Re: Admission Control to the IETF 78 and IETF 79 Networks

While it is new in IETF meetings, it is far from unusual in WiFi networks to find some form of authentication. This happens at coffee shops, college campuses, corporate campuses, and people's apartments. I think I would need some more data before I concluded this was unreasonable.

On Jul 1, 2010, at 8:08 AM, SM wrote:

> Hello,
> At 14:55 30-06-10, IETF Chair wrote:
>> I am writing to let you know about a change in the IETF meeting network.
>> At IETF 79 in Beijing, the IETF network will be connected to the open
>> Internet with absolutely no filtering.  However, we have agreed with our
>> hosts that only IETF meeting participants will have access to the
>> network.  Following sound engineering practices, we will deploy
>> admission control mechanisms as part of the IETF 78 meeting network in
>> Maastricht to ensure that they are working properly before they are
>> mission critical.
> 
> Most IETF participants probably know that the consensus of the IETF is documented through BCPs and other Standards Track RFCs.  If the text in the RFC isn't clear, there is room for disagreement.  If it is ill-defined, someone will go and find the loophole.  If the above text was in a BCP, we could nit on the definition of IETF meeting participants.  It is clear to people unfamiliar with the IETF that IETF meeting participants means people who have registered for the IETF meeting.
> 
> I have been told that an IETF meeting does not have security guards at the door to verify who has a badge to determine whether the person is registered for the meeting.  If someone walks into an IETF meeting, the person can enjoy the cookie for free and even provide a contribution at the mic.  The person enjoys the same privileges as people who have paid for meeting attendance fee.
> 
> I'll take the opportunity to thank Karen O'Donoghue for keeping the IAOC minutes up to date.  The IAB could do with some help in that area.
> 
> Some of you may recall that the Beijing venue contract was discussed on this mailing list last year.  It resulted in some resolutions as follows:
> 
> "Whereas the Host has assured the IAOC that 'a normal IETF
>  meeting can be legally held in China and that no pre-screening
>  of material or monitoring of session content is required or will
>  be done,'
> 
>  Whereas the IAOC, based on the assurances of the Host and a
>  history of the venue successfully hosting major international
>  conferences that relate to our industry, believes a normal IETF
>  meeting can be held at the venue,
> 
>  Whereas the IAOC heard all arguments made on the list, and
>  made its determination on the ability to hold a successful
>  meeting i.e. run it in a fashion as we always have, using the
>  tools that we always have, with a critical mass of the
>  traditional participants, discussing the usual topics."
> 
> The fashion in the IETF is to have an open network.  There isn't any admission control and credentials are not required to enjoy the benefit of free and full Internet access.  The IETF may run out of cookies; it never runs out of bandwidth.
> 
>> I am writing to let you know what to expect in both Maastricht and Beijing.
> 
> And it is expected that the comments on this thread will follow sound IETF practices when it comes to mailing list discussions. :-)
> 
> Regards,
> -sm 
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