Much of what makes the IETF work is how it is very different from other standards bodies (such as IEEE, ANSI, ISO, NIST, ITU, etc etc).
One key difference is that "groups" do not join the IETF.
Cisco, IBM, MCI, or Linden Lab are not a "members" of the IETF. No agency of the US government, or of any other government, is a "member" of the IETF. No university, non-profit, PIRG, PAC, or other "concerned citizens group", is a "member" of the IETF.
Only individual people can be "members" of the IETF. And "membership" is mostly defined as "who shows up on the mailing list" and "who shows up at the meetings".
There have been many cases in the history of the IETF where well known members who are in the middle of writing standards or of chairing various important working groups, who have worked for well-known large companies, will change employers, to other companies, to startups, or to personal sabbaticals switch around between industry, academia, research, and government, and this will not, does not, and should not, affect their position inside the IETF at all.
It appears that sometimes people, inside and outside of the IETF, need to be reminded of this.
If you want to write standards like the IEEE and ITU do it, you know where you can find them.
But when you choose to participate in the IETF process, that is how it works.
And if someone feels that anyone's change in employment status should affect their standing in any part of the IETF process, that person has missed the point, and needs to be pointedly reminded of their mistake.
_______________________________________________ Ietf mailing list Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf