IASA 2.0 terminology: IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0: Consolidated Updates to IETF Administrative Terminology
How IASA 2.0 reorganized IETF's administrative structure and what changed in the terminology
Klensin, J., Ed., "IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0: Consolidated Updates to IETF Administrative Terminology", BCP 101, RFC 8717, DOI 10.17487/RFC8717, February 2020, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8717>.
@misc{rfc8717,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 8717,
howpublished = {RFC 8717},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC8717},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8717},
author = {J. Klensin},
title = {{IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0: Consolidated Updates to IETF Administrative Terminology}},
pagetotal = 7,
year = 2020,
month = feb,
} RFC text
Contents
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) J. Klensin, Ed.
Request for Comments: 8717 February 2020
BCP: 101
Updates: 2028, 2418, 3005, 3710, 3929, 4633,
6702
Category: Best Current Practice
ISSN: 2070-1721
IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0: Consolidated Updates to IETF
Administrative Terminology
Abstract
In 2018, the IETF began the transition to a new administrative
structure and updated its IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA)
to a new "IASA 2.0" structure. In addition to more substantive
changes that are described in other documents, the transition to the
2018 IETF Administrative Support structure changes several position
titles and organizational relationships that are referenced
elsewhere. Rather than reissue those referencing documents
individually, this specification provides updates to them and
deprecates some now-obsolete documents to ensure that there is no
confusion due to these changes.
Status of This Memo
This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8717.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2020 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Where Appropriate, Replacement of the IETF Executive Director
Position with the Managing Director, IETF Secretariat
3. Removal of the IETF Executive Director as an Option
4. Deprecated Documents
4.1. Documents Whose Context Is Changed by This Specification
4.2. General Description of the IETF Administrative Model
5. Security Considerations
6. References
6.1. Normative References
6.2. Informative References
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Author's Address
1. Introduction
In 2018, the IETF began the transition to a new administrative
structure, and updated its IETF Administrative Support Activity
(IASA) to a new "IASA 2.0" structure [RFC8711]. Key IASA 2.0 changes
have been specified in a series of documents, including changes to
the IETF Trust [RFC8714], the rationale for it [RFC8715], a new
defining document for the IETF Administration LLC [LLC-Agreement]
(informally called the "IETF LLC" or just "the LLC" in places in this
document and elsewhere), and adjustments to the procedures for
nominations and selections for relevant positions [RFC8713].
In addition to more substantive changes that are described in those
and other documents, the IASA 2.0 structure changes several position
titles and organizational relationships that are referenced in other
documents. Rather than reissue those documents individually, this
document provides a unified update to them.
This document updates RFCs 2028, 2418, 3005, 3710, 3929, 4633, and
6702 (citations in context below) to make those terminology and
related changes. In addition, with the authorization of the IAB, it
requests that the Informational RFC 3716 be made Historic (see
Section 4). The sections that follow identify the details of the
relevant documents and the required changes.
2. Where Appropriate, Replacement of the IETF Executive Director
Position with the Managing Director, IETF Secretariat
Under the IASA 2.0 structure, most of the responsibilities of the
former position of IETF Executive Director have been assigned to a
new position (or at least title) of Managing Director, IETF
Secretariat. An "Executive Director" title is now associated with
different, and largely new, responsibilities as an officer of the
IETF Administration LLC. These changes are covered in the
description of the new structural arrangements [RFC8711].
This document applies that change to the following:
* RFC 2028, "The Organizations Involved in the IETF Standards
Process", [RFC2028], Section 3.3.
* RFC 2418, "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures",
[RFC2418], Section 1.
* RFC 3710, "An IESG Charter", [RFC3710], Section 2.
* RFC 3929, "Alternative Decision Making Processes for Consensus-
Blocked Decisions in the IETF", [RFC3929], Sections 4.1.1 and 4.3
(twice).
* RFC 4633, "Experiment in Long-Term Suspensions From Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) Mailing Lists", [RFC4633],
Section 1.
* RFC 6702, "Promoting Compliance with Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR) Disclosure Rules", [RFC6702], Section 5.
Note that the current description of the Internet Standards Process
[RFC2026] does not require an update by this document for this
purpose because the reference to the IETF Executive Director in RFC
2026 was replaced by a document [RFC3979] that precedes the current
effort, and that document was, in turn, obsoleted by RFC 8179
[RFC8179].
