Re: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-17 Thread Randy Presuhn
Hi -

> From: "todd glassey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Randy Presuhn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; 
> Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 12:28 PM
> Subject: Re: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome
>
> Uh - Randy
> that's because they all have formally constrained memberships and have
> an ongoing relation between them and their participants.

But WHICH organization's membership model do you want to emulate?
ITU?  ISO?  IEEE?  DMTF?  Unicode?  W3C?  There are very substantial
differences between these, and not just in terms of membership, but more
importantly in how chairs and other positions of (relative) power are filled,
which is the real focus of this discussion.  Stop wasting time with
arm-waving and get to a specific model you would like us to examine.

> They also do not have people in those entities creating documents which
> allege power of attorney for IP that is submitted as part of the standards
> process. The IETF does and that is one of the most basic problems here per
> se IMHO.

Again, WHICH organization's IPR model would you have us emulate?
Legalistic theorizing is no substitute for a specific proposal.

...
> If you want more detail I can spin it for you all day long.
...

There's been quite enough spin, thank you.  It's time to either make
a specific proposal or to stop wasting electrons.

Randy


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Re: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-15 Thread todd glassey

- Original Message - 
From: "Joel M. Halpern" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 5:39 PM
Subject: RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process
ratherthansome


> Clearly, we could choose to do that.
> There are several drawbacks.
>
> Firstly, the rough consensus, to the degree it is observable, favors
> the current approach.

By those allowed to participate and vote - not by the breadth of those
participating in the IETF itself.

> Secondly, there is a significant and important portion of the IETF
> which does not meet the NOMCOM criteria.  This was consider an
> unfortunate but inevitable effect selecting some criteria.

Which means that the NOMCOM selection process excludes people it represents.

>  To
> counterbalance this, the NOMCOM itself is supposed to consider the
> needs of the entire IETF, not just that portion which attends meetings.

I would suggest that you review fiduciary responsibility which is what you
are talking about.

> Thirdly, voting itself has many drawbacks, and as Fred Baker observed
> recently, is liable to focus on popularity rather than on
> effectiveness for the job.

Which means that the Sponsor's  and others who have bet the bank on their
retaining control of the IESG could lose that control. Too bad.

>
> I doubt that in the brief consideration based on your note I have
> found all of the problems.
>
> If there were a serious problem with the NOMCOM process, it would
> probably be sensible to evaluate whether the drawbacks of an election
> mode would be worth whatever problems it solved.  However, without a
> clear statement of problems with the NOMCOM process, I can not see
> any point in trying to evaluate an alternative.  Elections are not in
> and of themselves "good".  For civil governments, they seem to be the
> best choice we can find.
>
> Yours,
> Joel M. Halpern
>
> At 08:09 PM 9/14/2006, Hallam-Baker, Phillip wrote:
> >There is no need to define the concept of membership. The term
> >'membership' is essentially a legal term and the courts will define
> >it according to their convenience. One can be a member without
> >having a vote and can have a vote without being a member.
> >
> >Under English Common Law saying that a thing is so does not make it
> >so. If a an agreement that meets the legal definition of a
> >partnership agreement explicitly states that it is not a partnership
> >agreement that does not make it any less a partnership nor does it
> >extinguish the liabilities, &ct. of such.
> >
> >
> >All that is needed to hold an election is to define the franchise.
> >The franchise in this case would be defined in the same manner as
> >the NOMCON is at present.
>
>
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Re: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-15 Thread todd glassey
Uh - Randy
that's because they all have formally constrained memberships and have
an ongoing relation between them and their participants.

They also do not have people in those entities creating documents which
allege power of attorney for IP that is submitted as part of the standards
process. The IETF does and that is one of the most basic problems here per
se IMHO.

The IETF needs to formally admit is has a membership and that those members
in some cases can speak for themselves and in others cannot.  It also needs
to stop making decisions for those participants and come up with better
oversight models for its peer-based processes.

If you want more detail I can spin it for you all day long.

