Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:29:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ole Jacobsen <ole@xxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.63.0909181236360.12080@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| Whether or not we should meet in China based on principles of
| free speech and such is, I think, something we need to come to
| at least a rough consensus on.
Actually, no, we don't, and shouldn't. If we were to start down
that road we'd need to start analysing the policies of countries on
all kinds of sensitive issues, such as religious freedom, the right
to "bear arms", compulsory military service provisions, whether
or not abortion is permitted, adherence to the Kyoto pact on
climate control, ....
None of that makes sense for an organisation like the IETF. On the
other hand, individuals both can, and should, exercise their own
right to refuse to attend meetings in locations where if they were
to attend they'd feel either threatened, or to perhaps be complicit
in some policy with which they disagree.
If the effect of that were to cause attendance at some site to be
so low that useful work was impossible, then the chances of a future
meeting there would be negligible - and that's the one thing that the
IETF (or IAOC or whoever) should consider - will it be possible to
hold an effective IETF meeting, if the answer to that is no, then
look elsewhere, if yes, then that is a suitable venue, after which
it's just a (perhaps not trivial) matter of choosing between all
the available suitable venues offered for any particular meeting.
kre
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