RE: Author disclosures and conflict of interest

[S Moonesamy <[e-mail]>]

Hi Larry,
At 11:25 25-04-2014, Lawrence Rosen wrote:
>We all expect bias in standards organizations -- indeed it is a irreducible
>factor in science and engineering and all human endeavors (and particularly
>so in my profession, law!). I don't think anyone here is naïve about that.
>
>Please don't demand more than is possible out of an ethics policy. But also
>please don't give up the moral high ground just because we all fall short of
>moral perfection. There is a middle way: Disclosure of potential conflicts
>of interest that allows each of us to judge those biases for ourselves.

I chose three companies from various parts of the world.

http://www.ntt.co.jp/csr_e/compliance.html
http://www.raytheon.com/ourcompany/ourculture/ethics/index.html
http://www.teliasonera.com/en/about-us/

They all mentioned ethics.  I assume that 
companies which consider themselves as reputable 
would ensure that their employees and people 
under contract with them will follow their ethics 
policy.  If the policy covers disclosure of 
potential conflicts of interest it can be assumed 
that the employees participating in the IETF will 
make the information publicly known.  If there 
isn't such a policy it can be assumed that the 
company's reputation is based on some marketing trick.

The above does not try to find any moral high 
ground.  It avoids the standards organization 
problem as the IETF does not have a 
membership.  The IESG response at 
http://www.ietf.org/iesg/appeal/response-to-masotta-2013-11-14.html 
may be of interest as ethics and conflict of interest are mentioned.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy