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RFC 8717: BCP 101: IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0: Consolidated Updates to IETF Administrative Terminology

  • J. Klensin, Ed.
Best Current Practice

Abstract

In 2018, the IETF began the transition to a new administrative structure and updated its IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) to a new "IASA 2.0" structure. In addition to more substantive changes that are described in other documents, the transition to the 2018 IETF Administrative Support structure changes several position titles and organizational relationships that are referenced elsewhere. Rather than reissue those referencing documents individually, this specification provides updates to them and deprecates some now-obsolete documents to ensure that there is no confusion due to these changes.

Status of This Memo

This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.

This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.

Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8717.

1. Introduction

In 2018, the IETF began the transition to a new administrative structure, and updated its IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) to a new "IASA 2.0" structure [RFC8711]. Key IASA 2.0 changes have been specified in a series of documents, including changes to the IETF Trust [RFC8714], the rationale for it [RFC8715], a new defining document for the IETF Administration LLC [LLC-Agreement] (informally called the "IETF LLC" or just "the LLC" in places in this document and elsewhere), and adjustments to the procedures for nominations and selections for relevant positions [RFC8713].

In addition to more substantive changes that are described in those and other documents, the IASA 2.0 structure changes several position titles and organizational relationships that are referenced in other documents. Rather than reissue those documents individually, this document provides a unified update to them.

This document updates RFCs 2028, 2418, 3005, 3710, 3929, 4633, and 6702 (citations in context below) to make those terminology and related changes. In addition, with the authorization of the IAB, it requests that the Informational RFC 3716 be made Historic (see Section 4). The sections that follow identify the details of the relevant documents and the required changes.

2. Where Appropriate, Replacement of the IETF Executive Director Position with the Managing Director, IETF Secretariat

Under the IASA 2.0 structure, most of the responsibilities of the former position of IETF Executive Director have been assigned to a new position (or at least title) of Managing Director, IETF Secretariat. An "Executive Director" title is now associated with different, and largely new, responsibilities as an officer of the IETF Administration LLC. These changes are covered in the description of the new structural arrangements [RFC8711].

This document applies that change to the following:

  • RFC 2028, "The Organizations Involved in the IETF Standards Process", [RFC2028], Section 3.3.
  • RFC 2418, "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", [RFC2418], Section 1.
  • RFC 3710, "An IESG Charter", [RFC3710], Section 2.
  • RFC 3929, "Alternative Decision Making Processes for Consensus-Blocked Decisions in the IETF", [RFC3929], Sections 4.1.1 and 4.3 (twice).
  • RFC 4633, "Experiment in Long-Term Suspensions From Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Mailing Lists", [RFC4633], Section 1.
  • RFC 6702, "Promoting Compliance with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Disclosure Rules", [RFC6702], Section 5.

Note that the current description of the Internet Standards Process [RFC2026] does not require an update by this document for this purpose because the reference to the IETF Executive Director in RFC 2026 was replaced by a document [RFC3979] that precedes the current effort, and that document was, in turn, obsoleted by RFC 8179 [RFC8179].

3. Removal of the IETF Executive Director as an Option

In a few cases, it is no longer appropriate for either the Managing Director, IETF Secretariat (former IETF Executive Director position) or the new IETF Executive Director (for the LLC) to perform a particular historical function. The relevant documents are updated to remove the IETF Executive Director from the list of people with specific responsibilities or authority. Those documents will not be updated to use "Managing Director, IETF Secretariat" but, instead, the mention of the position will simply be dropped.

This document applies that change to the following:

  • RFC 3005, "IETF Discussion List Charter" [RFC3005], section titled "Charter for the IETF Discussion List". This document is modified to remove the authorization for the IETF Executive Director to restrict people from posting, etc.

4. Deprecated Documents

4.1. Documents Whose Context Is Changed by This Specification

Both of the documents that follow were obsoleted in 2017 by RFC 8179 [RFC8179], which changed mentions of the IETF Executive Director to point to the IETF Secretariat more generally.

4.2. General Description of the IETF Administrative Model

RFC 3716 [RFC3716] was a report of an IAB Advisory Committee that served as a starting point for the work that led to the original IASA structure. That report was an IAB document rather than an IETF one. The IAB approved a proposal to move RFC 3716 to Historic on March 6, 2019 [IAB-3716-Historic].

