From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb(_at_)research(_dot_)att(_dot_)com>
Director, Internet Standards, Technology
& Policy Project
Center for Democracy and Technology
What does democracy have to do with technical standards or other
information in general and the IETF in particular?
Among the many public policy issues that the IETF has been involved
in -- i.e., that affect out "technical" standards -- are privacy,
wiretapping, crypto export, and IPR. We won't even go into the
whole ICANN space. (John Morris, to whom that comment was addressed,
is an author of at least three WG drafts. I, for one, am glad to have
him around the IETF.)
There is a very short and slick slope from due consideration for
non-technical aspects of technical standards to voting on the value
of pi. Removing barriers to participation by "outsiders" would only
bring more contributions like
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/internet-drafts/draft-terrell-math-quant-new-para-redefi-bin-math-04.txt
without significantly helping people with something to say.
What the special interests, the mob and the kooks say they think is
not the most important consideration even when evaluating non-technical
ideas. Dr. David Sternlight and Jim Flemming are the canonical "policy
analysts" for computers and the Internet. That certainly doesn't mean
that non-technical issues are less important. As you say, privacy
and other issues are more important than most protocol details.
However, it does mean that I'm very glad that most people who style
themselves as "policy analysts" and say they support "democratic values
in technology" are miles away from me.
As for ICANN...I thought you meant to disagree with me.
Vernon Schryver vjs(_at_)rhyolite(_dot_)com