Re: IETF LLC & IETF Participation from USA-sanctioned countries

[Andrew Sullivan <[e-mail]>]

Disclaimer: still employed, still speaking for me

On Thu, Mar 04, 2021 at 01:40:52PM -0500, Keith Moore wrote:
>
>Especially when we're just trying to get a sense of the spectrum of 
>barriers to participation, I don't think it's "off track" to consider 
>anything that impairs individuals' ability to participate.

In that case, there are multiple issues here.  Off the top of my head:

	• People from sanctioned countries under the laws of wherever the IETF is incorporated may face legal barriers to interactions with the corporate body of the IETF.

	• People from sanctioned countries under any law may face legal barriers in arranging support for or travel to their IETF activities.

	• People from sanctioned countries may have their network connectivity impaired in various ways.

	• People from sanctioned countries under any law may face barriers to arranging payments for any paid IETF activities due to the rules imposed by payment processors.  These may be beyond the control of the IETF and may not be in place or foreseeable at the time of the IETF's contract with the processor, so they may not be possible to fix.

I do think that it is useful to lay out issues in a way such that the things that are actually addressable get priority.  Geopolitical harmony does not seem to be the barrier to inclusion and diversity that the IETF needs to prioritize compared to some other things that are perhaps closer to home.

Hope that helps,

A

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Andrew Sullivan
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