5. Security Considerations

The changes specified in this document are matters of terminology and organizational structure derived from documents it references. It should have no effect on Internet security.

6. References

6.1. Normative References

[LLC-Agreement]
IETF Administration LLC, "Limited Liability Company Agreement of IETF Administration LLC", , <https://www.ietf.org/documents/180/IETF-LLC-Agreement.pdf>.
[RFC2028]
Hovey, R. and S. Bradner, "The Organizations Involved in the IETF Standards Process", BCP 11, RFC 2028, DOI 10.17487/RFC2028, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2028>.
[RFC2418]
Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 2418, DOI 10.17487/RFC2418, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2418>.
[RFC3005]
Harris, S., "IETF Discussion List Charter", BCP 45, RFC 3005, DOI 10.17487/RFC3005, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3005>.
[RFC3710]
Alvestrand, H., "An IESG charter", RFC 3710, DOI 10.17487/RFC3710, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3710>.
[RFC6702]
Polk, T. and P. Saint-Andre, "Promoting Compliance with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Disclosure Rules", RFC 6702, DOI 10.17487/RFC6702, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6702>.
[RFC8711]
Haberman, B., Hall, J., and J. Livingood, "Structure of the IETF Administrative Support Activity, Version 2.0", BCP 101, RFC 8711, DOI 10.17487/RFC8711, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8711>.
[RFC8713]
Kucherawy, M., Ed., Hinden, R., Ed., and J. Livingood, Ed., "IAB, IESG, IETF Trust, and IETF LLC Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the IETF Nominating and Recall Committees", BCP 10, RFC 8713, DOI 10.17487/RFC8713, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8713>.
[RFC8714]
Arkko, J. and T. Hardie, "Update to the Process for Selection of Trustees for the IETF Trust", BCP 101, RFC 8714, DOI 10.17487/RFC8714, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8714>.
[RFC8715]
Arkko, J., "IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0: Update to the Process for Selection of Trustees for the IETF Trust", RFC 8715, DOI 10.17487/RFC8715, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8715>.

6.2. Informative References

[IAB-3716-Historic]
Internet Architecture Board, "IAB Minutes 2019-03-06", , <https://www.iab.org/documents/minutes/minutes-2019/iab-minutes-2019-03-06/>.
[RFC2026]
Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, DOI 10.17487/RFC2026, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2026>.
[RFC3716]
IAB Advisory Committee, "The IETF in the Large: Administration and Execution", RFC 3716, DOI 10.17487/RFC3716, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3716>.
[RFC3929]
Hardie, T., "Alternative Decision Making Processes for Consensus-Blocked Decisions in the IETF", RFC 3929, DOI 10.17487/RFC3929, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3929>.
[RFC3979]
Bradner, S., Ed., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology", RFC 3979, DOI 10.17487/RFC3979, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3979>.
[RFC4633]
Hartman, S., "Experiment in Long-Term Suspensions From Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Mailing Lists", RFC 4633, DOI 10.17487/RFC4633, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4633>.
[RFC4879]
Narten, T., "Clarification of the Third Party Disclosure Procedure in RFC 3979", RFC 4879, DOI 10.17487/RFC4879, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4879>.
[RFC8179]
Bradner, S. and J. Contreras, "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology", BCP 79, RFC 8179, DOI 10.17487/RFC8179, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8179>.

Acknowledgments

Brian Carpenter's careful checking and identification of documents that did, and did not, require consideration was essential to the document in its current form. He also made several other significant contributions. Bob Hinden also gave the document a careful reading and made useful suggestions. In additional to the above, Alissa Cooper, Eliot Lear, Heather Flanagan (the RFC Series Editor), and the current membership to the IAB helped sort out the handing of RFC 3716.

Contributors

Jason Livingood did the hard work of identifying the documents that required updating and supplied considerable text used in this document.

Author's Address

John C Klensin (editor)
1770 Massachusetts Ave, Ste 322
Cambridge, MA 02140
United States of America
Phone: +1 617 245 1457
RFC 8717: IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0: Consolidated Updates to IETF Administrative Terminology
Best Current Practice