ISOC trustees receive POISED report

[Lyman Chapin <[e-mail]>]

Steve Crocker presented the results (to date) of the POISED working group
to the Internet Society trustees on Thursday afternoon (10 December).  The
trustees responded very favorably to the report, agreeing unanimously with
the basic principles of streamlining the Internet standards development
process and changing the way in which members of the IAB and the IESG are
selected.

The trustees adopted the following resolution on Friday morning:

  "The Board of Trustees:

  1)  commends the POISED Working Group for its efforts, as presented
      to the Board by Steve Crocker, concerning restructuring relation-
      ships and responsibilities of the IAB, IESG, and IETF, and for
      the selection of officers;

  2)  agrees in principle with the proposed approaches and plans of
      action;  and

  3)  resolves expeditiously to assess the legal implications of these
      activities, and to develop and approve the required revisions to
      Charters that reflect the Working Group proposals."

The trustees are concerned about several legal issues, including the
potential liability of the Internet Society and its trustees with respect
to the standards process, and the legitimacy of the proposed "random
selection" method of staffing the "nominating committee" (a detail of
the current POISED proposal).  However, they agree that the IAB, IESG,
and IETF should proceed with their plans to move the "final decision"
authority for Internet standards progression from the IAB to the IESG,
and to form a nominating committee to select candidates for half of the
positions on the IAB and IESG, without waiting for the results of a legal
review.

I consider these actions and statements of the trustees to be a welcome
expression of confidence in the changes we propose to make, and a mandate
to "work out the details".  The IAB and IESG have already begun to operate
under "new rules" with respect to actions on Internet standards.
The POISED group should continue its efforts to reach agreement on specifics,
particularly those that pertain to the operation of the nominations
committee, so that the schedule for selection of new IAB and IESG members
prior to the IETF meeting at the end of March can be met.  We have a clear
signal to move forward - let's do it!

- Lyman Chapin