Yup, I agree that after this experience, we should “upgrade” the charter(s) 
and/or Bylaws to make this procedure clear.  Will be happy to support any 
effort to do so.

 

-Tim

 

From: Ryan Sleevi [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2018 3:14 PM
To: Tim Hollebeek <[email protected]>; CABFPub <[email protected]>
Cc: Kirk Hall <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [cabfpub] Is DigiCert a member of the Server Certificate Working 
Group?

 

It seems Tim is rightfully pointing out a problem with Kirk's interpretation 
and planned procedures.

 

If you apply Kirk's planned procedure, then no member is a member of the SCWG 
(presumably, including Entrust and DigiCert), and further, by virtue of not 
being a member of a WG, is further no longer eligible as a member in the Forum.

We also cannot simply grandfather members in - the participation within a WG 
brings with it certain obligations re: IPR policy.

 

A proposal has been put forth that, procedurally, resolves these issues, by 
virtue of allowing recognizing the self-declared interest and automatic 
recognition.

It does not, however, resolve the lack of clarity regarding the WG procedures.

It seems that Tim's plan resolves the issue to the least ambiguity, allowing a 
further resolution of the SCWG charter.

 

On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 3:07 PM Tim Hollebeek via Public <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:

The problem with that interpretation is that as of tomorrow, all members are 
not members of the Server Certificate Working Group, and by the Bylaws, their 
membership in the Forum immediately ceases.  If I have to, I will dispute 
Entrust’s membership under the bylaws if that’s what it is going to take in 
order to get clarity on working group membership, and to get the Bylaws 
enforced as written, without additional ad hoc unwritten criteria.  The chair 
will then have five working days to investigate his employer’s membership, and 
hopefully will come to the conclusion that Entrust is in fact a member of the 
SCWG, and their membership will not immediately cease.  I’m optimistic that the 
same courtesy will also be extended to all other similarly situated members 
after that experience.

 

I would strongly prefer to see the process implemented the way the Governance 
Reform Working Group intended for it to be implemented.  This arbitrary and 
unnecessary delay serves no purpose other than to obstruct the functioning of 
the working group.  I have a ballot one of the browsers has asked us to post 
for the group’s consideration, and the Bylaws make it very clear that we have 
the right to post it.

 

-Tim

 

From: Kirk Hall [mailto:[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> ] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2018 2:32 PM
To: Tim Hollebeek <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> >; CA/Browser Forum Public Discussion List 
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: [cabfpub] Is DigiCert a member of the Server Certificate Working Group?

 

Tim, you have explained your position very well, and it’s clearly one 
reasonable interpretation of Ballot 206 and the new Bylaws as to how we 
establish the initial membership of the new Server Certificate Working Group.

 

As the initial Chair of the SCWG under Ballot 206, I plan to take a slightly 
different approach, but I don’t think it interferes with what you want to do.  
Various people have noted in the past couple of weeks that Ballot 206 didn’t 
really provide a clear process for establishing who were initial SCWG members – 
maybe we should add language to new WG Charters in the future to solve that 
issue.

 

We do have a process in our Bylaws for how we admit new Members to the Forum 
itself at Bylaw 2.1(c), which provides: 

 

“An Applicant shall become a Member once the Forum has determined by consensus 
among the Members during a Forum Meeting or Forum Teleconference that the 
Applicant meets all of the requirements of subsection (a) or, upon the request 
of any Member, by a Ballot among the Members. Acceptance by consensus shall be 
determined or a Ballot of the Members shall be held as soon as the Applicant 
indicates that it has presented all information required under subsection (b) 
and has responded to all follow-up questions from the Forum and the Member has 
complied with the requirements of Section 5.5.”  

 

So I plan to mimic that procedure on our July 12 organizational teleconference 
for the SCWG by listing the Forum members who have signed the IPRA and 
indicated an intent to participate on the SCWG, saying these companies appear 
to qualify for SCWG membership under the SCWG Charter, and asking if the anyone 
believes that any of the Forum members on the list do not qualify for serving 
as members on the SCWG.  I expect there will be no objections, and therefore we 
will have established by consensus on a teleconference that all the Forum 
members who signed the IPRA and indicated interest in participation are initial 
members of the SCWG. (That’s kind of like the purpose of your email below, but 
more efficient as it covers all members at once.)  This will take maybe 30 
seconds, then we will get to work.

 

From: Public [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tim Hollebeek 
via Public
Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2018 10:23 AM
To: CABFPub <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: [EXTERNAL][cabfpub] Is DigiCert a member of the Server Certificate 
Working Group?

 

 

The Server Certificate Working Group has existed for a long time.  Ballot 206 
approved its charter (item 3), effective immediately.  The 90 day waiting 
period only affects the Bylaws and IPR policy.

 

As stated on the governance reform working group, the intent was to mirror the 
functioning of the existing forum whenever possible.  As such, it cannot be the 
case that the charter refers to Ben Wilson and Kirk Hall in their personal 
capacity.  This argument was never made during the development of the ballot, 
and was not the intent.  Indeed, neither has signed the IPR policy in their 
personal capacity, and are ineligible to serve as chair or vice chair of the 
forum in their personal capacity (“The offices of Chair and Vice Chair may only 
be filled by Forum Member representatives”).  If it was intended that officers 
of the SCWG were to serve in their personal capacity, unlike the main forum, 
the charter would have certainly pointed out that important difference.

 

I think it’s quite clear that both persons are serving in their professional 
capacity as representatives of their member companies.  I stated on several 
occasions that my reading was that DigiCert and Entrust would be the first two 
new members of the SCWG, and no one disagreed with me.  I even brought up the 
exotic side case of “what happens if DigiCert or Entrust doesn’t sign the IPR 
policy?” and was rightly accused of being paranoid and was assured that 
wouldn’t happen.  Both companies have expressed interest in joining the SCWG, 
and both have signed the new IPR policy, so I think it’s clear at least that 
those two companies are members.

 

Even if that argument doesn’t hold, they are also members for the same reason I 
believe the SCWG currently has a bunch of other members as well, since all they 
have to do is sign the new IPR policy and declare their intent to participate.  

 

The Vice Chair suggested three methods of declaring intent to participate:

 

1.      email the public list, and formally declare their participation in the 
Server Certificate Working Group

 

In case previous declarations have not sufficed, I hereby formally declare that 
DigiCert is participating in the Server Certificate Working Group.  I am 
willing to repeat this declaration at any time and using any reasonable method.

 

2.      subscribe to the mailing list -

 

Yup, I’m on it.

 

3.      list self on wiki page

 

We’re on it.  By my count, the number of members already exceeds the quorum of 
ten.

 

So the Server Certificate Working Group exists and has members.  YAY!  Anyone 
else disagree, and more importantly, can you justify your beliefs using the 
bylaws?

 

-Tim

 

 

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