Subject: [dnsext] RFC 5378, the IETF Trust, and consequences on DNSEXT

From: Alfred Hönes <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:06:12 +0100 (MEZ)

Folks,
if you are not (yet) aware of the legal mess that has come over us ...

It looks like the unexpected exegesis of the text in RFC 5378
-- unexpected even to its authors and IPR WG participants --
now executed by the IETF Trust might have severe consequences
for all future maintenance work on DNS as well.

There is a lengthy thread on the IETF main list -- too annoying
(at least for me) to follow in detail.

However, if you want to quickly get a rough idea of what's going
on, I recommend reading John C Klensin's recent posting to the
ietf-smtp mailing list regarding future work on another 'old'
protocol, SMTP, archived at:
  <http://www.imc.org/ietf-smtp/mail-archive/msg05398.html>

If these issues cannot be resolved in a manner the IETF is/was
used to operate over decades, I fear that the BCP 78 update might
severely impede all future work in the IETF on preexisting protocols,
and it looks like this turns into a giant economic stimulus program
for attorneys and legal/IPR advisors.    :-(

Kind regards,
  Alfred.

--
to unsubscribe send a message to [email-masked] with
the word 'unsubscribe' in a single line as the message text body.
archive: <http://ops.ietf.org/lists/namedroppers/>