ietf-mxcomp
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Re: on the topic of IPR

2004-08-27 08:54:53

On Fri, Aug 27, 2004 at 06:52:15AM -0700, Hallam-Baker, Phillip wrote:
From a PR standpoint I somehow doubt that Microsoft is going to
be known primarily for having created SenderID in ten years time.

There is a PR story here and it is a pretty good one, large
corporation teams up with the leader of a grass roots effort
to kill spam, IETF acts quickly to save the Internet.

There are numerous possible PR stories here.  Another example might be
"IETF grants major competitive advantage to Large Corporation".  Or
perhaps "IETF makes stand against open source software".  Stories 
like these are just as likely -- we've already seen some, in fact.

Now that story is not a 100% complete version of events,  but
it is something that the press can explain and can use to 
promote Sender-ID and get it deployed.

I'm not sure how much effect the press will actually have on the
deployment. 

What is more everyone comes off as bigger heros than they do
if they take the go it alone route.

Being aclaimed a hero in the press doesn't motivate me, to tell you the
truth.  If Sender-ID were compelling technology that would clearly
work, it might be worth it.  But it's not at all clear that it will
actually accomplish what it claims. 

There is a lot to be said for co-opting an organization with
a billion dollar marketing and publicity budget.

From another point of view: There is something to be said for co-opting
a well-known standards organization to get its name behind your trivial
technology.

[...]

Sender-ID needs a powerful PR engine to draft behind. The IETF
does not have one, at least not yet. Part of the idea here is
to prove that the IETF is not as irrelevant and hopeless as
its critics believe.

I can't help but think that the IETF racing to approve a standard
because of its PR value is actually more damaging.

Speaking just for myself, of course...

-- 
Kent Crispin 
kent(_at_)icann(_dot_)org    p: +1 310 823 9358  f: +1 310 823 8649
kent(_at_)songbird(_dot_)com SIP: 81202(_at_)fwd(_dot_)pulver(_dot_)com


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