Hi SM, On 10/24/10 11:18 AM, SM wrote:
At 06:11 21-10-10, Olson, Arthur David (NIH/NCI) [E] wrote:
In response to the need to find a new time zone home before I'm eligible to retire in 2012, Eliot Lear and Paul Eggert have authored the draft document "IANA Procedures for Maintaining the Timezone Database" now available from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) web site:
As the intended status of the document is BCP, I'll comment on it from that angle. In Section 1:
"Those registries are coordinated by technical experts who are designated by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG)."
For what it's worth, some of these registries might not fall under the IESG.
In Section 2:
'This list membership will be transitioned to the IETF mail server. The TZ coordinator will continue to manage the list, in accordance with rules of governance for non-WG mailing lists (including, for example, the commonly used "Note Well" statement).'
Will the contributions fall under "Note Well" rules?
This relates to Tony's comments, and your later email. See forthcoming reply.
In Section 4:
"From time to time it will be necessary to replace a TZ Coordinator. This could occur for a number of reasons:"
I suggest "appoint" instead of "replace".
Done.
"The IESG MUST use rough consensus of the TZ mailing list as their primary guide to further action, when it exists."
As the document is a BCP, these requirement could be changed in future.
True.
In Section 5:
"No change shall be made to the license without consultation and rough consensus of the community."
The document uses "rough consensus" instead of consensus". The barrier is lower for the former. The above text mentioned "community". Is that the TZ community?
Changed. Rough consensus is not sufficient to change license terms on these licenses.
In Section 6:
"It is the understanding of the IESG, ISOC, and IANA that the database itself is public domain."
I suggest replacing "IESG" with "IETF" as the IESG operates within the IETF.
Ok.
"Should claims be made and substantiated against the database, the IANA will act in accordance with all competent court orders."
I suggest putting code distribution under the IETF so that the legal aspect falls under the IETF Trust. The following sentence could then be removed:
"Should claims be made and substantiated against the database, the IANA will act in accordance with all competent court orders."
I do not believe people wish to change the terms of distribution in this process.
I suggest removing "further" from the following sentence:
"No further ownership claims will be made by IANA, the IETF Trust, or ISOC on the database."
Done.
In Section 7:
"The IANA will see that the role of TZ Coordinator is filled, based on the procedures described above."
Changed to "The IANA will assist the IESG, as required,..."
According to Section 4, it is the IESG that does that.
There is a MoU between IANA and the IETF for IETF protocols. There has been various interpretations of that MoU. An alternative to avoid non-technical concerns is to place the distribution of the database under the RFC Editor and explore having the material with a status similar to the Independent Submission Stream. I am not suggesting a license change. The following text is an adaption from RFC 4846:
To the extent that a TZ Contribution or any portion thereof is protected by copyright and other rights of authorship, the Contributor, and each named co-Contributor, and the organization he or she represents or is sponsored by (if any) grant an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, world-wide right and license to the IETF Trust and the IETF under all intellectual property rights in the TZ Contribution in perpetuity, to copy, publish, display, and distribute the TZ Contribution.
The Contributor, each named co-Contributor, and the organizations represented above irrevocably and in perpetuity grant the rights listed below to the Internet Community:
A. to prepare or allow the preparation of translations of the TZ database into languages other than English,
B to prepare derivative works (other than translations) that are based on or incorporate all or part of the TZ Contribution, or comment upon it. The license to such derivative works shall not grant the IETF Trust, the IETF, or other party preparing a derivative work any more rights than the license to the original TZ Contribution, and
C. to reproduce any trademarks, service marks, or trade names that are included in the TZ Contribution solely in connection with the reproduction, distribution, or publication of the TZ Contribution and derivative works.
Added. Eliot