Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          J. Arkko
Internet-Draft
Request for Comments: 8523                                      Ericsson
Intended status:
Category: Informational                          October 11, 2018
Expires: April 14,                                       March 2019
ISSN: 2070-1721

  Discussion of the IASA 2.0 Changes as They Relate to the IETF Trust
                  draft-ietf-iasa2-trust-rationale-03

Abstract

   This document is published to capture captures the rationale for the changes introduced in
   RFC NNNN (RFC Editor: please replace NNNN with the RFC
   number of [I-D.ietf-iasa2-trust-update]), Update 8524, "Update to the Process for Selection of Trustees for the
   IETF Trust. Trust".

   At the time RFC NNNN 8524 was published, IETF administrative structure
   changes ("IASA 2.0") had an impact on the IETF Trust because members
   of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC), which was
   being phased out, had served as Trustees of the IETF Trust.  This
   document provides background on the past IETF Trust arrangements,
   explains the effect of the rules in the founding documents during the
   transition to the new arrangement, and provides a rationale for the
   update.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft document is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
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   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 14, 2019.
   https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8523.

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   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Background  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3   2
   3.  General Approach  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Changing the Way Trustees Are Selected  . . . . . . . . . . .   4   3
   5.  Transition  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5   4
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  Acknowledgements  . . . .  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   9.  References . . . . . . .   5
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     9.1.  Normative
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . .
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Appendix A.  Changes from Previous Versions . . . . . . . . . . .   6   5
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   This document is published to capture captures the rationale for the changes introduced in [I-D.ietf-iasa2-trust-update].
   [RFC8524].

   At the time [I-D.ietf-iasa2-trust-update] [RFC8524] was published, IETF administrative structure
   changes ("IASA 2.0") had an impact on the IETF Trust [RFC4071]
   [RFC4371] [I-D.ietf-iasa2-struct]. [IASA2].  This is because members of the IETF
   Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC), which was being phased
   out, had served as Trustees of the IETF Trust.  A minimal change
   regarding the selection of the trustees Trustees is implemented by [I-D.ietf-iasa2-trust-update]. [RFC8524].

   This companion memo provides some background on the details of the
   past IETF Trust arrangements, explains the effect of the rules in the
   founding documents during the transition to the new arrangement, and
   provides a rationale for the update.

2.  Background

   The purpose of the IETF Trust is to acquire, hold, maintain, and
   license certain existing and future intellectual property and other
   property used in connection with the administration of the IETF
   [RFC4371].  The intellectual property is, for instance, rights that
   the IETF contributors grant for text in RFCs and Internet-Drafts.
   The IETF Trust also manages trademarks such as "IETF" and domain
   names such as "ietf.org".  The IETF Trust is also serving the broader
   Internet community by holding domains and trademarks associated with
   the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) [RFC7979].

   The IETF Trust is a legal entity, registered in the Commonwealth of
   Virginia [Trust-FD].

   Previously, the members of the IAOC also served as ex officio
   Trustees of the IETF Trust.  The founding documents specify persons
   eligible to become trustees Trustees as having to be then-current members of
   the IAOC [Trust-FD].  The documents also specify that if for any
   reason there are fewer than three individuals serving as Trustees,
   then the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), or the IESG's
   successor as the leadership of the IETF, shall appoint one or more
   individuals to serve in a temporary capacity as Trustee(s) until
   eligible persons can be found.

   In the previous system system, there were eight IAOC members.  Two were
   named by the IETF Nominating Committee (NomCom), one by the IESG, Internet
   Engineering Steering Group (IESG), one by the Internet Architecture
   Board (IAB), and one by the Internet Society (ISOC) Board of
   Trustees.  In addition, there  There were three ex officio members via their roles as
   IETF Chair, ISOC CEO, and IAB Chair.  In addition, the IETF
   Administrative Director (IAD) served also as one of the trustees. Trustees.

3.  General Approach

   There were two basic approaches to resolving the issue with the
   trustees, when
   Trustees once the IAOC ceased to exist.  One could have imagined
   merging approach would be to
   merge all IETF Trust functions in the new IASA structure and under
   the new legal entity.  This  However, this memo advocated advocates a second approach
   where the IETF Trust is kept independent.

   The rationale for advocating the second approach is is, in part part, to
   minimize changes to the IETF Trust while the IETF's administrative
   structure is undergoing major change.  In addition, the IETF Trust
   and other administrative IETF processes are quite different.  While
   very important, the IETF Trust is a low-activity entity where changes
   are minimal and gradual, and there are no pressing issues.

4.  Changing the Way Trustees Are Selected

   At the time when

   When the trustees served Trustees were serving on both the IETF Trust and the IAOC,
   many of the requirements for naming a particular group of people were
   driven by the IAOC's requirements.  For the IETF Trust in the new
   model, some of those arrangements were able to be rethought, both in terms of
   the number and source of the trustees, Trustees, as well as the desired
   qualifications and length of terms.

   Several options were possible, of course.  A newly designed naming selection
   process could have been devised.  The argument here is devised, but in this document we argue for a
   relatively
   limited change, however, change based largely on the basis of fact that a) the IETF Trust
   arrangements worked generally working well, and on b) the relatively
   modest expected time commitments combined with commitment
   is expected to be modest, and c) the assets need for very careful management of the assets.
   management.