3. Removal of the IETF Executive Director as an Option
In a few cases, it is no longer appropriate for either the Managing
Director, IETF Secretariat (former IETF Executive Director position)
or the new IETF Executive Director (for the LLC) to perform a
particular historical function. The relevant documents are updated
to remove the IETF Executive Director from the list of people with
specific responsibilities or authority. Those documents will not be
updated to use "Managing Director, IETF Secretariat" but, instead,
the mention of the position will simply be dropped.
This document applies that change to the following:
* RFC 3005, "IETF Discussion List Charter" [RFC3005], section titled
"Charter for the IETF Discussion List". This document is modified
to remove the authorization for the IETF Executive Director to
restrict people from posting, etc.
4. Deprecated Documents
4.1. Documents Whose Context Is Changed by This Specification
Both of the documents that follow were obsoleted in 2017 by RFC 8179
[RFC8179], which changed mentions of the IETF Executive Director to
point to the IETF Secretariat more generally.
* RFC 3979 [RFC3979]
* RFC 4879 [RFC4879]
4.2. General Description of the IETF Administrative Model
RFC 3716 [RFC3716] was a report of an IAB Advisory Committee that
served as a starting point for the work that led to the original IASA
structure. That report was an IAB document rather than an IETF one.
The IAB approved a proposal to move RFC 3716 to Historic on March 6,
2019 [IAB-3716-Historic].
5. Security Considerations
The changes specified in this document are matters of terminology and
organizational structure derived from documents it references. It
should have no effect on Internet security.
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[LLC-Agreement]
IETF Administration LLC, "Limited Liability Company
Agreement of IETF Administration LLC", 28 August 2018,
<https://www.ietf.org/documents/180/IETF-LLC-
Agreement.pdf>.
[RFC2028] Hovey, R. and S. Bradner, "The Organizations Involved in
the IETF Standards Process", BCP 11, RFC 2028,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2028, October 1996,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2028>.
[RFC2418] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and
Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 2418, DOI 10.17487/RFC2418,
September 1998, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2418>.
[RFC3005] Harris, S., "IETF Discussion List Charter", BCP 45,
RFC 3005, DOI 10.17487/RFC3005, November 2000,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3005>.
[RFC3710] Alvestrand, H., "An IESG charter", RFC 3710,
DOI 10.17487/RFC3710, February 2004,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3710>.
[RFC6702] Polk, T. and P. Saint-Andre, "Promoting Compliance with
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Disclosure Rules",
RFC 6702, DOI 10.17487/RFC6702, August 2012,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6702>.
[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/info/rfc8711>.
[RFC8713] Kucherawy, M., Ed., Hinden, R., Ed., and J. Livingood,
Ed., "IAB, IESG, IETF Trust, and IETF LLC Selection,
Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the IETF
Nominating and Recall Committees", BCP 10, RFC 8713,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8713, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8713>.
[RFC8714] Arkko, J. and T. Hardie, "Update to the Process for
Selection of Trustees for the IETF Trust", BCP 101,
RFC 8714, DOI 10.17487/RFC8714, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8714>.
[RFC8715] Arkko, J., "IETF Administrative Support Activity 2.0:
Update to the Process for Selection of Trustees for the
IETF Trust", RFC 8715, DOI 10.17487/RFC8715, February
2020, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8715>.
6.2. Informative References
[IAB-3716-Historic]
Internet Architecture Board, "IAB Minutes 2019-03-06", 6
March 2019, <https://www.iab.org/documents/minutes/
minutes-2019/iab-minutes-2019-03-06/>.
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, DOI 10.17487/RFC2026, October 1996,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2026>.
[RFC3716] IAB Advisory Committee, "The IETF in the Large:
Administration and Execution", RFC 3716,
DOI 10.17487/RFC3716, March 2004,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3716>.
[RFC3929] Hardie, T., "Alternative Decision Making Processes for
Consensus-Blocked Decisions in the IETF", RFC 3929,
DOI 10.17487/RFC3929, October 2004,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3929>.
[RFC3979] Bradner, S., Ed., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
Technology", RFC 3979, DOI 10.17487/RFC3979, March 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3979>.
[RFC4633] Hartman, S., "Experiment in Long-Term Suspensions From
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Mailing Lists",
RFC 4633, DOI 10.17487/RFC4633, August 2006,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4633>.
