At 21:22 15-02-00 , Tim Salo wrote:
The original poster may, in a very real sense, actually be representing a
company, whether the IETF wants to believe it or not.
Of course, that leads to the rather interesting dilemma that we don't know
whether an individual is speaking on behalf or his or her self or on behalf
of an organization, (again, even if we tell that person that _we_ know
which it is).
The IETF philosophy has always been that a bunch of engineers get together
via IETF to solve technical problems, largely aside from pecuniary and petty
corporate interests.
This does break down on occasion, but having this philosophy has (IMHO) helped
the IETF be more productive than a lot of the alternative standards bodies,
where people absolutely do represent a specific entity. This philosophy has
also helped ensure that better technical solutions arise than would be the case
otherwise, IMHO.
The IETF is far from perfect, but its the best setup we've found so far.
Regards,
Ran
rja(_at_)inet(_dot_)org