RFC 3677

RFC 3677: IETF ISOC Board of Trustee Appointment Procedures 🎀

Okay bestie, here's the title block. RFC 3677 is a BCP 77 (Best Current Practice 77), filed under Standards Track, from the Network Working Group. Leslie Daigle is the editor, writing for the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). It's dated December 2003. The title block doesn't list anything it obsoletes or updates, so no drama there 💅

Status of This Memo ✨

This doc is an Internet Best Current Practice 🌸 It's for the whole Internet Community, and it's asking for discussion and suggestions on how to make it better. Anyone can distribute it, with no limits 💖

Copyright Notice 🦋

The Internet Society owns the copyright for 2003, and all rights are reserved 📜

Abstract 🌈

This memo spells out how the IETF picks someone for an Internet Society (ISOC) Board of Trustees seat 🧚

1. Introduction ✨

ISOC gives the IETF organizational and financial support 🫶 Because of ISOC's by-laws, the IETF has to name 3 Trustees to its Board (BoT), and each one serves a staggered 3 year term. So basically, the IETF needs to name one Trustee every year 👑

This memo is the play-by-play for how the IETF makes that pick. The same process also runs when an IETF-nominated Board seat opens up in the middle of a term 😭

1.1. Overview of Selection Process 🍓

Quick version: this doc lays out the timing and steps for the IAB to ask the public for input and then choose someone for the open seat every year 💜

1.2. Rationale 🌸

Someone could ask why not just use the IETF's NomCom (RFC 2727 [1] and its revisions) for this. Honestly, NomCom is built for picking people for IETF organization jobs, and the ISOC BoT appointment doesn't fit that for two reasons:

1. The timing of the appointment doesn't line up with the IETF appointment cycle.
2. The kind of deliberation and info they'd need is super different for an external appointment like this one to the ISOC BoT.

The timing one is pretty fixable for this specific appointment. The second one is a bigger, more general problem, and it doesn't really fit with how NomCom's task is currently written 🙈

RFC 2727 is all about getting feedback from the IETF community on people and technical positions they've worked with personally. For external appointments, NomCom would need to understand what those positions require and evaluate candidates for a totally different skill set than IAB/IESG members need. It might even have to ask people outside the IETF community. The NomCom folks definitely have the skills to pull that off, but it's a whole different job that needs more time and resources, and it could end up hurting how well NomCom does its main IETF job 😤

The IAB, on the other hand, is chartered to handle IETF external liaisons. It's a standing body that already works with ISOC and the ISOC Board, so it already knows what this position needs 🧠

Maybe someday the IETF will need to make external appointments more broadly, and then it could widen NomCom's role or make a separate nominating committee just for external non-liaison appointments. This doc says that isn't necessary or desirable for this one annual appointment 🎀

2. Desirable Qualifications and Selection Criteria for an IETF-Nominated ISOC Trustee 👑

Candidates for an ISOC Trustee should be really involved with the IETF, especially by actively participating in IETF Working Groups 💅

The candidate is expected to have clearly shown technical competence in Internet technology. They should also be able to explain tech issues so the ISOC Board gets solid technical perspectives. On top of that, they're expected to understand the roles of the IETF and ISOC, and to explain those roles to both organizational communities 🧚

The candidate is also expected to handle all the duties of an ISOC Board member. That includes fiduciary responsibility, setting policy, overseeing how the Society runs, representing the members and stakeholders of the Society, and taking part in all Board meetings and Board activity programs 💼

The candidate is not a representative or delegate of the IETF, and they aren't chartered to represent the IETF or the IETF Standards Process inside the ISOC Board or the wider ISOC community. Still, the candidate is expected to be able to call on IETF community experts whenever needed, so the ISOC Board gets the best technical advice available 🌈

3. IETF ISOC Board of Trustees Selection Process 🦋

3.1. Nominations and eligibility 📣

Every year, the IAB makes a public call for nominations on the ietf-announce@ietf.org mailing list. The call spells out how nominations will be accepted and how the list of nominees will be published 💌

