I would propose the IAB not adopt this policy, or at least scope it
way down.
Much of the IAB's work is focused on technical issues, at a high
enough strategic level that the impacts to specific people or
companies are highly attenuated. In those discussions, the IAB's work
benefits from having diverse opinions, including the opinions of those
who have skin in the game. Trying to introduce some notion of CoI in
this context would be harmful -- because there's no hard conflict, it
will inevitably be vague, and thus primarily a tool for IAB members to
try to silence one another or a cause for IAB members to self-censor.
Where the IAB is directly involved in finance or personnel decisions,
there of course should be guards against self dealing. That's where
any CoI policy for the IAB should stop.
--Richard
On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 6:16 PM IAB Chair <iab-chair@xxxxxxx
<mailto:iab-chair@xxxxxxx>> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
The IAB is considering adoption of the conflict of interest policy
below. If you have comments on this draft policy, please send
them toiab@xxxxxxx <mailto:iab@xxxxxxx>.
best regards,
Ted Hardie
for the IAB
INTERNET ARCHITECTURE BOARD CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY
This policy covers the nomcom-selected Internet Architecture Board
(IAB) members and ex-officio members (collectively, “Covered
Individuals”). This policy has no impact on any other participants
in IAB activities, for instance liaisons to and from the IAB or
IAB program members.
In carrying out their IAB role, Covered Individuals must act in
the best interest of the Internet community. Occasionally this
duty may be—or may appear to be—incompatible or in conflict with a
Covered Individual’s personal interests (including interests of
their family members), or the interests of an organization of
which the Covered Individual is an employee, director, owner, or
otherwise has business or financial interest. If a Covered
Individual has a conflict of interest for whatever reason, that
individual must avoid participating in the work of the IAB that
touches on the related matter.
The IAB does not directly deal with matters relating to contracts
or finance. The IAB does, however, have a role in personnel
decisions, and its decisions and outputs have a potential to
indirectly affect contracts within the IETF system. IAB's
technical decisions and outputs have also a potential to impact
both work elsewhere in the IETF and businesses that employ or
develop Internet technology.
Covered Individuals shall not use the IAB’s resources or decisions
as a means for personal or third-party gain.
Disclosure of Actual or Potential Conflicts
The IAB requires that all Covered Individuals disclose their main
employment, sponsorship, consulting customer, or other sources of
income when joining the IAB or whenever there are updates.
In addition, when a topic is discussed at the IAB, the Covered
Individuals are required to promptly disclose if that topic
constitutes a perceived or potential conflict of interest. Once
disclosed, Covered Individuals may recuse from participation in
discussions or decisions at their discretion.
The specific conflicts that may cause a perceived or potential
conflict of interest are matters for individual and IAB judgment,
but generally come in the following forms:
*
A personnel decision relates to the Covered Individual, a
colleague that the Covered Individual's works closely with, or
a family member. For the purposes of this policy, a "person
working closely with" is someone working in the same team or
project, or a direct manager or employee of the Covered
Individual. And "family" means a spouse, domestic partner,
child, sibling, parent, stepchild, stepparent, and mother-,
father-, son-, daughter-, brother-, or sister-in-law, and any
other person living in the same household, except tenants and
household employees.
*
A decision or output from the IAB impacts a contract that the
IETF enters into with a party, and that party relates to the
Covered Individual, a colleague that the Covered Individual's
works closely with, or a family member.
*
Activity on the IAB involves discussion and decisions
regarding technical matters, mainly related to IETF
activities. As an activity adjacent to a standardization
process, it is often the case that Covered Individuals will
have some (frequently non-financial) stake in the outcome of
discussions or decisions that relate to technical matters.
This policy does not require that Covered Individuals disclose
such conflicts of interest as they relate to technical
matters. However, Covered Individuals need to exercise their
judgment and, in extraordinary cases be willing to disclose
potential or perceived conflicts of interest even as they
relate to technical matters. For example, if a Covered
Individual's sponsor were in the process of entering a new
market where there is an ongoing IAB discussion, then
disclosure, or even recusal, might be appropriate, even if
difficult.
Disclosure Transparency
A person's recusal to participate in the discussion of a topic is
always noted in the public IAB minutes. In addition, the IAB will
maintain a repository of all general disclosures of employment and
other sponsorship. It is expected that much of this repository is
public, but there can be situations where some disclosures (such
as customers of consultants) are private.
<https://github.com/jariarkko/alternate-iab-coi-policy/blob/master/coi-policy..md#status>
