There has been much discussion of what the folks at the meeting might or
might not do which might result in some official action to terminate the
meeting early. I tend to side with the folks who believe it would take a
really egregious action to actually activate the clause because I'm
personally aware of how much non-conformance to official rules is
tolerated when officials perceive it in China's interest AND when it isn't
flaunted.
That aside though, I've not seen a description of the part of the
contract provisions and/or venue plans which deal with the 'great
firewall' potential impact on the many ways IETF participants expect to
use the Internet during meetings. Both from a perspective of attendees as
well as those of us unlikely to be present but desiring traditional audio,
video, chat, etc. real time access.
Does the IETF plan to install a giant VPN back to a 'safe haven' for the
IETF venue LAN, or does the Chinese government have provisions for
selectivly unblocking the meeting internet venue?
If not, then it seems to me that the show stopper isn't the potential for
dissruptive perveived to be political content, it is the fact the basic
working conditions for the whole IETF aren't provided.
In this context there is also the potential perceived rules violation from
IETF mailing list content originating outside of China.
David Morris
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