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Re: An Antitrust Policy for the IETF

2011-12-02 13:43:54
On 2011-12-03 06:12, Marshall Eubanks wrote:
On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 10:24 PM, John Levine <johnl(_at_)iecc(_dot_)com> 
wrote:
Rather than trying to set up rules that cover all hypothetical 
developments, I would suggest
a practical approach. In our process, disputes are materialized by an 
appeal. Specific legal
advice on the handling of a specific appeal is much more practical than 
abstract rulemaking.
+1

This has the admirable advantage of waiting until there is an actual
problem to address, rather than trying to guess what has not happened
in the past 30 years but might happen in the future.

R's,
John



I must admit that I don't understand that reasoning at all, assuming
that this discussion is still about anti-Trust policy. Once there is
an actual problem to address, it will be because we are enmeshed in a
lawsuit, and it will be much too late to change our policies. Now, I
realize that that does not prove that we have to change our policies
(I regard that as the output of this exercise), but saying you want to
wait until there is a problem to consider changes is IMO akin to
saying you don't want to consider putting in fire extinguishers until
there is a fire.

+1. We should ask a specific concrete question to a litigator who
understands antitrust law: are there any significant gaps in the IETF
process rules, including the formal Note Well warning given to all
participants, that expose us (the IETF "officers", the IETF Trust,
the ISOC) to civil or criminal action in any jurisdiction?

If the answer is "no" we're done. If "yes", we'll know what to do.

We amateur lawyers should shut up until we hear back from a professional.

    Brian
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