"An open letter" signed by some IAB members

[Barry Leiba <[e-mail]>]

Perhaps some of you have seen that Ted Hardie posted an open letter on
the Hong Kong high court’s injunction on Internet speech:
https://medium.com/@ted.ietf/an-open-letter-on-the-hong-kong-high-court-injunction-on-internet-speech-7f0048df2f54
The letter is signed by Ted and is co-signed by three other IAB
members, each signing as an individual: the letter is not from the IAB
and doesn’t claim to be.

Nevertheless, note that all signatories identify themselves as
“Member, Internet Architecture Board”, and three of the four do not
list their company affiliations.  This has two effects:

1. By being signed by four IAB members who are identified primarily as
IAB members, the letter *appears* to be from the IAB.  I have passed
this by three non-IETF friends, asking them who they think the letter
is from, and all three said, “The Internet Architecture Board.”

2. By using “Member, Internet Architecture Board” this way, those
signing the letter are effectively (whether by intent or not) using
their IAB positions to gain credibility for their personal opinions.

I think this is wildly inappropriate.  I think those of us in IETF
leadership should be scrupulously careful NOT to call out our IETF
affiliations this way unless we are speaking for the organization.
The fact that the letter refers to things that have been published
with IAB consensus doesn’t change the fact that the *letter* does not
have IAB consensus, and we must be careful not to give the impression
that it does.

I’ve discussed this with Ted, who thinks that there’s nothing wrong
with how the letter was signed and posted.  That disturbs me.  I tried
to let it go, but I’m sufficiently bothered by it that I felt the need
to take it to the community.  This is that.  Ted tells me that all IAB
members were invited to co-sign the letter, and that none brought up a
concern about the use of the “Member, IAB” affiliation.

As you think about this and — I hope — discuss it, please keep this in mind:

- I’m NOT talking about the content of the message and whether I do or
don’t agree with it.  That’s not the point.  I hope that as we discuss
this we do NOT go into the content, the politics, and so on.  Let’s
please keep this highly charged issue out of IETF discussions.

- I’m NOT looking to beat Ted up here; what I want is for this not to
happen again, and I hope the ensuing discussion supports that.

-- 
Barry