Subject: Protocol Action: Defining the IETF to BCP

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 21:36:38 -0500

The IESG has approved the Internet-Draft 'Defining the IETF'
<draft-hoffman-what-is-ietf-05.txt> as a BCP.  This has been reviewed
in the IETF but is not the product of an IETF Working Group.  The IESG
contact person is Harald Alvestrand.
 
Technical Summary
 
Many RFCs refer to "the IETF". Many important IETF documents speak of the
IETF as if it was an already-defined entity. However, no IETF document
really defines well what the IETF is. This is not unusual among fundamental
assumptions that people-groups make in self-reference; the Bible, for
example, in its opening sentence asserts the existence of God without
attempting to define Him, and the US Constitution asserts that it is the
voice of "We the People of the United States" without enumerating the
states, discussing why they might be considered united, or identifying the
people.

This document, however, seeks to give a more concrete definition of "the
IETF" as it understood today. It asserts that "when RFCs say "the IETF",
they are describing the group that acts in accordance with BCP 9 and BCP 11."

One could argue with the use of the singular; another group could
conceivably act in the same manner, and yet remain another group. So a
better definition might be that the IETF is the organization which not only
acts in accordance with those BCPs, but writes them concerning itself. To
fracture a quotation, "I specify, therefore I am".

Working Group Summary

There was ample discussion of the document, especially during its working
group last call period. However, there was not significant dissent.

Protocol Quality

The specification was reviewed for the IESG by Fred Baker. While there
exist other bodies which produce specifications, none of them are known to
comply with BCPs 9 or 11 other than the body we refer to. Therefore, the
specification is not provably interoperable at this point in time, and
probably fails should it become provably interoperable due to the use of
the singular in the definition.

Note to RFC Editor:

This document contains referencs to other BCP documents, referenced by their
RFC number. The IESG suggests that these references be to the BCP numbers.