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Re: Antitrust FAQ

2012-10-17 17:06:17


--On Wednesday, October 17, 2012 13:06 -0700 Dave Crocker
<dhc(_at_)dcrocker(_dot_)net> wrote:

If a spec has broad support, it doesn't matter where it came
from.  If a spec does not have broad support, it doesn't
matter where it came from.

The essential concern is reviewing initial and continuing
support.  It's an issue for many different possible IETF
activities, not just those with an initial specification
coming from a single source.

Dave,

As a fairly determined non-lawyer, I believe that careful
attention to IETF procedures and norms, including the principle
you identify above, is sufficient to keep us out of antitrust
problems and that this "FAQ" effort, like the "policy" effort
before it, is a waste of the community's time.

But perhaps I'm naive and there are things that are driving the
IESG (or the IAOC, but I presume you would know about that) to
want to do this.  _If_ it is worth doing (and, again, I have my
doubts) then it is probably worth noting the things that can set
off alarms.  I have some small reason to believe that a single
source specification that is not significantly altered by the WG
and that is largely pushed by the organization from which the
specification came can set off those alarms should someone later
claim to have been damaged by the spec.   That is quite
independent of your point and the observation that, to the best
of my knowledge, "reviewing initial and continuing support" is a
sufficient remedy for problems that might occur with a
single-source specification for which that level of review did
not occur.

   john


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