potential Conflicts
>
> The IAB requires that all Covered Individuals disclose their main
> employment, sponsorship, consulting customer, or other sources of income
> when joining the IAB or whenever there are updates.
>
> In addition, when a topic is discussed at the IAB, the Covered Individuals
> are required to promptly disclose if that topic constitutes a perceived or
> potential conflict of interest. Once disclosed, Covered Individuals may
> recuse from participation in discussions or decisions at their discretion.
>
> The specific conflicts that may cause a perceived or potential conflict of
> interest are matters for individual and IAB judgment, but generally come in
> the following forms:
>
>    -
>
>    A personnel decision relates to the Covered Individual, a colleague
>    that the Covered Individual's works closely with, or a family member. For
>    the purposes of this policy, a "person working closely with" is someone
>    working in the same team or project, or a direct manager or employee of the
>    Covered Individual. And "family" means a spouse, domestic partner, child,
>    sibling, parent, stepchild, stepparent, and mother-, father-, son-,
>    daughter-, brother-, or sister-in-law, and any other person living in the
>    same household, except tenants and household employees.
>    -
>
>    A decision or output from the IAB impacts a contract that the IETF
>    enters into with a party, and that party relates to the Covered Individual,
>    a colleague that the Covered Individual's works closely with, or a family
>    member.
>    -
>
>    Activity on the IAB involves discussion and decisions regarding
>    technical matters, mainly related to IETF activities. As an activity
>    adjacent to a standardization process, it is often the case that Covered
>    Individuals will have some (frequently non-financial) stake in the outcome
>    of discussions or decisions that relate to technical matters. This policy
>    does not require that Covered Individuals disclose such conflicts of
>    interest as they relate to technical matters. However, Covered Individuals
>    need to exercise their judgment and, in extraordinary cases be willing to
>    disclose potential or perceived conflicts of interest even as they relate
>    to technical matters. For example, if a Covered Individual's sponsor were
>    in the process of entering a new market where there is an ongoing IAB
>    discussion, then disclosure, or even recusal, might be appropriate, even if
>    difficult.
>
> Disclosure Transparency
>
> A person's recusal to participate in the discussion of a topic is always
> noted in the public IAB minutes. In addition, the IAB will maintain a
> repository of all general disclosures of employment and other sponsorship.
> It is expected that much of this repository is public, but there can be
> situations where some disclosures (such as customers of consultants) are
> private.
>
>
> <https://github.com/jariarkko/alternate-iab-coi-policy/blob/master/coi-policy.md#status>
>
>
>