Re: [AGENTS] BOF at IETF

[John C Klensin <[e-mail]>]

On Sat, 16 Nov 1996 17:24:28 -0800 (PST) [e-mail] wrote:
>...
> Now, what about sending a notice of an AGENTS meeting, with its OMG
> sponsorship plainly stated, to the IETF-Announce mailing list, if such is
> even possible without screening by the IETF Secretariat?  Is this in or out
> of bounds?
> Seems to me that in have seen lots of non-IETF meeting announcements there.

It is, as far as I know, not possible.  IETF-Announce is supposed to 
be a moderated and highly restricted list.  Keep in mind that there 
are now two lists, and the other one is fairly open.

> Others have done better at developing other stuff, but not Internet Stuff.
> Is there any harm in other people learning how to do good internet stuff?
> 
> And if there is no harm, what should IETF do if such a process begins to occur?
> Hopefully not throw up road blocks and try to claim or enforce 
hegemony.

If that is what is happening, I see no problem at all.   The issues 
arise when the work goes into a consortium that has policies that 
encourage things like:

  -- restricted distribution of documents and working materials
  -- listening only to the paying members, with no real 
      procedures for soliciting and listening to input from the 
      technical community at large.
  -- restrictions (licensing or otherwise) on the use of 
      the specifications or technology that are developed, or
      availability of specifications only at relatively high 
      prices.

Obviously, none of those constitute the IETF way of doing things.

   john