Todd Glassey


- Original Message - 
From: "Randy Presuhn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 11:53 AM
Subject: Re: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process
ratherthansome


> Hi -
>
> Strangely absent from this discussion are any examples
> of standards bodies that satisfy the critics' criteria.  Perhaps
> some examples of standards organizations successfully using
> processes meeting those criteria would be helpful to focus
> this dicussion.
>
> Randy
>
>
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RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-15 Thread Hallam-Baker, Phillip

> From: Joel M. Halpern [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> At 09:28 PM 9/14/2006, Hallam-Baker, Phillip wrote:
> 
> > > From: Joel M. Halpern [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I raised several specific objections to your view, which you 
> have chosen not to respond to here.  The comment you quote 
> was not intended as an argument you should (or as you observe 
> could) respond to, but rather as an indication taht I would 
> not be surprised if there were additional issues beyond the 
> ones I raised that would also need to be discussed.

If you make arguments that are lazy and demonstrate disrespect as yours did 
then don't be surprised if people respond to the arguments that you are (or at 
least should be) ashamed of.

Your other argument was that there should be no change because there was no 
consensus, an entirely circular argument that implies nobody can ever argue for 
change.

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Re: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-15 Thread Eliot Lear
 Phill,
> There is no need to define the concept of membership. The term 'membership' 
> is essentially a legal term and the courts will define it according to their 
> convenience. One can be a member without having a vote and can have a vote 
> without being a member.
>
> Under English Common Law saying that a thing is so does not make it so. If a 
> an agreement that meets the legal definition of a partnership agreement 
> explicitly states that it is not a partnership agreement that does not make 
> it any less a partnership nor does it extinguish the liabilities, &ct. of 
> such.
>
>
> All that is needed to hold an election is to define the franchise. The 
> franchise in this case would be defined in the same manner as the NOMCON is 
> at present.
>
>   


"I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Net."

Can we stop arguing about what could be and concern ourselves with what
we want?  If we are happy with what we have then let's simply stop arguing.

Eliot

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RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-15 Thread Dave Cridland

On Fri Sep 15 01:09:10 2006, Hallam-Baker, Phillip wrote:
All that is needed to hold an election is to define the franchise. 
The franchise in this case would be defined in the same manner as 
the NOMCON is at present.


I hope not. I should argue very strongly against taking away the 
voting rights that I neither have nor want.


Dave.
--
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 - acap://acap.dave.cridland.net/byowner/user/dwd/bookmarks/
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RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-14 Thread Noel Chiappa
> From: "Hallam-Baker, Phillip" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> The problem with the current scheme is precisely when people use the
> power of incumbency to advance arguments like the one you just gave.

After studying this statement for a while, I am unable to find any semantic
content in it; frankly, all I can find is vaporous rhetoric. The more I try
and understand what it's trying to say, the less sense I can make of it. How
the "power of incumbency" has any ability to influence the value of a
particular line of reasoning is utterly beyond me. An incumbent can say
something, but that doesn't mean anyone has to put much weight on it, any more
than we have to put any weight on things you say.

Let me make a few points that come to mind when I consider what you might
possibly have been trying to say.

First, the existing I* management personnel have minimal influence on the
personnel decisions made by the NomComm (other than liaisons, who don't get a
vote in the decisions). So is there any way in which the incumbents are using
the "power of incumbency" to decide who gets appointed?

Furthermore, the NomComm is a randomly selected subset of the people who would
get to vote (in the most recent proposal), if we in fact had voting. It's not
like it's a whole different group of people, or a carefully selected biased
set, or something. So what makes you think the personnel decisions made by the
larger group would be significantly different from those made by the subset?
If randomly selected subsets were not reasonably representative, the whole
concept of statistical polling would not work.

> Either argue your case or don't. Asserting that you believe you could
> find an argument but are too lazy to do so is hardly persuasive.

The irony level in this statement would stun a blue whale, let alone an ox.


(And my apologies to everyone on the list for wasting bandwidth, and space in
all your in-boxes, on this, but sometimes things are said which need a reply,
even though the reply is likely an utter waste of time.)

Noel

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RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-14 Thread Joel M. Halpern

At 09:28 PM 9/14/2006, Hallam-Baker, Phillip wrote:


> From: Joel M. Halpern [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

> I doubt that in the brief consideration based on your note I
> have found all of the problems.

Obviously. As Winston Churchill once remarked, "Democracy is the 
worst possible system of government, except for all the others".



