Internet DRAFT - draft-poised-pso-mou
draft-poised-pso-mou
Network Working Group Scott Bradner
Internet-Draft Harvard University
A Memorandum of Understanding for an ICANN
Protocol Support Organization
<draft-poised-pso-mou-00.txt>
1. Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as work in progress.
The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
This document will expire before December, 1999. Distribution of this
draft is unlimited.
2. Abstract
This is the current draft of the MOU that will be used between the
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standards development organizations that will form the Protocol
Support Organization(PSO) within the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This draft has been developed by
representatives of the IETF, ITU, W3C and ETSI with the help of Jorge
Contreras of Hale and Dorr.
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MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
_______, 1999
ICANN Protocol Supporting Organization
(1) Purpose and Scope
(a) The Protocol Support Organization (PSO) will be a consensus-
based advisory body within the ICANN framework.
(b) The PSO will establish a "Protocol Council" and host an
annual open meeting (the "General Assembly").
(c) The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is to
establish a set of principles that ICANN and the Standards
Development Organizations who have signed below (the Signing
SDOs) will use in forming and operating the PSO
(2) Composition and Action of Protocol Council
(a) Size. Each Signing SDO will appoint two (2) members to the
Protocol Council, each such member to serve for a time
period determined by such Signing SDO.
(b) Each Signing SDO shall be responsible for choosing its two
members of the Protocol Council in a manner of its own
choosing, and in accordance with its own open procedures.
Each Signing SDO may remove or replace one or both of its
members on the Protocol Council in its discretion.
(c) Selection and Appointment. Concurrently with the posting of
notice of the date of the annual meeting of the PSO General
Assembly on the PSO Web Site, ICANN and the Protocol Council
shall make an open call for nominations to any potential
vacancies on the Protocol Council. Any nominations received
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will be forwarded to the Signing SDOs eligible to appoint
members (i.e., they do not already have two members on the
Protocol Council) for their consideration.
(d) Action by Protocol Council. Unless otherwise specified in
this MOU, all actions of the Protocol Council shall be taken
by majority vote of the total number of members. Action may
be taken at any meeting of the Protocol Council, which may be
by telephone conference in which all participants can hear
the others. Meetings of the Protocol Council may be called
by request of any three members of the Protocol Council,
with at least fifteen (15) days prior written notice to each
of the other members. In order to conduct business at any
meeting of the Protocol Council, at least a quorum of members
must be present; a quorum shall be present when at least
majority of the members of the Protocol Council are present,
and when such members represent at least 3/4ths of the
Signing SDOs.
(e) Web Site. The Protocol Council will arrange for the
establishment and maintenance of a Web site devoted to PSO
activities and news.
(f) Secretary. The Protocol Council will have a Secretary to
coordinate administrative matters relating to the PSO and
Protocol Council. The Secretary's term of office shall be
one year. The position of Secretary will rotate among the
Signing SDOs, with the initial Secretary to be selected by
____, and subsequent Secretaries to be appointed by a
randomly selected Signing SDO that has not appointed the
Secretary in the current rotation.
(g) No Compensation. Neither the Secretary, nor any Protocol
Council member or designated ICANN Board member shall be
entitled to any compensation or reimbursement of expenses
from the PSO. The PSO shall not be required to obtain
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insurance coverage for, or to indemnify, the members of the
Protocol Council or persons acting in any other capacity by
or for the PSO.
(3) ICANN Directors.
(a) The Protocol Council will appoint Directors to the ICANN
Board of Directors in accordance with the By-laws of ICANN,
for such terms as are specified by such By-laws. ICANN will
notify the Protocol Council of any vacancies on the ICANN
Board which may be filled by the Protocol Council.
(b) The Protocol Council will conduct an open call for
nominations for any open PSO seats on the ICANN Board. Each
Signing SDO is entitled to nominate candidates by procedures
of its own choosing. Additionally, nominations from the
public at large will be allowed under conditions to be
defined by the Protocol Council. The Protocol Council will
select the PSO nominees to the ICANN Board from among these
nominees. ICANN Directors selected by the Protocol Council
may, but need not, be members of the Protocol Council or any
SDO.
(c) No more than 2 PSO-nominated Directors may be residents of
the same Geographic Region (as defined in the ICANN By-laws).
(d) The ICANN Directors appointed by the Protocol Council will
not represent the PSO on the ICANN Board, but will function
as full Directors of ICANN.
(4) Duties of Protocol Council
(a) Advisory Role. The Protocol Council will advise the ICANN
Board on matters referred to the Protocol Council by the
ICANN Board relating to the assignment of parameters for
Internet protocols.
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(b) Policy Development.
(i) In the tradition of the Internet, standards development
policies and conflict resolution mechanisms should be
created by those institutions most directly involved,
without undue interference from centralized bodies.
(ii) The ICANN By-laws vest in the PSO the primary
responsibility for developing and recommending
substantive policies in the area of protocol parameter
assignment.
