On Feb 20, 2013, at 9:09 AM, John C Klensin wrote: > > > --On Wednesday, February 20, 2013 07:44 -0500 Ray Pelletier > <rpelletier@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > >>> The last RFC Editor contracts are from 2008. The last >>> Secretariat contract is from 2006. All contracts except for >>> the ones with ICANN are never published even though that one >>> of the agreements mention that the contract will be published. >> >> We will attend to all of these after Orlando to get the >> contracts published. Each contract will need to be reviewed >> for business confidential material before posting, typically >> material that may be business proprietary so as to not reveal >> matters that may assist competitors. It's a necessary >> courtesy. > > Ray, > > This doesn't help with the past, but I would have assumed (based > on experience in other organizations) that, if the rules require > posting contracts with confidential material elided, then the > issue of what is or is not treated as confidential would be part > of the contract negotiation process. That would leave a version > with the appropriate material elided approved by both parties > along with the full contract and ready to publish as soon is the > contract is signed. > > It would have the small additional advantage of eliminating any > risk of a contractor claiming that everything they touch, > including broad SOW material, is confidential material that must > be protected from their competitors. If a contractor were to > make such a claim during contract negotiation, you would > presumably just say "no, not acceptable in the IETF Community" > and move on. If the claim were asserted only after the contract > was signed and work started, you could presumably be in for a > rather painful process. > > Is there any reason why that approach cannot be taken in the > future? No. A good suggestion. Thanks Ray > > regards, > john >