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Re: Request for community guidance on issue concerning a future meeting of the IETF

2009-09-26 13:06:08
Ole Jacobsen wrote:

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009, Eric Rescorla wrote:

So, this isn't really that useful context for the rest of the
paragraph. To take the example of encryption, I think people
were arguing that it was a topic "regarding human rights".

With that said, it's not clear to me that saying "China's policy
of censoring the Internet sucks" isn't defamation. 

I would say that this DOES border on defamation, BUT I am at a loss 
to understand why such a statement would be a required part of our 
technical discussion. The statement is an opinion about a topic which 
there is a lot more that can be said, but like the baby said "this 
isn't the venue." (Let's just say that it isn't well understood in
the west). "X policy sucks" sound like politics and not technology
particularly if X is a country.

Because China's policy on censoring the Internet sucks, and we have a
moral and ethical responsibility to make the Internet available despite
that policy. If this requires technology changes, then that  technology
is within our purview. If it requires operational changes, then those
operational changes are within our purview. If it requires political
changes, then those changes are within our purview. Governments with
policies like the PRC's are the enemy, to be defeated by all means
technical, operational, and political. This can lead to some heated
statements.

The question: does meeting in China do more to further the goal of
getting past PRC (and others) deplorable policies than does meeting
elsewhere AND LETTING THE WORLD KNOW WHY WE ARE NOT MEETING IN CHINA.
That's an open question, I'm not at all certain of the answer, and we
have to analyze financial risk of that hotel contract given the
situation. We also have to analyze the financial risk with regard to
agents who may try to turn an IETF meeting into a political incident.

--
Dean
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