Hi Jari,
At 15:46 29-01-2017, IETF Chair wrote:
Can you say more (perhaps off-list if you wish), as that
didn?t help me identify the situation in question. Or are
you bringing this up as an example from outside the IETF
that might apply to IETF as well in some other case?
I'll include part of a message from Mr Echeberria
below. I added him to the Cc so you can discuss
the matter with him and get first-hand information about what happened.
On 19-09-2016, Raul Echeberria wrote:
I changed the subject of the thread because the
previous subject was by itself both and exaggeration and a misstatement.
I will try to explain as much clear as possible
what is the situation and what's the solution
trying to not refer to any specific previous email.
Internet Society is a non for profit
international and independent organization, not
dependent of any government of the world. The
organizations is incorporated in several
countries for several reasons. Due to that we
have to follow the laws of the countries in
which we are incorporated. One of those countries is United States.
According the US Law, any organization
incorporated in the country has to comply with
?.. economic and trade sanctions based on US
foreign policy and national security goals
against targeted foreign countries and regimes???
The local organization responsible of leading
with this is the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control).
There is a broad variety of sanctions related to
different countries. If you want to run some
permitted activities in (or with) any of those
countries, you need to get an OFAC license.
Funding an Iranian citizen to participate in the
IGF looks as something possible and legal to do.
But we still need a license. It's not an
overreaction of our lawyers. Consultations were
made and our conclusion is that we can't do that without a license.
The above is about an example from outside the
IETF ( http://www.igf2016.mx/ ). I don't know
whether it may apply to the IETF in some other
case. It may be better for the IETF not to be entangled in such issues.
Or is there an angle outside mtgvenue and IETF meeting
attendance here that we should be aware of?
The bigger picture is that the path may be leading to an Internet fracture.
(In general, various actors are under OFAC and other
regulations limiting what they can do, in all parts of the
world, even if the specific requirements differ. It doesn?t
take much of a crystal ball to say that regulations are
likely to increase in the future.)
Yes.
Regards,
S. Moonesamy