Internet DRAFT - draft-ietf-shmoo-remote-fee
draft-ietf-shmoo-remote-fee
Network Working Group M. Kühlewind
Internet-Draft Ericsson
Intended status: Best Current Practice J. Reed
Expires: 29 February 2024 R. Salz
Akamai Technologies
28 August 2023
Open Participation Principle regarding Remote Registration Fee
draft-ietf-shmoo-remote-fee-09
Abstract
This document outlines a principle for open participation that
extends the open process principle defined in RFC3935 by stating that
there must be a free option for online participation to IETF meetings
and, if possible, related IETF-hosted events over the Internet.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 29 February 2024.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Principle of Open Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Financial Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Considerations on Use and Misuse of a Free Participation
Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
Remote participation for IETF in-person meetings has evolved over
time from email-only to live chat and audio streaming, and,
subsequently, to a full online meeting system that is tightly
integrated with the in-room session and enables interactive
participation by audio and video. Remote participation has
historically been free for remote attendees.
Given this more full-blown participation option, the IETF has started
seeing an increasing number of remote participants. This increase
can be explained by the ease with which new participants can join a
meeting or only attend selected parts of the meeting agenda, and also
by a less strongly perceived need to attend every meeting in person.
Financial considerations may also be a factor. In order to better
understand these trends, the IETF started requiring registration for
remote participation, still without any registration fee applied.
With the move to fully online meetings in 2020 and 2021, however,
there was no longer a distinction between remote and on-site
participants for those meetings. Since IETF meeting costs and other
costs still had to be covered, a meeting fee was charged for remote
participants, replacing the free participation that was previously
available for all remote attendees.
The introduction of a fee for remote participation raised concerns
about the potential impact on both, those who regularly remotely
attend IETF meetings and those people considering attending an IETF
meeting for the first time. In both cases, even a small registration
fee can be a barrier to participation.
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2. Principle of Open Participation
This document outlines the principle of open participation that the
IETF Administration LLC (IETF LLC) is expected to incorporate into
decisions about the registration fee structure for remote
participation.
The principle this document states is simple: there must be an option
for free remote participation in any IETF meeting, regardless of
whether the meeting has a physical presence. Related events
collocated with an IETF meeting are part of the IETF's open process
[RFC3935] and are encouraged to follow this principle as well, if
they offer remote participation at all.
This principle aims to support the openness principle of the IETF as
defined in [RFC3935]:
"Open process - any interested person can participate in the work,
know what is being decided, and make his or her voice heard on the
issue. Part of this principle is our commitment to making our
documents, our WG mailing lists, our attendance lists, and our
meeting minutes publicly available on the Internet."
While RFC3935 explicitly notes that this principle includes a
requirement to open basically all our documents and material and to
make them accessible over the Internet, it was written with mainly
having email interactions in mind when talking about participation.
This document extends this principle to explicitly cover remote
participation at meetings. Particularly in this context, openness
should be seen as open and free.
This document does not stipulate that all IETF meetings or related
IETF events must have a remote participation option, because there
could be technical or other reasons why that might not always be
possible. This document rather states that if remote participation
is provided, there should always be a free option to make the process
as open as possible. This document does not specify the
implementation details of the free option and leaves this to the LLC.
At the time of publication an approach to request a fee waiver was
implemented. Further, it is of course strongly anticipated that at
least all working group sessions as well as BoFs and the
administrative plenary of an IETF meeting provide an option for
remote participation.
Moreover, in order to fully remove barriers to participation, any
free registration option must offer the same degree of interactivity
and functionality available to paid remote participants.
Specifically, it must not be possible to identify participants that
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used the free option. However, of course this does not mean that all
services must be provided for free to participants using the free
registration option, but only those services that are provided as
part of the regular registration. Offering additional services to a
subset or all participants at an additional charge is still possible,
e.g. if special needs are required. However, to promote inclusivity,
it should also be considered if those services can also be offered
without charge for those in need and who cannot afford the fee.
Further, the free option must be clearly and prominently listed on
the meeting website and registration page. If the free option
requires additional registration steps, such as applying for a fee
waiver, those requirements should be clearly documented.
Particularly, to avoid any potential negative implications on
inclusivity, any personal information that is collected with respect
to the use of the free remote participation option must be kept
confidential.
3. Financial Impact
Fully online meetings as well as remote participation incur expenses,
as do other services that the IETF provides. This includes items
such as mailing lists, document access via the datatracker or other
online platforms, as well as support for videoconferencing, like use
of Meetecho and others. Meeting fees are a way to distribute these
and other operating costs of the IETF among participants, even though
they do not fully offset the costs of either holding the meeting or
operating the IETF. As such, the intention of this document and the
principle stated herein is not to make remote participation free for
everyone, but to always offer a free remote option that enables
remote participation without any barriers other than the application
for the free registration itself when the registration fee is a
barrier to participation. This principle applies to remote
participation only, providing thereby one free option for
participation. In-person participation is not in scope for this
document as the cost considerations are broader than just the
registration fee.
