At 08:42 18-09-2009, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
The Chinese government has imposed a rule on all conferences held
since 2008 regarding political speech. A fundamental law in China
requires that one not criticize the government. Practically, this
As an IETF participant, I do not take any position on the above.
has reference to public political statements or protest marches, which
are not the IETF's custom. The government, which is a party to the
issue,
It is in the custom of the IETF to follow local laws in respect to meetings.
The rule is implemented in the Hotel agreement and reads (note that
the "Client" would be the Host, and the "Group" would be the IETF) :
"Should the contents of the Group's activities, visual or audio
presentations at the conference,or printed materials used at the
conference (which are within the control of the Client) contain
any defamation against the Government of the People's Republic
of China, or show any disrespect to the Chinese culture, or
violates any laws of the People's Republic of China or feature
any topics regarding human rights or religion without prior
approval from the Government of the People's Republic of China,
the Hotel reserves the right to terminate the event on the spot
and/or ask the person(s) who initiates or participates in any or
all of the above action to leave the hotel premises immediately.
The topics to be discussed at an IETF meeting are set by the IETF. I
am not aware of any practice that requires government approval of the
topics. I note that contributions are subject to the rules of RFC
5378 and RFC 3979 (updated by RFC 4879).
The Client will support and assist the Hotel with the necessary
actions to handle such situations. Should there be any financial
loss incurred to the Hotel or damage caused to the Hotel's
reputation as a result of any or all of the above acts, the Hotel
will claim compensation from the Client."
That is a liability the IETF can live without.
I believe that it is an extremely bad idea for the IETF to accept the
rule implemented in the hotel agreement.
One of the requirements for an IETF meeting which most attendees care
about is Internet access. The only political restriction on that is
that network must not assign RFC 1918 IP addresses to users and that
there must not be any filtering which purports to "enhance the user
experience" or protect them.
Some IETF participants might be considered as being disrespectful
towards the "leadership". They can turn a meeting into a rowdy
party. If the above is implemented, there are risks, both internal
and external, of a public relations nightmare.
Regards,
-sm
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