[TLS] Re: [EXT] Re: Complaint to chairs regarding false claim of consensus to issue an RFC for draft-ietf-tls-mldsa

["Blumenthal, Uri - 0553 - MITLL" <[e-mail]>]

> I'm not mad or anything, 


I can’t express how happy this reassurance makes me. 


> but this is a classic IETF antipattern: declaring consensus when one is not the chair.


Well, I’ve been participating in the IETF WGs only since ̴1992, so how would I know… 
But there’s a difference between “declaring” a consensus (which you kindly attributed to me), and repeating what the Chairs already stated a while ago (especially when some people keep contesting their decision).


> The reason for this concept is that the chairs get off-list feedback too, 
> and they must evaluate whether a key participant will not go along with a proposal.


Here’s who I consider “key participants” in the TLS protocol and WG, and why:

* Taher Elgamal — SSL originator (Netscape)
* Paul Kocher — SSL 3.0 architect, cryptographic design
* Tim Dierks — long-time TLS editor and co-author
* Eric Rescorla — major force in TLS 1.2 and 1.3, also wrote SSL and TLS: Designing and Building Secure Systems (nice book, BTW — it’s still on my bookshelf)
* Hugo Krawczyk — HMAC, key derivation (HKDF), foundational to TLS security
* Mihir Bellare / Phillip Rogaway — AEAD theory used in TLS 1.2+
* Kazuho Oku / Nick Sullivan — operational + performance-driven TLS 1.3 work
IMHO, the only “key participant” remaining in this WG today is Eric Rescorla. I don’t recall others from the list below posting their opinion here recently, and doubt they contacted the Chairs off-list.






On Tue, May 5, 2026 at 5:25 PM Blumenthal, Uri - 0553 - MITLL <[e-mail] <98d41acc-c36b-4591-9a8e-648dee5a5ef5>> wrote:


>> Considering the ratio of the “objectors” to the “supporters”, the consensus seems to be there.
>

> Not your job.


What’s next — you’ll refuse to pay me for participation here? 😃


(Besides, the WG chairs, if memory serves, did declare consensus — I’m merely noting that fact.)
--
V/R,
Uri Blumenthal 



There are two ways to design a system. One is to make it so simple there are obviously no deficiencies.
The other is to make it so complex there are no obvious deficiencies.
- C. A. R. Hoare

I was a shepherd to fools
Causelessly bold or afraid.
They would not abide by my rules.
Yet they escaped. For I stayed.
R. Kipling “Epitaphs of the War. Convoy Escort”