In addition to the clarification that Fernando asked for, I guess I'd
like to know (vaguely) whether this has been a problem in the past,
maybe how many people have been turned away.
I'm guessing that there are other barriers in a similar category: do we
have any idea how many people haven't been able to attend meetings in
person because of visa issues?
And perhaps also: do we have any idea how many people have been unable
to participate remotely due to internet censorship in the countries
where they were located?
(note: we don't need to try to address these problems at the moment,
just trying to make the list of issues that limit participation
reasonably complete.)
On 3/3/21 4:32 PM, Fernando Gont wrote:
Folks,
While studying the topic of diversity and inclusiveness in the IETF,
the question arouse about what are the implications of the IETF LLC
being registered in the USA.
In particular, I'm concerned about the possible implications for
participants from USA-sanctioned countries or organizations.
I asked a few people here and there, and was referred to this
document:
https://www.ietf.org/media/documents/IETF_LLC_OFAC_Compliance_Policy_2020-10-06.pdf
That document contains text such as:
---- cut here ----
Meeting Registrations
The current automated meeting registration system can continue, but at
regular intervals, and no later than 30 days before the meeting
begins, the list of registered participants and financial institutions
associated with payment of registration fees must be checked (both for
individual names and country of domicile and residence).
---- cut here ----
and
---- cut here ----
Action
The IETF Executive Director will work with IETF LLC counsel to
determine what action to take in each individual case. This may
include not pursuing the contractual relationship, revoking the
meeting registration, cancelling any existing contract or other action.
---- cut here ----
I'm certainly not a lawyer, and hence I'd like an authoritative and
clear explanation about what are the possible outcomes of this "OFAC
Compliance Policy".
For example, could it result in participants from Cuba, Iran, Myanmar,
North Korea, Sudan or Syria being rejected their registration, and
hence being prevented to participate in IETF meetings?
If that were the case, I'm sure that we'd all agree that that would be
inappropriate, discriminatory, oppressive, and ultimately
unacceptable. I hope that that's not even a possibility.
Could anyone please clarify this?
P.S.: Besides sanctions on countries such as the above, there also
seems to be a whole list of people and organizations that are
sanctioned/banned:
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/specially-designated-nationals-and-blocked-persons-list-sdn-human-readable-lists
Thanks,
