On 9 Jan 2020, at 17:59, Eric Rescorla wrote:
On Thu, Jan 9, 2020 at 2:40 PM Joe Touch <touch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2020-01-09 10:46, Eric Rescorla wrote:
The IETF is most successful when we get
input from people who are directly involved in the technologies that
we are standardizing, but of course that very often means that they
are working on those technologies for their employer.
But it is dangerous to have those parties directly involved in
decision
making. The actual and potential COI (esp. perceived potential COI)
undermine the decisions made - even when those decisions are
otherwise
reasonable.
I.e., think of this as protecting the value of IAB decisions (and, as
Ben
noted, there are many, esp. during appeals, that are of a substantive
nature that COI benefits).
And yet we routinely allow have WG chairs and ADs who are deeply
involved
(and whose employers are deeply involved) in the technologies that are
being standardized.
One important difference with chairs (and even ADs) is that their
technical/standardization decisions can be appealed, where potential
conflicts of interest can presumably be removed from the equation.
That's not true of the IAB. So while I agree with Richard that it's the
mainly the personnel and finance decisions that need a CoI policy, it's
probably also useful to have it apply in those relatively few
discussions of the IAB that result in an actual *decision* (handling
appeals, perhaps some odd liaison activities). So it's really the third
bullet in the proposal that needs to be reduced.
That said, for all of this I think transparency is the most important
bit, not the recusal. So long as everyone is open about their possible
biases, the others in the discussion can take those into account and
adjust. The NomCom processes can be used for people who do not
appropriately disclose. And on that note: It's not just recusal that
should be minuted; if someone discloses a perceived or potential CoI,
whether or not they recuse, that should be noted (appropriately redacted
if necessary).
pr
--
Pete Resnick https://www.episteme.net/
All connections to the world are tenuous at best