(iii) The PSO is committed to the proposition that policies
for parameter assignments for particular protocols are
the responsibility of the individual Signing SDO that
developed the protocol.
(iv) The Protocol Council, and, when requested, ICANN, will
be available as needed by the Signing SDOs to develop
policies and procedures for conflict resolution between
Signing SDOs.
(v) Any such policies and procedures will be adopted only
with the agreement of all SDOs.
(5) Annual Open Meeting.
(a) The Protocol Council will periodically convene an open
meeting ("General Assembly") for promoting discussion and
receiving input regarding the work of the PSO.
(b) A General Assembly will be held at least once per year, and
will permit open participation by all interested individuals.
(c) Each annual General Assembly will be hosted by a Signing SDO
in conjunction with one of its major meetings, as determined
by the Protocol Council (with an effort to hold no 2
consecutive General Assemblies in the same Geographic
Region.)
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(d) It is expected that the major organizations within the
Internet protocol standards development community will
provide the constituency of the General Assembly.
(6) Open Proceedings and Documents.
(a) Communications between ICANN and the Protocol Council. All
official communications between ICANN and the Protocol
Council will be made public on the PSO web site. In the
event that ICANN requests that a communication be kept
confidential, the Protocol Council will honor this request
for a fixed period of time not to exceed one year, and then
make the communication public.
(b) Protocol Council Proceedings. All meetings of the Protocol
Council and official discussions of Protocol Council business
will be conducted or reported on a publicly-archived mailing
list accessible through the PSO web site.
(c) Meeting Announcements. The schedule and agenda for the PSO
General Assembly will be posted on the PSO Web Site at least
90 days in advance of the meeting date. Notice of Protocol
Council meetings will be posted on the PSO Web at least
fifteen (15) days before the meeting, or such shorter time
period agreed upon by each of the Signing SDOs. The minutes
from all PSO meetings will be publicly posted on the PSO web
site within 30 days of the meeting.
(7) Review and Modification of MOU. ICANN and the Signing SDOs will
periodically review the results and consequences of their
cooperation under this MOU. When appropriate, the signatories
will consider the need for improvements in the MOU and make
suitable proposals for modifying and updating the arrangements
and scope of the MOU. Any modification to the MOU must be
approved by all signatories.
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(8) Standards Development Organizations
(a) The initial signatories to this MOU shall include ICANN and
the Signing SDOs who have signed below. Each Signing SDO
must be an international, Internet-related standards
development organization that establishes that it meets the
criteria for SDOs set forth below.
(i) SDOs must be open, international, voluntary technical
standard and technical specification development
organizations which:
(A) Develop standards and/or specifications for use over
the public Internet.
(B) Can demonstrate active membership in the IP-related
standards and/or specification development process of
more than 800 individuals, if individual memberships
are used by the organization, or 80 companies, if
corporate memberships are used by the organization.
(C) Has been in operation for 3 or more years at the
time of their application.
(D) Can demonstrate that there is significant deployment
of its standards on the Internet.
(E) The significant protocols controlled by the
organization can be implemented without paying a
licensing fee to the organization.
(ii) Open, international, voluntary standards organizations
are defined as international organizations that plan,
develop or establish voluntary standards. An
organization shall be considered open and international
if its standards and/or specifications development
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process is open to any person or organization of any
nationality on equitable terms. An organization shall be
considered voluntary if it makes no claim to compel use
of its standards and specifications. To be considered
'international', an organization's voting (or other
"full") membership must include individuals or companies
primarily located in at least three different Geographic
Regions and at least two different countries within each
of those Geographic Regions.
(b) New Signatories.
(i) Any organization that believes it satisfies the SDO
qualifications set forth above may apply in writing to
the Protocol Council to become a party to this MOU. In
order for an organization to become a party to this MOU,
all then-existing MOU signatories must agree that such
organization qualifies as an SDO.
(ii) Rejected applicants can appeal to the ICANN Board,
which may override such a rejection if the ICANN Board
finds, by at least a two-thirds vote, that the
organization meets the SDO criteria set forth above.
(iii) Any organization that is accepted as an SDO under this
MOU must execute a copy of this MOU, and agree to be
bound by all of its terms and conditions, upon which it
shall be considered a Signing SDO for all purposes under
this MOU.
(9) General. This MOU does not constitute any of the parties as
a partner, joint venture, agent, principal or franchisee of
any other party. The waiver of any provision of this MOU on
any occasion shall not constitute a waiver for purposes of
any other occasion. No party may transfer or assign any
interest, right or obligation arising under this MOU without
the prior written consent of each other party to this MOU.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Memorandum of Understanding is
executed this __ day of _____ 1999 by the undersigned, acting
through their duly authorized representatives:
INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS
By: ________________________
Name: _____________________
Title: _______________________
12. Security Considerations
This type of non-protocol document does not directly effect the
security of the Internet.
13. Editor's Address
Scott Bradner
Harvard University
1350 Mass Ave, rm 876
Cambridge, MA
02138
USA
phone: +1 617 495 3864
sob@harvard.edu
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