Eric,
Speaking not on behalf of the IAOC, but as an individual attendee who
has also attended a couple of Internet-related meetings in China: You
raise a number of good questions. Unfortunately, since the wording was
dictated by a branch of the Chinese government I see little hope in it
either being revised or further clarified. I view the entire thing as
a warning sign that certain activities are not allowed [just like we
have signs that say "violators may be prosecuted"]. The broadness
of these statements I am sure is deliberate.
In a more recent message you said:
" In particular, we can refuse to take those terms now and instead
attempt to negotiate for terms that we find more acceptable."
I very much doubt that we have any way to negotiate with the Chinese
government on this.
But back to the specifics:
I don't think the rules were written with a group like the IETF in
mind. I also don't think, in fact I am pretty certain, that the hotel
staff would be the ones who decide to shut down the meeting or take
other action. I am sure what would happen, in practice, is that the
*local host* would intervene, warn the offender and that would
probably be the end of it. This assumes there was ever anything for
the hotel or host to complain about in the first place which is
something I also doubt, ---- unless someone in our community decides
that they want to push the boundaries and prove a point. That is
frankly my ONLY worry about this matter. The Chinese government is, by
now, well aware of what a typical IETF meeting looks like and would
not have granted permission for the meeting to take place if they
expected us to stage a political rally, but just in case we should be
so inclined, there is a set of rules spelled out (albeit broadly) in
the text we are discussing.
I assure you that there is no intention to have WG materials
pre-screened or anything of the sort, heck they're never ready on time
anyway ;-) And I honestly do not think that anyone should plan on
being more careful than usual about what they say in general WG
discussions or plenaries. The meeting should be like any other IETF
meeting in terms of content.
So, we can do what Steve Crocker suggests, go to China with a positive
attitude or stay home and wonder what might have happened.
Ole
On Sat, 19 Sep 2009, Eric Rescorla wrote:
It's not entirely clear to me what these conditions mean, so
maybe it's worth trying to parse them a bit. ISTM that there are
a bunch of potential questions about their interpretation:
1. What materials are covered under this? This could include any
of [in roughly descending order of "officialness"]:
(a) Materials printed in the program [Do we have a program?]
(b) Materials presented by IETF management (IAB, IESG, etc.)
(c) Speech by IETF management
(d) Materials presented by WG participants
(e) Speech by WG participants
2. What exactly is covered by the restriction on "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"?
3. What recourse, if any, do we have if the hotel staff judge that
the lines above have been crossed?
4. What, if anything, is the IETF on the hook for if the conference
is cancelled?
[snip]
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