   As a result, a smaller group of trustees Trustees appeared sufficient.

   In addition, the terms set for the trustees Trustees selected from the IETF
   community could be set to longer than the two year period typical of other
   IETF bodies.

   One could have continued the practice of having the chairs and CEOs
   from the IETF, IAB, and Internet Society be trustees Trustees as well, but
   this may not be necessary.  In general, the tasks of the IETF Trust
   are well defined, and while there is a need for coordination, it does
   not need to be at the level of chairs or CEOs.

   Given all this, one approach was to have trustees Trustees appointed by the
   NomCom, the IESG, and the ISOC Board of Trustees.  (One might also
   have considered the IETF Administration LLC legal entity instead of
   the Internet Society for this role.  But role, but the Internet Society is
   perhaps more suitable for the role, role given their focus on the broad use
   of the IETF Trust assets and not merely administrative aspects). aspects.)

   If the same principles would continue to be used as were used in for previous appointments, appointments continued to be
   used, then appointments performed by the NomCom would need to be
   confirmed by another entity, which entity.  This could be, for instance, either the
   IESG or the IAB.  The IESG had previously been the confirming body
   for the IAOC, so it has been retained in that role for the trustees. Trustees.

5.  Transition

   When the new entity for the IETF Administration LLC was set up, the
   IAOC was expected to be discontinued soon thereafter.  Fortunately,
   there was no pressing need to change all the components of the IAOC
   and its dependent organizations at the same time.  As discussed above
   (Section 2), in
   Section 2, the IESG holds the ability to continue to name trustees.
   And once Trustees.
   Once the updated procedures were in place, the IETF Trust had its
   management nominated in the usual manner, and the exceptional IESG
   process was no longer needed.

6.  Security Considerations

   This memo has no security implications for the Internet.

7.  IANA Considerations

   This memo requests document has no action from IANA.

9. IANA actions.

8.  References

9.1.

8.1.  Normative References

   [RFC4071]  Austein, R., Ed. and B. Wijnen, Ed., "Structure of the
              IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA)", BCP 101,
              RFC 4071, DOI 10.17487/RFC4071, April 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4071>.

   [RFC4371]  Carpenter, B., Ed. and L. Lynch, Ed., "BCP 101 Update for
              IPR Trust", BCP 101, RFC 4371, DOI 10.17487/RFC4371,
              January 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4371>.

9.2.

8.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-iasa2-struct]

   [IASA2]    Haberman, B., Hall, J., and J. Livingood, "Record of
              Proposed Structure "Structure of
              the IETF Administrative Support
              Activity (IASA), Activity, Version 2.0", draft-ietf-iasa2-struct-06
              (work
              Work in progress), September 2018.

   [I-D.ietf-iasa2-trust-update]
              Arkko, J. and T. Hardie, "Update to the Selection of
              Trustees for the IETF Trust", draft-ietf-iasa2-trust-
              update-00 (work in progress), September 2018. Progress, draft-ietf-iasa2-rfc4071bis-04, January
              2019.

   [RFC7979]  Lear, E., Ed. and R. Housley, Ed., "Response to the IANA
              Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) Request
              for Proposals on the IANA Protocol Parameters Registries",
              RFC 7979, DOI 10.17487/RFC7979, August 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7979>.

   [RFC8524]  Arkko, J. and T. Hardie, "Update to the Process for
              Selection of Trustees for the IETF Trust", RFC 8524,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8524, January 2019.

   [Trust-FD]
              IETF Trust, , "Founding Documents", February 2014
              (https://trustee.ietf.org/founding-documents.html).

Appendix A.  Changes from Previous Versions

   RFC Editor: Please remove this section upon publication.

   The version draft-ietf-iasa2-trust-rationale-03.txt made some
   editorial corrections.

   The version draft-ietf-iasa2-trust-rationale-02.txt made some
   editorial corrections.

   The version draft-ietf-iasa2-trust-rationale-01.txt includes changes
   relating to last call comments.  The changes are 1) indication of why
   this document is being published 2) updates to references, 3) the
   addition of empty security and IANA consideration sections, 4)
   editorial changes necessary for a document that is also read later,
   and not just used in discussions at this time.

   The version draft-ietf-iasa2-trust-rationale-00.txt includes only
   editorial and language updates.

   The version draft-arkko-iasa2-trust-rationale-00.txt was the initial
   version.

8. 2014,
              <https://trustee.ietf.org/founding-documents.html>.

Acknowledgements

   The author would like to thank other members of the earlier IASA 2.0
   design team who were team: Brian Haberman, Eric Rescorla, Jason Livingood, Joe
   Hall, and Leslie Daigle.  The authors author would also like to thank Alissa
   Cooper, Ted Hardie, Andrew Sullivan, Brian Carpenter, Lucy Lynch, and
   John Levine for interesting discussions in this problem space, and
   Adrian Farrel, Tero Kivinen, Russ Housley, Benjamin Kaduk, Adam Roach
   Roach, and Meral Shirazipour for careful review.

Author's Address

   Jari Arkko
   Ericsson
   Kauniainen  02700
   Finland

   Email: jari.arkko@piuha.net