Subject: [tlp-interest] IETF Trust response to the appeal by John C Klensin (July 18, 2009)

From: Marshall Eubanks <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 18:15:44 -0400

* Subject: IETF Trust response to the appeal by John C Klensin
    * Date: Thursday, September 3 11:00 AM EDT 2009

The Trustees of the IETF Trust have reviewed the appeal from John C.  
Klensin dated July 18, 2009 (see http://trustee.ietf.org/appeal/Klensin-2009-07-18.txt 
  for the full text of the appeal) and subsequent email discussions,  
with the following results.

First, the Trustees have prepared and circulated the "Trust Policy &  
Procedures" for community review.  The draft document was sent to the  
IETF and other mail lists on 17 August 2009 with a subject of  
"Proposed Policy for Modifications to Trust Legal Provisions (TLP)"  
and is available at http://trustee.ietf.org/docs/Standard-Procedure-for-Modifying-the-TLP.txt 
  .  The Trustees prepared this set of procedure to ensure  
transparency.  The procedures have been circulated to ensure that they  
are actually in line with community expectations.  From the ongoing  
discussion it is clear to the Trust that the document as published  
does not capture the fine distinctions between policy (as set by the  
community) and procedures (as proposed by the Trust and reviewed by  
the community). When the community discussion is complete, the  
resulting document will be announced and posted on the IETF Trust web  
page.

Second, the Trustees have obtained professional assistance for  
scribing and, while the Trustees are still looking for volunteer  
scribes, the Trustees will continue to use professional assistance for  
as long as is necessary.  With this help, the Trustees have posted all  
Minutes for 2008 and 7 out of 10 Minutes for 2009.  The remaining  
Minutes are in the process of preparation and review and should be  
posted in September. We have heard your later message on the  
sparseness of some of the descriptions and will try to improve the  
content to be more descriptive on what transpired.

Third, the Trustees were proactive.  In the draft TLP the Trustees put  
forward a way that the IETF Trust could accommodate documents from the  
non-IETF streams.  The community review of this proposal was  
overwhelmingly negative.  This request for review was submitted prior  
to any conclusion or consensus of that discussion being announced.  It  
is clear that the community does not want the Trustees to be proactive  
in this manner.  Therefore the Trustees will not take any action  
regarding these streams until the Trustees are formally are asked to  
do so, most likely by the publication of an RFC in the relevant stream.

The Trustees expect such requests will be posted an Internet-Drafts  
prior to publication as an RFC.  The Trustees are legally committed to  
follow the Trust Agreement (see http://iaoc.ietf.org/docs/IETF-Trust-Agreement-Executed-12-15-05.pdf 
  ), and, to avoid a request to take any action that conflicts with  
the Trust Agreement, the Trustees will provide comments on these  
Internet-Drafts regarding their compatibility or conflict with the  
Trust Agreement.  While the Trustees do not anticipate a problem, the  
Trustees must be the final authority in determining whether a  
requested action is in conflict with the Trust Agreement, and the  
Trustees must reject any request that does so.  In the unlikely event  
that such a request is published in an RFC, the Trustees will explain  
the rationale for rejection, and the Trustees will work with the  
affected community to reach an agreeable solution.

Fourth, the Trustees believe that the Trust Agreement has sufficient  
scope to allow support of the non-IETF streams, and this is supported  
by advice of the Trust's counsel.  Section 2.1 of the Trust Agreement  
describe the purpose of the IETF Trust:

2.1 Purpose. The purposes for which the Trust is organized and
operated are to engage exclusively in such charitable, educational,
and scientific activities as may qualify it for exemption from federal
income tax under Section 501(c-3) of the Code (as defined below). Such
purposes include, but are not limited to, the advancement of education
and public interest by acquiring, holding, maintaining and licensing
certain existing and future intellectual property and other property
used in connection with the Internet standards process and its
administration, for the advancement of the science and technology
associated with the Internet and related technology.

Fifth, the Trustees are abiding by the provisions of BCP 101.  The  
Trustees are fully in agreement with this requirement for openness,  
transparency, and accountability, and are making a conscious effort to  
increase their reporting and community interaction.

The Trustees thank John C. Klensin for bringing these issues to our  
attention, and the Trustees hope that this response resolves all of  
his concerns.
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