The problem with the current scheme is precisely when people use the 
power of incumbency to advance arguments like the one you just gave. 
In particular a certain individual made essentially the same 
argument to trump a technical discussion and as a result DNSSEC was 
put back by five years.


Either argue your case or don't. Asserting that you believe you 
could find an argument but are too lazy to do so is hardly persuasive.


I raised several specific objections to your view, which you have 
chosen not to respond to here.  The comment you quote was not 
intended as an argument you should (or as you observe could) respond 
to, but rather as an indication taht I would not be surprised if 
there were additional issues beyond the ones I raised that would also 
need to be discussed.


Yours,
Joel M. Halpern


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RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-14 Thread Hallam-Baker, Phillip

> From: Joel M. Halpern [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

> I doubt that in the brief consideration based on your note I 
> have found all of the problems.

Obviously. As Winston Churchill once remarked, "Democracy is the worst possible 
system of government, except for all the others".


The problem with the current scheme is precisely when people use the power of 
incumbency to advance arguments like the one you just gave. In particular a 
certain individual made essentially the same argument to trump a technical 
discussion and as a result DNSSEC was put back by five years.

Either argue your case or don't. Asserting that you believe you could find an 
argument but are too lazy to do so is hardly persuasive.


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RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-14 Thread Joel M. Halpern

Clearly, we could choose to do that.
There are several drawbacks.

Firstly, the rough consensus, to the degree it is observable, favors 
the current approach.
Secondly, there is a significant and important portion of the IETF 
which does not meet the NOMCOM criteria.  This was consider an 
unfortunate but inevitable effect selecting some criteria.  To 
counterbalance this, the NOMCOM itself is supposed to consider the 
needs of the entire IETF, not just that portion which attends meetings.
Thirdly, voting itself has many drawbacks, and as Fred Baker observed 
recently, is liable to focus on popularity rather than on 
effectiveness for the job.


I doubt that in the brief consideration based on your note I have 
found all of the problems.


If there were a serious problem with the NOMCOM process, it would 
probably be sensible to evaluate whether the drawbacks of an election 
mode would be worth whatever problems it solved.  However, without a 
clear statement of problems with the NOMCOM process, I can not see 
any point in trying to evaluate an alternative.  Elections are not in 
and of themselves "good".  For civil governments, they seem to be the 
best choice we can find.


Yours,
Joel M. Halpern

At 08:09 PM 9/14/2006, Hallam-Baker, Phillip wrote:
There is no need to define the concept of membership. The term 
'membership' is essentially a legal term and the courts will define 
it according to their convenience. One can be a member without 
having a vote and can have a vote without being a member.


Under English Common Law saying that a thing is so does not make it 
so. If a an agreement that meets the legal definition of a 
partnership agreement explicitly states that it is not a partnership 
agreement that does not make it any less a partnership nor does it 
extinguish the liabilities, &ct. of such.



All that is needed to hold an election is to define the franchise. 
The franchise in this case would be defined in the same manner as 
the NOMCON is at present.



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RE: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election Process ratherthansome

2006-09-14 Thread Hallam-Baker, Phillip
There is no need to define the concept of membership. The term 'membership' is 
essentially a legal term and the courts will define it according to their 
convenience. One can be a member without having a vote and can have a vote 
without being a member.

Under English Common Law saying that a thing is so does not make it so. If a an 
agreement that meets the legal definition of a partnership agreement explicitly 
states that it is not a partnership agreement that does not make it any less a 
partnership nor does it extinguish the liabilities, &ct. of such.


All that is needed to hold an election is to define the franchise. The 
franchise in this case would be defined in the same manner as the NOMCON is at 
present.



> -Original Message-
> From: Randy Presuhn [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 2:53 PM
> To: ietf@ietf.org
> Subject: Re: Why cant the IETF embrace an open Election 
> Process ratherthansome
> 
> Hi -
> 
> Strangely absent from this discussion are any examples of 
> standards bodies that satisfy the critics' criteria.  Perhaps 
> some examples of standards organizations successfully using 
> processes meeting those criteria would be helpful to focus 
> this dicussion.
> 
> Randy
> 
> 
> ___
> Ietf mailing list
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> 
> 

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