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[Ltru] OT: regional affairs (was: Liaison with TC37/SC2)



Doug Ewell wrote:

> no travel budget, and no realistic hope of getting one.

Apparently you've something much more formally in mind than
what I found in RFCs 4052/4053.  I don't see why a liaison
of this WG should ever be forced to _travel_ somewhere.

I thought that LTRU will be disbanded in about six months
after 4646bis and 4645bis are published.

> I'm deeply disappointed that national origin is being
> considered a criterion for choosing a liaison.

That's a net-culture thing.  A decade ago I was a member
of FidoNet, and whatever that might be, it was organized
in "zones" roughly mirroring continents, and "regions"
roughly mirroring countries, and the outside world (non-
Fido) was identified as "rfc822" (among others).

Within that organization it was natural that "national
origin" was to some degree important, some "zone 2" (EU)
folks didn't like the policies from "zone 1" (US/CA), just
an example.  The US legal system and its traditions can be
completely *_alien_* for outsiders (unless they're coming
from England).

With its ccTLDs ICANN has a similar issue, they've organized
some of their support organizations into "regional" groups.
I hate this.  But I'd also hate it if somebody takes the US
legal system with its software patents (example) for granted,
a "patented algorithm" is plain nonsense from my POV.  And I
guess we've all read this (example):

<http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-10oct06.htm>

ISO also has the same issue, some regional standard bodies,
and it's normal that folks with this net-cultural background
consider "national origin" as important.  That's how their
power structure is organized.  Same issue for the UN (most
obviously), as soon as "regional organization" creeps in it
inherits tons of bullshit.  But we're used to it, and many
alternatives are worse.

> I suppose it is that aggressive stance, combined with
> misplaced stereotypes, that makes some non-Americans think
> we all support our administration.

Maybe, but I'd guess it only surprised more folks that all
cold war patterns with its fiction of a common transatlantic
culture were just that, fictitious.  And Europe has its own
internal problems to solve - depending on how you count it
the last seriously barbarian state of affairs is just over
60 years in the past.  Or only 16 years.

> I guess the State Department's preference for "Burma" and
> "Burmese" over "Myanmar" is a statement of sorts about their
> opposition to that country's current leadership.  I don't
> know what that has to do with the liaison position.

Nothing.  When I wanted to get rid of such old codes it didn't
mean that I'm a fan of the MY-leadership.  I only tried to get
rid of cruft, as in Harald's big RFC decruft "experiment", and
what we have now (with BU registered) was more convincing than
the "date of 1766 publication" proposal.  For purely technical
reasons, BU was in theory valid under 1766 rules.

> I tend to think of the Internet and WGs like this as true
> melting pots, where I can work with someone for months or
> years without regard for their race, age, national origin,
> blood type, shoe size, etc.

Yes.  I needed some months to figure out that [I refuse to say
who because it's too embarassing] is a male name.

> I do not think I would automatically consider an Irish person
> unqualified or inappropriate to be a liaison simply because
> they were Irish.

Of course not, but it's less than three days ago that I found
to my great relieve that Afilias is an Irish company far away
from Illinois, see above for a link with some backgrounds.

Frank



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