Final Minutes for CA/Browser Forum Teleconference – 28 June 2018

Attendees: Atsushi Inaba (GlobalSign), Ben Wilson (DigiCert), Bruce Morton 
(Entrust), Cecilia Kam, (GlobalSign), Christopher Kemmerer (SSL.com), Corey 
Bonnell (Trustwave),Devon O’Brien (Google), Dimitris Zacharopoulos (HARICA), 
Doug Beattie (GlobalSign), Frank Corday (Trustwave), Geoff Keating (Apple), 
Joanna Fox (GoDaddy), Ken Myers (Federal PKI), Kirk Hall (Entrust), Li-Chun 
Chen (Chunghwa Telecom), Mads Henriksveen (BuyPass), Michele Coon (OATI), Mike 
Reilly (Microsoft), Neil Dunbar (Trustcor), Patrick Tronnier (OATI), Peter 
Miscovic (Disig), Phillip Hallam-Baker (Comodo Security Services), Rich Smith 
(ComodoCA), Ryan Sleevi (Google), Shelley Brewer (DigiCert),Tim Hollebeek 
(DigiCert), Trevoli Ponds-White (Amazon), Wayne Thayer (Mozilla).

1.  Roll Call

2.  Read Antitrust Statement

3.  Review Agenda.  Agenda was approved.

4.  Approval of Minutes of F2F meeting London June 6-7, 2018; Approval of 
Minutes of CABF teleconference of June 14, 2018.  Ryan said Google had 
additional edits to make to the Minutes of F2F meeting London June 6-7, 2018, 
so approval will be deferred to the next teleconference.  The Minutes of CABF 
teleconference of June 14, 2018 were approved and will be posted to the Public 
list.

5.  Validation Working Group update.  Tim said the WG held its first 
teleconference after the F2F, and the notes of the meeting have been posted to 
the Validation WG mailing list.  The WG’s Trello board of pending issues has 
been updated.  The WG is waiting until the Server Certificate Working Group 
(SCWG) starts on July 3, after which the pending Forum ballots and other 
ballots will be filed as SCWG ballots and will proceed.  Finally, the WG will 
consider the question filed on the Questions list as to potential errors in the 
current wording of BR 9.2.8.

6.  Network Security Working Group update.  Tim noted the WG recently produced 
and circulated a final report on its work to date.  Kirk asked if the report 
proposed a direction for the WG’s future work.  Neil summarized the report’s 
findings: (a) the WG accepts that the Network and Certificate System Security 
Requirements (NCSSR) are somewhat outdated, new security threats have not been 
addressed, and additional compensating controls are needed; (b) the WG did look 
at other possible standards as a new framework, such as CIS and ISO 27000, but 
these frameworks are not an exact fit and moving in that direction would take a 
lot of time and effort; and (c) the general conclusion is the WG should 
continue making incremental updates to the NCSSR based on the WG’s risk 
assessments.  Ben said the Network Security WG will be reconstituted as a 
Subcommittee of the new Server Certificate Working Group after July 3.

7.  Governance Change Working Group.  Ben said the WG had a meeting earlier in 
the week, and had concluded that on the open questions about Associate Members 
and the IPR Agreement v1.3, there was no resolution to make changes to the 
Forum’s previous policy.  The consensus was that given the short remaining time 
frame, the existing policy would remain the same unless and until it is changed 
by a ballot – meaning, the representatives of Associate Members do not also 
need to sign the IPRA in the names of their individual companies, and ETSI may 
continue to participate as an Associate Member on the basis of the existing 
2009 Memorandum of Understanding without having to sign the IPRA.  Later, the 
Governance Change WG may try to add clarity to these issues with additional 
Bylaws language.

Kirk added that he intends to ask all Associate Members to list their official 
representatives to the Forum from time to time for clarity.  Kirk also reviewed 
the list of those Members and Associate Members who have still not signed the 
IPRA v1.3, and said he will contact them individually to encourage them to sign.

8.  Policy Review Working Group update.  Ben said the WG is continuing to work 
on the definition of “Certification Authority” in the BRs, as it variously 
refers to an issuing system, a company, or a key pair associated with a CA 
name.  The WG will likely continue as a Subcommittee of the new Server 
Certificate Working Group.

Dimitris said the WG spent time on BR 6.1.1.1, which is badly worded.  The 
trouble with that section is how to align it with both old and new definitions 
which may refer to an issuing system, a company, or a key pair associated with 
a CA name.  The WG is also working on how to deal with cross-signing.

9.  Question from Sony on browser membership requirements in the amended 
Bylaws.  Kirk summarized the emails, and noted that Sony and any other new 
member applicant will have to qualify under both the requirements for Forum 
membership (which are somewhat open) and of at least one Working Group (which 
are likely to be more specific).  He noted that Sony had provided information 
on its products and possible status as a Certificate Consumer on the Server 
Certificate Working Group, and asked the Members if they have enough 
information to respond to Sony.

Ryan said the application should be analyzed in two parts – does Sony qualify, 
and separately, what additional information do we need to answer the first 
question.  The Forum will need to understand what software Sony is using and 
the update schedule (is the software updated or not updated once shipped) to 
determine Sony’s qualification.  To decide, we need specific product 
information, like what we received from Cisco when considering its membership 
application to join as a browser.

