On Aug 15, 2012, at 3:41 PM, John E Drake wrote:
>> JD: To what purpose? As an aside, I get the 'feel-good' aspect, but is there anything more?
When RFC 1984 was published, I was serving as IAB Chair and found myself invited
here and there to give talks to men in suits. Since crypto policy was a very hot
topic, it proved extremely useful to have a policy document to cite rather than
an audio recording of the Danbury plenary. Whether RFC 1984 had a significant
effect on the evolution of crypto policy is another matter, of course, but it
was a useful tool for the debate.
I think this Affirmation will be a good tool for the ongoing debate about standards
policy. As another thread has made clear, if that debate went badly, life for the
IETF could become very unpleasant.
Brian