On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 8:41 PM, IETF Chair <chair@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > The IETF does not have a formal antitrust policy. In fact, the ANTITRUST BOF concluded that a formal policy was not needed. However, educational material is needed so that all IETF participants are aware of the the law. The first draft of a FAQ to fill this need has been developed. Please review the FAQ, and if you discover any issues raise them in response to this message. > > http://www.ietf.org/playground/antitrust-faq.html > > Thanks, > Russ Hi Russ, The language in section 4 of the proposed FAQ seems to me a bit convoluted, which may make it difficult to understand. I've suggested a potential re-write, but I think the main feedback is that this needs work. Current text: "4) Why is the IETF concerned with antitrust law? The IETF work on standards so that implementations (whether traditional products, or open-source) of those standards from different sources interoperate well. That means that by our very nature, we bring together people, some of whom are competitors in industry, to communicate about work they do, and that increases the possibility that some of those communications might run afoul of antitrust law. Any claim that the IETF takes part in anticompetitive practices could be detrimental to the IETF Standards Process and ultimately the Internet. To that end, this document is to remind all IETF participants of their responsibilities regarding antitrust law so that they can avoid engaging in anticompetitive behavior in conjunction with their IETF activities." Proposed text: "4) Why should IETF participants be aware of antitrust laws? The IETF brings together individuals whose corporate sponsors may be competitors in specific markets. Participants' efforts are focused on creating specifications that allow different implementations to interoperate, which enables a robust, competitive environment. Because potential competitors are gathered, though, there can be concerns that some discussions held in IETF contexts may be inappropriate. Such claims would be damaging to individuals, their sponsors, and to the IETF process. The IETF reminds all IETF participants of their responsibilities so that they can avoid discussions which might be understood to be collusion or otherwise anti-competitive." regards, Ted Hardie