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Re: IETF Meetings - High Registration Fees

2002-03-18 11:00:03
Paul Robinson wrote:

On Mar 18, Brian E Carpenter <brian(_at_)hursley(_dot_)ibm(_dot_)com> wrote:

just as sensitive to meeting costs as small companies or individuals. The 
whole
idea of tiered prices is based on a massive misunderstanding of the way 
companies
manage expenses.

I can assure you it isn't. Have you noticed that nobody from any company has
piped up in this thread to say "oooh, no, that would be a bad idea!". I can
assure you that for large multi-nationals the difference between paying $500
for a delegate and $5000 is a drop in the proverbial ocean, especially when
it comes to standards tracking. 

I work for a large company who is accounting with a much tighter belt
than we were a few years ago, and I can assure you that jacking up
corporate prices would directly affect our attendance, just like it
would many other big companies.  Despite what you think, most big
corporations don't have bags of money in the budget to throw around at
will.

However, that's not why I object to your idea.  I object to any "tax the
hell out of the rich for our benefit" plan in any system.  Your
underlying message is that a) corporations "owe" these organizations, so
they should be willing to foot the bill for them, and b) you really
would like it just fine if people from these corporations didn't show
their faces at the meetings at all.  Would you prefer it if corporations
felt unwanted and started working either independently or in groups to
create standards outside of the IETF, and completely ignored the
opinions of everyone in it?

Why not require income reports from all attendees, and start charging
people proportionally to their yearly income?  Would that be fair?  The
wealthier attendees should be willing to foot more of the bill because
they can afford it?

One of the nice things about the IETF is that it's theoretically based
on the contributions of individuals, and designed so that individuals
have the power to stop suggestions that are being "railroaded" through
the process.  If you feel that corporations are having undue or unfair
influence over the workings of the IETF, then a discussion should be
started about changing the procedures and protocols regulating the
operating of the IETF to correct the balance.  If you feel that you are
owed free meeting attendence by a person or corporation who simply has a
larger net worth than you, then we disagree on basic principles.

-- 
Tobin Coziahr                   650-786-7118 (x87118)
Solaris Networking              tobin(_dot_)coziahr(_at_)sun(_dot_)com
Sun Microsystems



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