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Re: My comments to the press about RFC 2474

2010-09-09 16:17:00

On Sep 8, 2010, at 3:03 AM, Marshall Eubanks wrote:


On Sep 7, 2010, at 7:26 PM, Richard Bennett wrote:

I think you should have shared the message from our public relations agency 
that started this incident, Russ. Here's what it said:
------------------
IETF Chair speaks on Paid Prioritization - Thursday, September 2, 2010 

"I note the recent discussion in the U.S. media in connection with 'paid 
prioritization' of Internet traffic and the claim that RFC 2474 
'expressly contemplating paid prioritization.'  This characterization of 
the IETF standard and the use of the term 'paid prioritization' by AT&T 
is misleading.  The IETF's prioritization technologies allow users to 
indicate how they would like their service providers to handle their 
Internet traffic. The IETF does not imply any specific payment based on 
prioritization as a separate service." 

Melissa Kahaly 
Assistant Vice President 
 <http://www.fd.com/> 
88 Pine Street, 32nd Floor 
New York, NY, 10005 
T +1 (212) 850-5709 
F +1 (212) 850-5790 
M +1 (732) 245-8491 
www.fd.com <http://www.fd.com/> 

A member of FTI Consulting Inc. 
-----------------

This clearly isn't Russ Housley speaking as an individual, this is the IETF 
Chair making an official statement. 


In the article at issue, it says

The current chair of the IETF, Russ Housley, disagrees with AT&T's assessment.

That seems pretty clearly like a personal (not official) statement to me. But 
that's just MHO.

I don't agree with the rest of what Richard says, but in this, I believe he is 
correct. 

In the IETF mailing lists we can play this game of "with AD hat on, I'm saying 
this, but as an individual I'm saying that".

In communicating to the press there is never a distinction between your 
position and yourself as an individual. You are never going to see in the 
paper, "The current president of the US, Barack Obama, disagrees with AT&T's 
assessment." If Mr. Obama speaks to the press about AT&T's statement, it is the 
government's stance. Similarly, a message by Russ Housley, is taken to be the 
opinion of the IETF. (not that I'm saying that Russ is to the Internet what 
Obama is to the US).

Now, whether the press release represents the IETF's opinion or not, I agree 
with what it says.

Yoav

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