Hi Andrew,
[Cc to ietf@]
I'll disclose that I am also affiliated with a
RIR. I am copying this message to the
Responsible Area Director [1] for the SPRING Working Group.
At 01:17 AM 01-03-2020, Andrew Alston wrote:
While some on this list have made references to
Bruno?s integrity ? let me start by saying ? I
make no comment on anyone?s integrity ? because
I don?t know Mr. Decraene well enough to comment
on that, and because I find an individual?s
integrity in a discussion about if a potential
conflict exists to be irrelevant. When people
recuse for conflict in any normal environment,
it is not because they will act on the conflict
necessarily, it is because of perception,
because it can taint the issue under discussion,
and it leaves the process open to both attack and appeal.
My question was about the process and the role
with respect to
draft-ietf-spring-srv6-network-programming. I am
not personally acquainted with Mr. Decraene to
comment about his integrity. It has been pointed
out to me that the person is well-known. I don't
see what that has to do with the question which I asked.
There is a message at
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/spring/3zbi71sjcJ8KaFgVIrF2Ymx4GC8/
which lists the Responsible Area Director as a
Contributor. In my opinion, the procedural
aspects are problematic. I commented about a
somewhat similar topic previously [2]. From what
I understand, RFC 2026 is applicable for all
documents coming out of the IETF
Stream. According to that RFC, the "procedures
are explicitly aimed at recognizing and adopting
generally-accepted practices". One of the
definitions in RFC 7776 is: "A conflict of
interest may arise if someone involved in the
process of handling a harassment report is in the
role of Reporter, Respondent, or
Subject. Furthermore, a conflict of interest
arises if the person involved in the process of
handling a harassment report is closely
associated personally or through affiliation with
any of the Reporter, Respondent, or
Subject". The general practice, in such a
situation, is recusal. I'll invite the
Responsible Area Director to comment about
whether there should be an exception to that practice and the rationale for it.
Regards,
S. Moonesamy
1. https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/spring/about/
2. https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/xBjDAIM4hdnSTyxL7QHlbiFX3eE/
