Brian,

A very interesting email. 

Referring to the mission statement: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3935

"The goal of the IETF is to make the Internet work better.”

I offer the following thoughts:

1. Definition of the term “Internet”

RFC3935 defines “Internet” as follows:

The Internet: A large, heterogeneous collection of interconnected systems that 
can be used for communication of many different types between any interested 
parties connected to it.  The term includes both the "core Internet" (ISP 
networks) and "edge Internet” (corporate and private networks, often connected 
via firewalls, NAT boxes, application layer gateways and similar devices).  The 
Internet is a truly global network, reaching into just about every country in 
the world.”

Although “systems” are referenced above it seems to me that the definition is 
intended to relate to internetworking connectivity, rather than end systems. 
Nevertheless, if you look at the work of the IETF, there is clearly work going 
on in relation to the activity of endpoints on the Internet - I could provide a 
list of working groups that I think fall into this category if people disagree 
with this point but I point to the application/real time area generally.

2. Definition of the term “better”

This term is undefined in the document. However, However, I put forward the 
following argument for your consideration:

a. “Better” will in some sense incorporate “more secure”
b. Security includes consideration of the implications of breaches of security
c. The implications of a breach of security need to take into account the risks 
to privacy ****BUT ALSO THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS OF CRIME****

3. Once again I most also note that RFC3935 puts forward no consideration of 
the victims of crime on the Internet. 

4. On the point of the term internet governance - I agree with you that the 
term is poorly defined. I have briefly read some of your thoughts in the link 
you provided - I have some comments and would be interested in talking about 
that with you. I note you don’t want to have that discussion here but if you 
are interested in corresponding on this point further you might ping me an 
off-list email and we can start a separate discussion.

Regards,
daveor


> On 1 May 2018, at 23:42, Brian E Carpenter <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
> 
> On 02/05/2018 04:36, Dave O'Reilly wrote:
> ....
>> The IETF has a role in the governance of the Internet, 
> 
> That's news to me. I've never been completely sure what
> "governance of the Internet" actually means**, but in any case
> it isn't mentioned in the mission statement at
> https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3935
> 
> Both this draft and draft-andersdotter-intarea-update-to-rfc6302
> take me out of my comfort zone for IETF scope.
> 
>   Brian
> 
> ** Full disclosure: my rants on this topic can be found at
> https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~brian/bits.html
> but please let's not discuss them here.
> 
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