Subject: [ieee-ietf-coord] Fwd: WG Action: Formed MAC Address Device Identification for Network and Application Services (madinas)

From: Juan Carlos Zuniga <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2021 23:28:08 -0400

Hi all,

FYI, the MADINAS WG charter has been approved.

The group will hold its first official meeting as WG at the upcoming IETF
112 in November (virtual).

Feel free to fwd this information and encourage interested people to
subscribe to the mailing list (details below).

Best,

Juan Carlos

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, Sep 10, 2021 at 12:16 PM
Subject: WG Action: Formed MAC Address Device Identification for Network
and Application Services (madinas)
To: IETF-Announce <[email-masked]>
Cc: The IESG <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>

A new IETF WG has been formed in the Internet Area. For additional
information, please contact the Area Directors or the WG Chairs.

MAC Address Device Identification for Network and Application Services
(madinas)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Current status: Proposed WG

Chairs:
  Carlos Bernardos <[email-masked]>
  Juan-Carlos Zúñiga <[email-masked]>

Assigned Area Director:
  Éric Vyncke <[email-masked]>

Internet Area Directors:
  Erik Kline <[email-masked]>
  Éric Vyncke <[email-masked]>

Mailing list:
  Address: [email-masked]
  To subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/madinas
  Archive: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/madinas/

Group page: https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/madinas/

Charter: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/charter-ietf-madinas/

The Medium Access Control (MAC) address is the Link Layer address used in
IEEE 802 technologies. It was originally assigned statically for each
physical network card by the Network Interface Card manufacturer, out of the
space reserved by the IEEE Registration Authority Committee (RAC) for
globally unique MAC addresses. The MAC address is used as source or
destination target when sending and receiving frames. The default static
assignment of the MAC address raises privacy concerns for personal devices.
These concerns have recently started to be mitigated by SDOs specifying the
use of Randomized and Changing MAC addresses (RCM) and end-device vendors
implementing RCM.

Device identity is important in scenarios where the network needs to know
the
device or user identity in order to offer, operate and maintain certain
services. Currently, many use cases and applications make an implicit
assumption that a device is represented by an IEEE 802 Layer 2  permanent
and
unique MAC address. This assumption is being used in both control plane and
data plane functions and protocols. RCM breaks this assumption. This
requires
updating applications to function across MAC address changes.

The MADINAS Working Group will document the current RCM state of affairs by
:

(i) identifying relevant network and application services scenarios and
examining the effect of RCM schemes on them;

(ii) analyzing various existing identifiers (i.e., beyond the MAC address)
that can be used by the network to provide seamless services, and

(iii) identifying scenarios where device identity is not required.

The group will generate a Best Current Practices (BCP) document recommending
means to reduce the impact of RCM on the documented use cases while ensuring
that the privacy achieved with RCM is not compromised. For scenarios where
device identity stability is desirable, the BCP document will recommend
existing protocols that can be used to protect the request and exchange of
identifiers between the client and the service provider.

The Working Group will work together with other IETF WGs (e.g., DHC,
IntArea), and will liaise with other relevant organizations, such as IEEE
802
and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), by coordinating on the different
recommendations, as well as potential follow-up activities within or outside
the IETF.

MADINAS is expected to be a short timeframe (12-18 months) Working Group to
quickly assess these needs. Additional solution space documents would only
be
published if identified as necessary, requiring a rechartering process in
coordination with other relevant SDOs.

The group will produce the following deliverables:

1. Document Current State of Affairs:
  An Informational use cases and identity requirements document
  An Informational MAC Address Randomization current state-of-affairs
document

2. Document Best Practices handling RCM
  A Best Current Practices document

Milestones:

  Jun 2022 - MAC Address Randomization current state-of-affairs
  (informational) document submitted to the IESG for publication

  Sep 2022 - Use Cases and Identity Requirements (informational) document
  submitted to the IESG for publication

  Mar 2023 - Best Current Practices handling RCM document submitted to the
  IESG for publication