Re: [TLS] Last Call: draft-ietf-tls-extractor (Keying Material Exporters for Transport Layer Security (TLS)) to Proposed Standard

[Dean Anderson <dean at av8.com>]

I am against this standard because of its patent encumbrances and
non-free licencing terms.  The working group did not get any clear
answers on what particular patents this draft may infringe, but a patent
holder (Certicom) did assert an IPR disclosure (1004) listing many
patents.  We have no alternative but to accept the Certicom disclosure
statements as meaning that the TLS Extractor draft is patent-encumbered
without a universal, free defensive license.

The statement by https://datatrackerietf.org/ipr/1004/ referring to
http://www.certicom.com/images/pdfs/certicom%20-ipr-contribution-to-ietfsept08.pdf
which states:

  "Certicom will, upon request, provide a nonexclusive, royalty free
patent license, to manufacturers to permit end users (including both
client and server sides), to use the patents in schedule A when
implementing any of these protocols, including those requiring third
party certificates provided the certificate is obtained from a licensed
Certificate Authority (CA). This license does not cover the issuing of
certificates by a Certification Authority (CA)."

That is not a free license, since Certicom must respond to the "request"  
before any license is granted. After the IETF finally approves the
necessary standards, Certicom is free to stop approving the requests.

I ask others who support free software to join me in opposing this
document by sending a message stating opposition to the IETF at IETF.ORG
mailing list.  IETF participation is open to the public, and anyone may
voice their view on IETF standards.  It is also substantive to oppose a
document because of its patent status, and in fact, any topic that is
considered during or related to the IETF process is substantive.

		--Dean


On Mon, 20 Jul 2009, The IESG wrote:

> The IESG has received a request from the Transport Layer Security WG 
> (tls) to consider the following document:
> 
> - 'Keying Material Exporters for Transport Layer Security (TLS) '
>    <draft-ietf-tls-extractor-06.txt> as a Proposed Standard
> 
> The IESG plans to make a decision in the next few weeks, and solicits
> final comments on this action.  Please send substantive comments to the
> ietf at ietf.org mailing lists by 2009-08-10. Exceptionally, 
> comments may be sent to iesg at ietf.org instead. In either case, please 
> retain the beginning of the Subject line to allow automated sorting.
> 
> The file can be obtained via
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-tls-extractor-06.txt
> 
> 
> IESG discussion can be tracked via
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/public/pidtracker.cgi?command=view_id&dTag=16821&rfc_flag=0
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TLS mailing list
> TLS at ietf.org
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/tls
> 
> 

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