[RFC4879] Narten, T., "Clarification of the Third Party Disclosure
Procedure in RFC 3979", RFC 4879, DOI 10.17487/RFC4879,
April 2007, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4879>.
[RFC8179] Bradner, S. and J. Contreras, "Intellectual Property
Rights in IETF Technology", BCP 79, RFC 8179,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8179, May 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8179>.
Acknowledgments
Brian Carpenter's careful checking and identification of documents
that did, and did not, require consideration was essential to the
document in its current form. He also made several other significant
contributions. Bob Hinden also gave the document a careful reading
and made useful suggestions. In additional to the above, Alissa
Cooper, Eliot Lear, Heather Flanagan (the RFC Series Editor), and the
current membership to the IAB helped sort out the handing of RFC
3716.
Contributors
Jason Livingood did the hard work of identifying the documents that
required updating and supplied considerable text used in this
document.
Author's Address
John C Klensin (editor)
1770 Massachusetts Ave, Ste 322
Cambridge, MA 02140
United States of America
Phone: +1 617 245 1457
Email: john-ietf@jck.com
AI ELI5
On this page
§1Why This Document Exists
In 2018, the IETF moved to a new administrative structure called IASA 2.0. Rather than just changing how things worked internally, this restructuring also changed several job titles and reporting relationships that were mentioned in other IETF documents. Instead of reissuing seven separate RFC documents to fix those references, this RFC consolidates all the changes in one place.
The documents being updated are about how the IETF runs: the organizations involved, working group procedures, the IESG charter, decision-making processes, and other governance matters.
When a company reorganizes and job titles change, it is easier to send one memo saying "here are the new names" than to rewrite every policy handbook.
§2The Main Change: From One Director to Two
The most significant change is how the IETF Executive Director position was split. Under IASA 2.0, the IETF Executive Director was split into two separate roles:
Managing Director, IETF Secretariat: This person takes on most of the day-to-day responsibilities that the old Executive Director had. They run the IETF Secretariat and handle the administrative support activities.
Executive Director (for the IETF Administration LLC): This is a new officer position within the IETF Administration LLC (LLC), which is a separate legal entity that handles IETF business matters.
This change applies to seven RFCs: 2028, 2418, 3710, 3929, 4633, and 6702. Each of these documents is updated to use the new terminology where appropriate.
The old "Executive Director" job was split into two: a Managing Director who runs the office, and an Executive Director for the LLC legal entity.
§3Which Documents Are Affected
This RFC updates terminology in the following documents:
- RFC 2028: The Organizations Involved in the IETF Standards Process
- RFC 2418: IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures
- RFC 3710: An IESG Charter
- RFC 3929: Alternative Decision Making Processes for Consensus-Blocked Decisions in the IETF
- RFC 4633: Experiment in Long-Term Suspensions From Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Mailing Lists
- RFC 6702: Promoting Compliance with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Disclosure Rules
For all these documents, the changes are straightforward: wherever the IETF Executive Director is mentioned, it is replaced with Managing Director, IETF Secretariat (except in cases noted below).
Six old documents talk about the Executive Director role, so they all get updated with the new job title.
§4Removing the Role Where It No Longer Applies
In some cases, the IETF Executive Director role (whether old or new) is no longer appropriate for the function described. For instance, RFC 3005 (IETF Discussion List Charter) used to authorize the IETF Executive Director to restrict who could post to the IETF discussion list. Under IASA 2.0, this responsibility no longer belongs to either variant of that position, so the authorization is simply removed rather than reassigned.
In these cases, the reference to the position is dropped entirely, not replaced with the new title.
Some old rules let the Executive Director do things that are not their job anymore, so those rules just get deleted instead of updated.
§5Documents That Are Now Historic
The RFC also requests that RFC 3716 (The IETF in the Large: Administration and Execution) be marked as Historic. RFC 3716 was a report from an IAB committee that guided the original IASA structure. Since IASA 2.0 replaces that original structure, RFC 3716 is no longer current.
Two other RFCs that had already been obsoleted by RFC 8179 are also mentioned: RFC 3979 and RFC 4879. These dealt with intellectual property procedures and have already been superseded.
Some old documents about how the IETF used to run are marked as no longer current, since the organization has moved on.
§6Security
This RFC is purely about terminology and organizational structure. It makes no changes to how IETF protocols work or how Internet security is handled. The changes are administrative only and have no effect on Internet security.
Changing job titles does not make the Internet more or less secure.