Phillip noted that Sony PlayStations have web browsers, and that Sony may have 
a product in the future like Nintendo, which could mean it qualifies for 
participation on the SCWG as a Certificate Consumer.  Ryan agreed they do ship 
a browser, but thought they don’t do security updates (and Nintendo doesn’t do 
root updates), which may be relevant.  He suggested Sony should list the 
products it thinks will qualify them for participation in the SCWG as a 
Certificate Consumer, and provide more detailed information such as 
functionality and root store and security updates for the products.

Wayne also noted it was not clear from Sony’s emails that it actually wanted to 
participate on the SCWG, or instead was more interested in a possible future 
Code Signing Working Group, and suggested that they be asked that question.  
Wayne also asked if the updated Bylaws require an applicant to first join a 
Working Group, and only then join the Forum.

Kirk said he thought the two processes could be simultaneous, but that an 
applicant couldn’t be a Forum member until it was also a member of one Working 
Group.  He also said he had thought that membership in a Working Group 
automatically qualified the member for membership in the Forum, and asked if 
that had changed in Ballot 206.  Tim said that had been discussed in the 
Governance Change Working Group, and the solution was that a new Working Group 
charter could allow applicants to be WG members even if they do not qualify to 
be members of the Forum.  Wayne and Tim thought the current Bylaws language 
required an applicant to first be admitted to a Working Group before it could 
be admitted to Forum membership.

There was discussion about how a new Working Group establishes its membership, 
and agreement that the new Bylaws do not contain specifics on the actual 
processes for starting up.  Kirk also asked who decides (and by what process) 
who can be a member of a new Working Group once established, and Tim said that 
was a good question.  The Forum may want to add provisions to the Bylaws on 
these questions.

Returning to Sony’s application, Ryan also suggested that Sony be informed it 
could instead sign up as an Interested Party with certain rights to 
participate, or even start participating at the invitation of the Chair.  Kirk 
agreed and said he would provide that information to Sony.

Kirk said he had enough feedback to send Sony a response asking for more 
product information to see if Sony qualified as a Certificate Consumer, and to 
offer other alternatives such as Interested Party participation.  Once Sony 
responds, the matter may come back to the Forum or SCWG.

10.  Future call for Member participation in Server Certificate Working Group; 
First meeting July 12, 2018.  Kirk outlined his plan for getting the SCWG 
started – issue a call to current Members to indicate their interest in serving 
on the SCWG and for an initial organizational meeting immediately following the 
Forum’s next regularly scheduled call on July 12 – that call would start with a 
short meeting of the Forum, and after adjournment the immediate commencement of 
the first SCWG call.

Members could indicate their interest in participating on the SCWG in advance 
by posting their name on a new wiki page for that purpose.  During the first 
call, the Members would start by reviewing the SCWG qualifications of those who 
indicated interest, and could challenge anyone who didn’t qualify (Kirk didn’t 
expect any challenges).  The SCWG would then follow an Agenda covering other 
issues such as creating a process for electing its officers, establishing 
Subcommittees, etc.  Kirk also suggested that all pendingwg Ballots of the 
Forum be refiled in the SCWG with distinctive new numbers, such as SCWG Ballot 
1, SC Ballot 2, etc.

Tim indicated he wanted to file an SCWG Ballot before the first meeting on July 
12 and even start the discussion period.  Kirk suggested Tim could file SCWG 
Ballots, but should keep them as pre-ballots for discussion, and not start the 
official discussion period until after the SCWG had formally been organized on 
the July 12 call – the Forum wouldn’t know for sure who is actually a member of 
the SCWG until then.

Ben said he had already established a new SCWG mail list for public and 
management uses, and suggested maybe all existing Forum mail list members 
should just be copied and transferred over to the new lists.  They would all be 
“moderated” (meaning they can’t post) until they have signed the IPRA and 
declared their intent to participate in the SCWG, at which point they would be 
unmoderated and could post.  Dimitris suggested we continue to use the main 
Forum lists for both the Forum and the SCWG matters until we have all agreed on 
a transition plan.  Ryan suggested that under things like the GDPR, putting 
people on mailing lists without some form of explicit consent could be 
problematic.  Ben agreed, and said the better process might be to send an 
invitation to existing Forum list members to indicate their consent to also 
become SCWG list members.

11.  Ballot Status - Discussion of ballots (See Ballot Status table at end of 
Agenda).  No discussion.

12.  Invitation letter, visa requirements for Shanghai F2F meeting Oct. 16-18, 
2018.  Kirk noted that China has a visa requirement for US citizens to visit 
China (he wasn’t sure about other countries) and that the host CFCA would 
prepare an invitation letter on request to Yi.  He suggested Members start 
their visa application process 90 days in advance of the Oct. 16-18 meeting 
(meaning mid-July).

13.  Likely dates for Winter 2019 F2F meeting in Silicon Valley: March 12-14, 
2019.  Kirk indicated that the polling on three possible dates for the Winter 
2019 F2F meeting in Silicon Valley showed conflicts on two of the dates but no 
conflicts for March 12-14, 2019.  That will be the likely meeting date.

14.  Any Other Business.  Kirk discussed a request he had received from a 
non-Member CA to attend the Shanghai F2F meeting, and indicated he was likely 
to extend an invitation as we have done in the past.  There were no comments, 
and there was no other business.

15.  Next call: July 12, 2018

16.  Adjourn


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