--On Saturday, December 03, 2011 08:43 +1300 Brian E Carpenter
<brian.e.carpenter@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>...
> We should ask a specific concrete question to a litigator who
> understands antitrust law: are there any significant gaps in
> the IETF process rules, including the formal Note Well warning
> given to all participants, that expose us (the IETF
> "officers", the IETF Trust, the ISOC) to civil or criminal
> action in any jurisdiction?
>
> If the answer is "no" we're done. If "yes", we'll know what to
> do.
>
> We amateur lawyers should shut up until we hear back from a
> professional.
I'd like to agree, and do agree with the amateur part, but let
me repeat an observation that others have made and suggest one
other question.
Observation: Just as we can almost always find a piece of a
protocol description that can be tightened or clarified a bit,
an experienced litigator can almost always find "gaps" that
could be filled better if it were worth the trouble and one
didn't care about the costs of filling them. An old adage
comes to mind that one can make a computer 100% secure by
isolating it from all power sources and external connections and
then encasing it in a large block of concrete, opening or
removing any covers before pouring the concrete. That makes
your supposedly concrete (sic) and simple question hinge on
"significant" and, as others have pointed out, attorneys (and
anyone else good at their work) who are asked and paid to find
potential problems will almost always do so.
That other question:
To the extent to which it is possible to conduct a meaningful
conversation about antitrust-specific policies in the IETF (as
distinct from other politics that may have useful or detrimental
antitrust effects), is it possible to have that conversation in
terms of our "only individuals participate" model, rather than
doing so in terms of companies and other organizations who are
expected to compete with each other".
That is a harder question to ask and answer. But it seems to me
to be crucial to, in your terms, knowing what to do.
My own greatest concern about trying to develop an antitrust
policy, or even to discuss whether one is needed, is that either
the process or the results will lead us, backwards and
unintentionally, into a "membership" model that is bound to
companies, not individuals.
john
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