Self-nominations are allowed ✨ Each nomination should come with the candidate's name and contact info, plus details about their background and qualifications for the position. Every IETF participant is eligible to be nominated, including working group chairs, IETF NomCom members, and IAB and IESG members 🫶

IAB and IESG members who accept a nomination step back from the selection and confirmation discussions, respectively 🙋‍♀️

3.2. Selection 🔍

The IAB publishes the list of nominated people, reviews their nomination material, and makes a selection 💖

The selection criteria include extra consideration for any nominated candidate who is currently an IAB or IESG member. At the time of selection, no more than two of the three IETF-appointed ISOC Trustees can be IAB and IESG members 👑

3.3. Confirmation 🛡️

The IESG is the confirming body for the selection. If the IESG decides not to confirm the nominated candidate, it has to explain its reasons to the IAB, and then the IAB nominates another candidate 🔄

3.4. Timeframe ⏰

ISOC plans to seat new Board members at its annual general meeting in June each year. Here are the basic timing requirements for the IETF process:

• 4-6 weeks to solicit nominations
• 4-6 weeks to review nominees, deliberate, and select
• 4-6 weeks for confirmation (and re-selection if needed) and delivery to ISOC

Every January, the IAB announces the specific dates for that year's IETF ISOC Trustee selection process. It takes into account things like when the first IETF meeting of the year is, and it follows the guidelines above 📅

3.5. Mid-term Vacancies 💔

This doc covers the general, annual appointment of ISOC Trustees to fill seats whose terms are ending. But if an IETF-appointed Trustee can't finish their full term, the IAB may, at its discretion, immediately pick a replacement to serve the rest of the term using the interim process from Section 3.5.1. If the IAB doesn't use the interim process, the next annual selection fills the vacancy (if that term doesn't end at that point) along with the regular appointment for that cycle 😤

3.5.1. Interim Appointment Process 🌸

If the IAB decides to fill a mid-term vacancy before the next annual selection, a separate timeline gets announced, and the rest of the process in this document still gets followed 🧚

4. Security Considerations 🔐

This doc doesn't describe any technical protocols, and it has zero implications for network security. Nothing dramatic here, periodt 💀✨

5. Intellectual Property Statement 📜

The IETF doesn't take a position on whether any intellectual property or other rights claimed for the technology in this document are valid or in scope. It also doesn't say whether licenses under those rights are available. And it doesn't claim to have tried to find any such rights. The IETF's procedures for rights in standards-track and standards-related docs are in BCP-11. Copies of rights claims submitted for publication, any assurances of licenses, or the results of attempts to get a general license for implementers or users can be requested from the IETF Secretariat 🗂️

The IETF also invites anyone to tell it about copyrights, patents, patent applications, or other proprietary rights that might cover technology needed to practice this standard. Send that info to the IETF Executive Director 💌

6. References 📚

• [1] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees", BCP 10, RFC 2727, February 2000.

Appendix A. IAB Members at the time of this writing 🌟

• Bernard Aboba
• Harald Alvestrand
• Rob Austein
• Leslie Daigle
• Patrik Faltstrom
• Sally Floyd
• Mark Handley
• Geoff Huston
• Jun-ichiro (Itojun) Hagino
• Charlie Kaufman
• James Kempf
• Eric Rescorla
• Mike St.Johns

Authors' Addresses 💖

• Leslie Daigle
• Editor
• Internet Architecture Board
• IAB
• EMail: iab@iab.org

Full Copyright Statement 🎀

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.

You can copy and share this document, and you can make derivative works that comment on or explain it or help implement it. You can publish and distribute those in whole or in part with no restrictions, as long as the copyright notice and this paragraph stay on every copy and derivative work. But the document itself can't be modified in any way, like removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations. The exceptions are when it's needed to develop Internet standards, in which case the Internet Standards process copyright procedures must be followed, or when it's translated into languages other than English 🦋

The permissions above are perpetual and won't be revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assignees 💜

This document and the info in it are provided on an "AS IS" basis, and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 😭

Acknowledgement 🫶

Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society 🌈