On 20 Sep 2009 17:07:06 -0000 John Levine <johnl(_at_)iecc(_dot_)com> wrote:
I think it should be considered that if such restrictions are acceptable
for on venue, once the precedent is set, it may well be requested again.
Quite possibly, and I expect that should it happen, we'll debate the
merits again.
No venue is perfect, and any large country is going to have political
issues. People from several countries cannot get US visas, simply
because of where they live, not anything they've done, but we seem
willing to meet in the US anyway. China is a large and sophisticated
country, nothing we do is going to change that, and politically
motivated boycotts far larger than anything the IETF could do have
invariably been ineffective and often counterproductive. Whatever
small influence we might exert is going to be far greater if we meet
and interact with the people who run the Chinese Internet.
I didn't for a moment consider that an IETF decision not to go would have
any impact on the policies of the Chinese government. I agree with you
that it would not.
The question that was posed, as I understand it, was about the
acceptability of the restrictions to the IETF. If such restrictions are
acceptable, then they should be acceptable anywhere. I don't think China
should get a free pass because it's China.
Scott K
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