9. Members shall at all times act in a disinterested manner and
consider only the benefit to the IETF standards process and community as a
whole in discussions and decisions. The Members shall promptly disclose any
material conflict of interest and recuse themselves from related
decisions.
While I grok what you mean by "act in a disinterested manner" it sounds a
bit if you'd like them to cultivate ennui. Perhaps "In the discharge of
their duties, member shall at all times act only in the interests of the
IETF community. Members shall promptly disclose any material conflict of
interest, and they will recuse themselves from decisions where such conflict
is present."
Kudos to the IAOC for developing this draft.
There are two different issues this segment of text ought to cover:
* independence
* confidentiality
"Conflict of interest" might be taken to cover both, but probably is assumed by
most folk to cover only the first. Worse, the term is quite generic and an
average person will not have the background to treat it as a formal term of art.
That is, they will not know how to apply it to the actual details of their
work. It's simply not a behaviorally precise term for most people.
That said, it's a familiar term. So I suggest keeping the term, but explicitly
listing both independence and confidentiality as issues, and also listing the
typical groups that are meant to be excluded from influence and information.
These are: employers, colleagues, friends and family. Feel free to expand the
list...
d/
--
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net
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