IETF News

Words from the IAB Chair

By: Bernard Aboba

Date: June 28, 2012

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IAB Retreat

The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) held its 2012 retreat 10–11 May, in Washington, DC, U.S.A. As in the past, the focus of the retreat was to set the agenda for IAB work in the next year and to review the programmes and initiatives that have been put in place to manage the work. An update on the retreat will be provided in the next issue.

IETF 83 Technical Plenary

The IETF 83 Technical Plenary featured Leslie Daigle, who provided an update on World IPv6 Launch, as well as a panel introduced by Hannes Tschofenig covering Implementation Challenges for Browser Security.1 The panel included Chris Weber, who presented “When Good Standards Go Bad,” an examination of how new browser features can enable attacks that were not possible before; Eric Rescorla, whose presentation, “How do we get to TLS Everywhere?” looked at TLS (transport layer security) deployment barriers; Ian Fette presented “Lessons Learned from WebSockets (RFC6455);” Tom Lowenthal presented “Cryptography Infrastructure,” which addressed issues with the certificate trust model; and Jeff Hodges, whose presentation titled, “It’s Not the End of the World,” offered an overview of both progress over the last decade and current initiatives.

RFC Series

At IETF 83, Fred Baker, chair of the RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC) introduced Heather Flanagan, the newly appointed RFC Series Editor (RSE), to the IETF community. Also, the IAB approved publication of RFC Editor Model (Version 2)2 and Independent Submission Editor Model3 as informational RFCs within the IAB stream.

IESG/IAB Statement on IAB Member Roles in Evaluating New Work Proposals

Over the years, questions have been raised about the role of IAB members in evaluating new work proposals. To provide clarification, Spencer Dawkins worked with the IESG and IAB to craft a statement4 that includes the following paragraph:
In providing architectural oversight and guidance for a BoF (birds-of-a-feather), IAB members are rarely speaking for the IAB, because the IAB has rarely determined an IAB consensus position on new work being proposed. Individual IAB members do not have a privileged role in determining whether a BoF will result in a chartered working group. IAB members providing architectural oversight must ensure that their role is not misunderstood by BoF proponents or by the larger community of interest.

Privacy Programme

The Privacy Programme, led by Alissa Cooper, released a questionnaire on IPv6 privacy implementations.5

IP Evolution Initiative

The IP Evolution Initiative, led by Hannes Tschofenig, published the Smart Object Workshop Report6 as RFC 6574.
IPv6 for IAB Business Initiative
The IPv6 for IAB Business Initiative has brought online an experimental audio and web conferencing service operating over IPv6.

Comments on OMB Circular A–119

The IETF and IAB provided comments on OMB Circular A–119 Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities.7

IANA Evolution Programme

On 3 April 2012, Leslie Daigle (Chief Internet Technology Officer, ISOC) and Russ Housley (Chair, IETF) met with U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Lawrence Strickling relating to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) protocol parameter function. A one-page summary of IETF–IANA oversight,8 written by IETF administrative director (IAD) Ray Pelletier, was left behind. Subsequently, the IANA webpage on the IETF website9 was updated to include pointers to all documents relating to IETF–IANA oversight on the IAB, IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC), and ICANN websites. With the recent reissuance of the IANA RFP by NTIA,10 the IAB will once again be submitting an ICANN performance evaluation.

ICANN Relations

With respect to ICANN relations, the IAB has replied to ICANN questions11 relating to the IAB statement on Interpretation of Rules in the ICANN gTLD Applicant Guidebook.12

ITU–T Coordination Programme

At the request of the ITU–T Coordination Programme, the IAB has initiated an IETF-wide Call for Comment on IETF and ITU–T Standardization Sector Guidelines.13 The Call for Comment ended 25 May 2012.

IETF/IEEE–SA Coordination

The IAB appointed Dan Romascanu as IETF liaison to IEEE–SA.14 One of Dan’s responsibilities is to coordinate a meeting between the IAB, the IEEE 802 Executive Committee, and IESG, which will take place in the Bay Area of California in the United States in July 2012.15 In March 2013, IETF and IEEE 802 will meet in the same hotel in Orlando in adjacent weeks, so a second meeting will probably be scheduled for that week. Topics for discussion will include a recent liaison from IEEE 802.1 to the IESG suggesting potential areas of coordination16 and discussion of how well the coordination mechanisms described in RFC 444117 have been working in practice.

References

3. Independent Submission Editor Model, http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-iab-ise-model
4. IAB/IESG statement on IAB Member Roles in Evaluating New Work Proposals, http://www.iab.org/?p=5741
5. IAB Privacy Program releases IPv6 Privacy Questionnaire, http://www.iab.org/?p=5842
6. Smart Objects Workshop Report, http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6574
7. IETF and IAB comment on OMB Circular A–119, http://www.iab.org/?p=5837
8. IETF Oversight of the IANA Protocol Parameter Function, http://www.iab.org/?p=5779 
9. IETF-IANA Oversight, http://www.ietf.org/iana.html
11. IAB responds to ICANN questions concerning the interpretation of rules in the ICANN gTLD guidebook, http://www.iab.org/?p=5723
12. IAB posts statement: The interpretation of rules in the ICANN gTLD Applicant Guidebook,http://www.iab.org/?p=5631
13. Call for Comment on IETF and ITU–T Standardization Sector Guidelines, http://www.iab.org/?p=5829
14. IAB appoints Dan Romascanu as IETF liaison to IEEE–SA, http://www.iab.org/?p=5681
15. IAB and IESG to meet with IEEE 802 Executive Committee, http://www.iab.org/?p=5793
17. The IEEE 802/IETF Relationship, http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4441