You can't believe everything that you read.
Indeed.
I've enclosed an article that
is both more current (as far as when it was written), and more
accurate.
Perhaps the article was more current, but it was still so inaccurate
as to be useless. In particular,
S/MIME was not "removed from the docket", because it was never on the
docket. Since no S/MIME working group was ever formed, there was no
working group to meet in Munich. There had already been two S/MIME
BOFs, and IETF rules prevent a BOF from meeting more than two times.
Neither has there ever been any agreement to delegate change control
of S/MIME, or use of the S/MIME trademark, to IETF or ISOC. IETF will
not form a working group to standardize proprietary technology until
it has change control over the specification. See RFC 2026, section
7.1.3.
So while there are still problems with IETF adopting S/MIME, this is
not a "stunning rebuke". The truth is simply that RSADSI and IETF
have not yet agreed on mutually acceptable terms for delegating change
control and the use of the S/MIME trademark to IETF. And IESG won't
take action on an S/MIME working group until the ink is dry on the
agreement.
Negotiations are continuing. These things take time. [*]
Meanwhile, don't believe ANYTHING that you read in the trade press.
*All* of the news I've seen in the trade press on IETF and S/MIME is
substantially wrong.
Keith
[*] Unfortunately, press posturing is also continuing, which will
probably cause things to take even longer.