5378 Procedures Fix

[Ray Pelletier <rpelletier at isoc.org>]

Brian & Harald

I have heartburn with the proposed 'fix' to the pre-5378 problem.  It  
has to to with the level of effort
by Contributors and record keeping required to implement the fix.

2.  Procedure

   Definition: In this document, the phrase "prior to RFC 5378" refers
   to IETF Contributions made before November 10, 2008, when [RFC5378]
   became effective.

   Contributors of Internet-Drafts that contain substantial text
   originally contributed to the IETF by other persons prior to RFC  
5378
   have certain responsibilities.

   o  They must identify the source of the substantial text that their
      contribution includes.

I agree with this.  The Trust cannot grant the license to a 3rd party  
without being able to identify the
5378 licensors and the Contributors are in the best position to  
identify the sources.

   o  They, or people helping them, must make reasonable efforts to
      obtain or verify the agreement of the original contributors to
      their text being contributed under the terms of RFC 5378.

I disagree with this.  Of the last 5,000 plus RFCs I understand there  
have been fewer than 5 occasions
when the IETF has provided the right to modify an RFC outside the IETF  
standards process.  I would shift the
burden to the Trust to 'make reasonable efforts to obtain or verify  
the agreement of the original contributors to
their text being contributed under the terms of RFC 5378', rather than  
have the Contributors do it, on an as-needed basis.
If the Contributors have to do it, it will result in hard or soft copy  
licenses to be provided to the Trust on a document by document basis
or the Trust will wind up soliciting broadly for licenses, perhaps  
even setting up an online 5378 License Registry for
the 11,000 plus authors, and/or n # of companies of the 5,000 RFCs.   
Whether the Contributors do it and or the Trust, it is
way too much effort to meet the requirement for an occasional request.

   o  If such agreement cannot be obtained within a reasonable time,
      they must instead include a special disclaimer in the Internet-
      Draft.  The current text of the disclaimer will be specified by
      the IETF Trust's "Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents",
      originally located at
      <http://trustee.ietf.org/policyandprocedures.html>.  The initial
      version of this text is in Appendix A below.

The Contributor should just include the provision as a matter of  
course, unless they meet exceptions
defined in the "Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents".

   o  In either case, the Internet-Draft must contain acknowledgement
      and precise citation of the contributions concerned.  If the
      disclaimer is included, the acknowledgement should also identify
      which previous contributors contributed which text, unless the
      text concerned is scattered throughout the document.

Concur.

   Before approving a document containing material originally
   contributed to the IETF prior to RFC 5378, for which permission to
   contribute it under RFC 5378 has not been obtained, the IESG must be
   satisfied that reasonable effort has been made to obtain the
   necessary rights.

I would delete as unnecessary if changed as suggested.

If such is the case, the resulting document, and
   any IETF Last Call message concerning the document, must contain the
   special disclaimer and acknowledgement defined above.

The IESG should ensure the pre-5378 material has been properly  
identified
and that the document contains the 'special disclaimer and  
acknowledgement
defined above'.


   The IESG and the IETF Trust, in collaboration, must provide a public
   register of documents prior to RFC 5378 for which the rights  
required
   by RFC 5378 have been provided retroactively, and a public register
   of rights holders who have retroactively provided such rights for  
all
   their IETF contributions prior to RFC 5378.

Clearly the 5378 rights as and when requested by the IETF Trust and  
granted
by the authors must be publicly disclosed.

   The IETF Trust is requested to ensure that its policies and licenses
   allow for documents including the disclaimer.

Concur

Ray Pelletier
Taking off my Trustee and IAD hats.