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Re: If Muslims are blocked by the U.S., should the IETF respond?

2017-01-27 13:41:43
If only we had some sort of a list or working group where things like
meeting venues could be discussed.

https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/mtgvenue/documents/
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/mtgvenue
https://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/mtgvenue/current/maillist.html

W

On Fri, Jan 27, 2017 at 2:29 PM, Dave Burstein <daveb(_at_)dslprime(_dot_)com> 
wrote:
Folks

The IETF has generally steered clear of political entanglements, which I
think wise. Nonetheless, I raise the question of whether we should respond
to the proposed U.S. ban on nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan,
Syria, Yemen.

Scott Aaronson reports one of his MIT students will probably have to leave
if he can't get his visa removed. We all know how many Iranians are
world-class technologists, including in computer science and electrical
engineering.

I hope many from outside the United States speak up. The issues around Trump
make it hard to be objective here.

Should we take a stand?

If so, should it be symbolic or substantive?

Symbolic actions could include:

A resolution
Establishing remote hubs for our meetings in Iran and one of the Arabic
speaking countries. ISOC has funded remote hubs.
Outreach in Farsi and Arabic to show that whatever actions the government
takes, the IETF welcomes participation. This could be as simple as Jari
Arkko writing a letter to the editor of the leading newspapers with an
invitation for all to join our work.

Some might also think that we should move the July 2018 meeting from San
Francisco to a location accessible to more of our members, perhaps to Mexico
or Canada.
------------

As we discuss this, I urge everyone to avoid distracting comments about U.S.
politics. We're not going to change many minds here pro or con the new U.S.
President.

Instead, let's keep the discussion here to how we should respond to a major
nation refusing visas to so many of our members.

Dave Burstein


--
Editor, Fast Net News, 5GW News, Net Policy News and DSL Prime
Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making It Great,
Getting It Noticed (Peachpit)



-- 
I don't think the execution is relevant when it was obviously a bad
idea in the first place.
This is like putting rabid weasels in your pants, and later expressing
regret at having chosen those particular rabid weasels and that pair
of pants.
   ---maf