Re: [Trustees] ANNOUNCEMENT: The IETF Trustees invite your reviewand comments on a proposed Work-Around to the Pre-5378 Problem

[Thomas Narten <[e-mail]>]

Martin Duerst <[e-mail]> writes:

> WHO exactly are we supposed to get permissions from.

> The situation of a deceased author is a tought one, but it's an
> obvious one. But I haven't seen any clear answer to whether
> permission from all the authors/editors (the people listed in
> the front of the document) is sufficient, whether we have to
> ask everybody above a certain percentage of email contributions
> in the WG, everybody who's mentioned in the Acks section, or
> what. It's a significant nuissance for everybody to go around
> and beg people (maybe including for their former employer)
> to confirm something they probably couldn't care less, even if
> they otherwise think the IETF does great stuff and everything.
> So it would really be good to know who exactly has to be
> bothered, and who not.

IANAL, but if you are expecting anyone (like the IETF) to give a clear
final, legally defensible answer to "who do you need permission from",
you won't get it. That is the nature of legal questions and is what
makes this entire discussion so difficult. And why what is an
accptable risk for you may not be an acceptable risk for me or someone
else.

To answer the question, you have to look at who bears the risk if they
make an assertion (i.e, by claiming that all contributers have signed
off) that someone later challenges. And what the potential
consequences would be.

How likely is such a challenge? (the answer is almost always "it
depends").

What is the likelyhood of a challenge having merit? (answer is "it
depends").

What is the cost (time/money/aggrevation) of having to deal with such
a situation? ("it depends" -- see the pattern?)

While you (personally) may think the risk is negligble and silly, does
your employer (who also probably bears some risk) share your opinion
("it depends").

Etc.

And, it is all made that much worse by having to go through the same
excercise for each document. Having done the analysis on 10 documents,
doesn't help you much when it comes to the next document.

Thomas
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