On Jul 25, 2010, at 3:47 AM, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
John Levine asked:
Some people have argued that it should be possible to participate in some or
all IETF processes while remaining partly or completely anonymous. Is this
a reasonable expectation?
No. Anonymous or pseudonymous contributions would allow a scumbag
patent troll to inject ideas into a standard for which s/he held
an undisclosed patent. I don't see how we can draw a line between
that and other types of contribution.
I would agree. I don't have a problem with people obfuscating their identity
for purposes that don't matter, but behavior covered by the "Note Well" needs
to be explorable legally - that's what the "Note Well" is about.
Personally, the people that I know that obfuscate their identity have said they
do so because they don't know what will be done with the proper information if
they give it. That is an argument for some form of privacy policy, whatever
that policy would be.
Everywhere else I go, even if it is shopping in the local supermarket, the only
way I can be anonymous is by wearing a disguise and paying cash. I'm not sure I
"get" the notion that the IETF should be different.
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