I believe that the IETF has all of the necessary rights to reproduce,
distribute, and display publicly all Internet-Drafts. Here is my analysis:
In RFC 1310, March 1992, the IAB describes Internet-Drafts, but
it does not define the rights that contributors grant. As best I can
determine, the very first I-D was posted shortly after this RFC
was published.
In RFC 1602, March 1994, the grant of rights becomes very
explicit:
Contributor agrees to grant, and does grant to ISOC, a
perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, world-wide right
and license under any copyrights in the contribution to
reproduce, distribute, perform or display publicly and
prepare derivative works that are based on or incorporate
all or part of the contribution, and to reproduce,
distribute and perform or display publicly any such
derivative works, in any form and in all languages, and to
authorize others to do so.
In RFC 2026, BCP 9, October 1996, the explicit grant of rights
is published in a consensus BCP:
Some works (e.g. works of the U.S. Government) are not subject to
copyright. However, to the extent that the submission is or may
be subject to copyright, the contributor, the organization he
represents (if any) and the owners of any proprietary rights in
the contribution, grant an unlimited perpetual, non-exclusive,
royalty-free, world-wide right and license to the ISOC and the
IETF under any copyrights in the contribution. This license
includes the right to copy, publish and distribute the
contribution in any way, and to prepare derivative works that are
based on or incorporate all or part of the contribution, the
license to such derivative works to be of the same scope as the
license of the original contribution.
Internet-Drafts provide important historical records for the open and
transparent operation of the IETF. For this reason, removal of an I-D from the
Public I-D Archive is a significant action.
If someone posted an I-D under RFC 1310, when the grant was not explicit, and
they want to have their Internet-Draft removed from the Public I-D Archive,
then they ought to request that action from the IESG. However, RFC 1602 and
RFC 2026 are quite clear about the grant. The request for removal of an
Internet-Draft posted after March 1994 needs to be associated with some legal
action or some form of abuse.
Russ