It is not in scope for this document to make suggestions for changing
the IETF's fee structure or overall funding model. As defined in
RFC8711, it is the IETF LLC's responsibility to manage the IETF's
finances and budget and as such "[t]he IETF LLC is expected to act
responsibly so as to minimize risks to IETF participants and to the
future of the IETF as a whole, such as financial risks." Further, it
is the responsibility of the IETF LLC Board "to act consistently with
the documented consensus of the IETF community" [RFC8711], taking
agreed principles like the one proposed in this document into
account.
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If unlimited free remote participation is determined to adversely
affect financial sustainability of the IETF, e.g. if the number of
paying participants or the cost of free participation emerges to be a
significant factor, the LLC is expected to implement additional
measures to manage these costs. This document does not and cannot
restrict the LLC in its financial responsibility and therefore does
not impose any limitation on the use of appropriate measures. If the
LLC decides to do this, they should make their decision and rationale
known to the community and consider community consultation as
specified in Section 4.4 of RFC8711 in order "to obtain consensus-
based community input on key issues". Further, they should describe
the implemented process in sufficient detail for participants to make
an informed decision about the use of the free option.
As discussed in the next section, assessment of eligibility is
difficult. Consequently, any limit on the number of available free
registrations, which likely requires an assessment of eligibility,
can cause unfairness and negatively impact openness which should be
considered seriously in any LLC decision. As such, this document
defines the principle of free participation but leaves room for
choices in the implementation by the LLC. Specifically, it cannot
provide guidance on appropriate measures against misuse as any
measures need to be adapted to the specific problem in a specific
situation in order to minimise both the financial risk as well as its
impact on openness and inclusivity.
4. Considerations on Use and Misuse of a Free Participation Option
This document does not provide specific requirements on when it is
appropriate for an IETF community member to use or not use the free
option to remotely attend a meeting. The purpose of the free option
is to enable everybody who is interested in participation to join
meetings without the meeting fee imposing a financial barrier. These
cases cannot be limited to a certain group, like students or "self-
funded" participants, nor to any specific other restrictions like the
number of meetings previously attended or previous level of
involvement. The purpose is simply to maximise participation without
barriers in order to make the standards process as open as possible.
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It is expected that participants who have financial support to use
the paid regular registration option will do so. Paying a
registration fee is a way for their sponsor to support the
sustainability of the IETF. For example, a higher late payment
charge can be used to maximise this financial support. However, this
document does not comment on the actual payment structure of the IETF
meeting fee other than the requirement for a free option. The fee
payment structure is set by the IETF LLC such that the viability of
the IETF and the ability of IETF participants to work productively
within the IETF can be ensured.
The LLC is responsible to ensure the financial stability of the IETF
and therefore should monitor trends in the use of the free
participation option that could endanger the viability of the IETF
and, if necessary, manage the associated costs. Aggregated data on
the number and percentage of free registrations used should be
published, as this will permit analysis of the use and change in use
over time of the free registration option without revealing personal
information.
As the principle defined in this document aims to promote openness
and thereby enhance participation, an increase in use of free
registrations is a success, likely a sign of increased interest, not
necessarily a sign of misuse, and should not be linked to the number
of paid registrations. In particular, the number of paid
registrations may decrease due to various reasons other than misuse,
such as restrictions on travel to physical meetings due to cost
savings or environmental reasons, general cost savings and lesser
focus on standardization work, or simply loss of business interest.
Such trends can impact the sustainability of the IETF due to its
dependency on meetings fees to cross-finance other costs, independent
of use of the free registrations.
5. Security Considerations
This document introduces no new concerns for the security of Internet
protocols.
6. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
7. Acknowledgments
Thanks to everybody involved in the shmoo working group discussion,
especially Brian Carpenter, Jason Livingood, Lars Eggert, and Charles
Eckel for proposing concrete improvements and their in-depth reviews.
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8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC3935] Alvestrand, H., "A Mission Statement for the IETF",
BCP 95, RFC 3935, DOI 10.17487/RFC3935, October 2004,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3935>.
8.2. Informative References
[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, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8711>.
Authors' Addresses
Mirja Kühlewind
Ericsson
Email: mirja.kuehlewind@ericsson.com
Jon Reed
Akamai Technologies
Email: jreed@akamai.com
Rich Salz
Akamai Technologies
Email: rsalz@akamai.com
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