On Fri, 2009-09-18 at 11:42 -0400, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
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 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."
What does this condition mean ? The hotel staff would have, in theory,
the legal right to shut down the meeting and ask the offending
participants to leave the property immediately. While we do not
foresee a situation where such action would take place, we feel that
it is proper to disclose these conditions to the community.
Apologies if this point has been made elsewhere in this rather long
thread, but I didn't see it in the parts that I have read....
This contract condition creates a denial of service attack on the IETF
itself.
An individual or small group who either wishes to create a media event
or who wishes to disrupt (for any reason at all) the progress of the
meeting or of some IETF Working Group can do so by taking actions
designed to trigger this clause sufficiently publicly that it is not
ignored. Whether or not such an attempt would succeed, the mere threat
of such an action could itself disrupt the normal IETF processes, and
consume the attention of leadership who should be focusing on allowing
the technical work to proceed.
I would very much like to acknowledge the contributions of our Chinese
participants, and think that holding meetings in the Peoples Republic
would be a fine thing, but I consider the potential for disruption and
distraction to be too high to be acceptable.
I like the idea of exploring possible alternative venues such as Hong
Kong that might finesse this problem.
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