From: Keith Moore <moore(_at_)cs(_dot_)utk(_dot_)edu>
Subject: Re: An Internet Draft as reference material
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 18:34:54 -0400
To the contrary, I believe that you granted broad permissions when you
submitted a document as an Internet Draft.
a. not everybody uses the "anything goes" form of the boilerplate,
nor are they required to do so.
b. some internet drafts predate that boilerplate
From RFC 2026:
10.3.1. All Contributions
By submission of a contribution, each person actually submitting the
contribution is deemed to agree to the following terms and conditions...
From RFC 1602:
5.4.1. All Contributions
By submission of a contribution to ISOC, and in consideration
of possible dissemination of the contribution to the Internet
community, a contributor is deemed to agree to the following
terms and conditions: ...
I believe that the requirement that authors include the boilerplate was
added fairly recently in response to some authors submitting documents
that explicitly stated that the author was not granting the rights
specified in RFC 1602 and RFC 2026. I understand that only specific
exceptions to this grant of rights are currently permitted, to avoid
each author creating their own exceptions (e.g., "My document can't be
distributed on Tuesdays"). (The current discussion _may_ raise the
issue of whether any exceptions to these grants of rights should be
permitted.)
This grant of rights has been in effect since April 1, 1994. I understand
that the function of the boilerplate is to reduce quibbling by requiring
the author to make this grant of rights explicit.
Yes, some Internet Drafts pre-date April 1, 1994, and I assume their status
is less clear.
-tjs