> - "For the Internet" - only the stuff that is directly involved in making > the Internet work is included in the IETF's scope. In other words, routing, DNS, and Internet operations/management. Adopting this as the IETF's mission would be a very radical change indeed! While this particular mission statement does seem to reflect the interests of a certain notorious IESG member, let's not pretend that this has ever been the limit of the IETF's mission. The IETF has always been concerned with things that make the Internet more useful, and with things that expand the utility of the IP protocol suite. There's never been a time when "for the Internet" was an accurate representation of the IETF's concerns. You are of course welcome to propose such a radical change to the IETF's mission. But if you are going to circulate a document under the subject line "IESG proposed statement on the IETF mission", you should make it clear that the IESG is proposing to make a complete change in the IETF mission. Instead, you give the impression that the IESG thinks that "for the Internet" is and has always been the IETF's mission. The formulation I like is "Everything that needs open, documented interoperability and runs over the Internet is appropriate for IETF standardization". This is much truer to the IETF's current and historical practice. That doesn't necessarily mean that the IETF has to standardize everything that falls within its mission. For instance, a particular area might fall within the mission, but the IETF might not have the expertise to tackle it. A WG in that area could then be rejected on the grounds of "insufficient expertise". Such decisions would have to be made on a case-by-case basis. Again, this is the way such decisions have always been made in the IETF.