> From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com> > >> Director, Internet Standards, Technology > >> & Policy Project > >> Center for Democracy and Technology > > > >What does democracy have to do with technical standards or other > >information in general and the IETF in particular? > > Among the many public policy issues that the IETF has been involved > in -- i.e., that affect out "technical" standards -- are privacy, > wiretapping, crypto export, and IPR. We won't even go into the > whole ICANN space. (John Morris, to whom that comment was addressed, > is an author of at least three WG drafts. I, for one, am glad to have > him around the IETF.) There is a very short and slick slope from due consideration for non-technical aspects of technical standards to voting on the value of pi. Removing barriers to participation by "outsiders" would only bring more contributions like ftp://ftp.isi.edu/internet-drafts/draft-terrell-math-quant-new-para-redefi-bin-math-04.txt without significantly helping people with something to say. What the special interests, the mob and the kooks say they think is not the most important consideration even when evaluating non-technical ideas. Dr. David Sternlight and Jim Flemming are the canonical "policy analysts" for computers and the Internet. That certainly doesn't mean that non-technical issues are less important. As you say, privacy and other issues are more important than most protocol details. However, it does mean that I'm very glad that most people who style themselves as "policy analysts" and say they support "democratic values in technology" are miles away from me. As for ICANN...I thought you meant to disagree with me. Vernon Schryver vjs@rhyolite.com