Re: Specific Questions about Registration details for IETF 108

[Samuel Weiler <[e-mail]>]

On Tue, 9 Jun 2020, Carsten Bormann wrote:

> On 2020-06-08, at 21:11, John C Klensin <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>
>>> FWIW I think the principle went beyond just observation.  I
>>> remember Phil Gross saying, when he was IETF Chair, that the
>>> IETF didn't check badges at meeting room doors since it was
>>> more important to have good technical contribution than to
>>> block those who couldn't pay.  Of course, this didn't mean
>>> allowing anonymous contributions or that those that payed
>>> weren't subsidizing those who didn't.
>>
>> We of course blew that principle off when we had a few meetings
>> in which where badge checks at meeting room doors and we tried
>> experiments about badge readers at microphones.  And, IIR, we
>> instituted the former with a lot less discussion and fuss than
>> the current changes have caused.
>
> Badge readers always were optional (I never managed to properly operate one).
>
> Badge checks were a one-time thing needed for a meeting in a country 
> that made this a prerequisite for Internet access.  I think we 
> accepted that regression as the one-time thing it was because 
> Internet access is something very unusual in that country and we 
> were very happy to be able to meet there.


I also remember badge checks being a only-one-time thing, though 
there might be some confusion about the history.

A code was needed for network access at TWO meetings, and (IIRC) that 
code was printed on our badges.  We tested that system at IETF78 in 
Maastricht in July 2010 then used it at IETF79 in Beijing.

Badge checks happened at only one meeting - IETF79 in Beijing.  The 
IAOC explained that they were imposed by the host and/or hotel, not 
the IETF.  (We got different answers about who imposed it, and, as far 
as I recall, never a definitive one.)  As John observes, this checking 
was indeed implemented with little discussion - the IAOC implied and 
perhaps said that even they were not consulted, and the community was 
certainly not consulted.  And at least some of us were not complacent 
about it.  I raised it in the plenary, and I and others raised it on 
this list.

In any case, I think the Beijing debacle does not set precedent, since 
that requirement was imposed by someone other than ourselves.  Badge 
checking is not normal practice at a normal IETF meeting.  And the 
Beijing meeting was not normal.

Excerpts from the archives:
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/1lrhHGPg0ejrkkqfk0WYIm891eQ/
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/dZX08hYhXyjUEAecTlGoM63dTjw/

As for the present discussion, I am deeply concerned about the 
process, also.  My first instinct is that we should not charge a fee 
for this meeting, but, if we do, we need community consensus around 
it first.

-- Sam Weiler