Thanks Jari, Should there not be a period of consultation during which the community can send comments to the EERB? This would avoid the problem of experiments being launched to an immediate negative response from the community. That would probably make the process: - high-level write up of experiment - initial review from EERB - detailed write up of experiment - EERB consults community - final review from EERB - run experiment Additionally, I think you need to consider appeals against the EERB's stated opinion: what happens if the EERB determines the existence of an ethical issue the would-be experimenters don't think is a concern? Cheers, Adrian > -----Original Message----- > From: ietf [mailto:ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of IETF Chair > Sent: 11 September 2015 15:32 > To: IETF Announcement List > Cc: IETF > Subject: Experiment ethics and privacy reviews > > > Prior to IETF-93 we had some discussion of specific experiments and whether > those experiments, while technically interesting, were allowable in the location > that we were at. At the time there was too little time to determine a proper > answer > for that. Since then the IESG and IAOC have discussed what to do about this > topic in general. > > The legal frameworks in various countries can in some cases be suboptimal, > but it is the environment that we must operate in. We are planning to set up > a small team to look at experiment proposals and to determine if they have > issues that are likely to require closer evaluation. The charter for the team > is at the end of this message. > > Would this team be useful from your perspective? Comments appreciated. > > Jari Arkko for the IESG > > -- > > IETF Experiment Ethics Review Board > > The purpose of the IETF Experiment Ethics Review Board (EERB) is to > consider whether or not proposed experiments or studies using the IETF > meeting network are acceptable. The EERB advises the IETF chair in > the approval of proposed meeting experiments. > > Composition of the EERB > > The EERB will consist of members selected by the IETF chair. The > members will include at least one member of the NOC team and at > least one member of the IESG, IAOC, or IAB. The EERB members as > a whole should include members familiar with research ethical review > panels from different geographical regions, as legislation, custom and > practice differ significantly in different places. The IETF chair may appoint > additional members as desired. Members must recuse themselves from > the EERB if involved in, or closely connected to, a study being considered. > > When is approval from the EERB needed? > > Ethical approval is required before any studies involving human participants > and the IETF meeting network can commence. It is important that > researchers contemplating experiments take into account the provisions > of legislation relevant for the location of the experiment. > > The purpose of the EERB is to determine if there are potential ethics or > privacy issues. If after careful evaluation the board finds that there are > no issues that would cause concern, then the EERB will indicate that they > have no objection to the experiment from their perspective. If there are > some potential issues, the role of the EERB (at least in its initial form) is > only to ensure that an approval obtained from another research ethics > body (e.g. an university IRB) exists - evidence of same can be submitted > prior to the commencement of the study (see procedures below). The > EERB can review this external approval and base its decision solely thereon. > > In the absence of an external approval, the EERB will not be able to provide > an approval by itself, but given its composition, it may potentially provide > useful advice to the applicant and the research institutions involved, which > may in turn lead the approval later on. > > In some special cases, the EERB may also in addition determine that IETF > legal counsel or other legal help may be required confirm that there is no > significant risk to the IETF. The IAOC is prepared support the EERB in > these situations. The board is not intended to give legal advice to > researchers proposing an experiment, however. The responsibility for > legal compliance rests on the researchers. > > Procedure > > To contact the EERB send email to eerb@xxxxxxxx. When informed of a > planned study, the EERB must provide an initial response within one > week. The goal of the initial response is to assist the researchers in > submitting an application, if one is needed. Once an application has been > submitted, the EERB will consider each application and normally provide > a response within two weeks but not more than one month later. It therefore > makes sense to start early, in particular if targetting a specific IETF meeting. > > The IETF chair will check with the EERB on all proposed experiments for an > upcoming IETF meeting, and an EERB recommendation is a prerequisite > for the approval of an experiment during an IETF or in the IETF network. > > EERB Application Form > > The EERB is responsible for deciding what information is required to be > submitted in an application. The latest version of the application form and > instructions will be maintained at > http://www.ietf.org/experiment-ethics-review-board.