the arguments about whether IETF can legally make a long-term archive of
I-Ds largely miss the point.
IETF might decide, after consulting its attorneys, that it can accept
the risk of getting sued by I-D authors for copyright infringement.
after all, most of us probably don't want to sue IETF even if we
think it's doing the wrong thing here - the lawsuit would just add to
the harm being done.
IETF could also take various measures to minimize that risk. it could
examine boilerplate in the documents to see what rights were granted.
it could request permission from I-D authors. it could publically
announce that the archive will be available well in advance of it
being made publically available, and give authors a chance to opt-out.
the archive would still be quite useful even if it weren't entirely
complete.
the real question, I think, is whether IETF's mission of solving
problems and promoting interoperability is helped or hurt by
having a public Internet-Draft archive.
one one hand most of us acknowledge that patents are a real impediment
to technological progress (at least in our field) and to the extent we
can discourage or discredit patents we are probably furthering IETF's
mission.
on the other hand, (and IMHO) making the I-D series permanently archived
will discourage folks from tossing out half-baked ideas and trying to
get others to improve on them; and it will encourage folks who are just
looking for a soapbox and can't get any community support for their ideas.
Keith