Birds of a Feather at IETF 106

Before each IETF meeting, the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) collects proposals for Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions. These sessions are designed to help determine the path for new work in the IETF or to generate discussion about a topic within the IETF community.

The proposals page contains proposals for a few different kinds of sessions: working-group-forming BOFs, non-working-group-forming BOFs, placeholders for working groups that are currently in the chartering process, and an Internet Architecture Board (IAB) session. The placeholders for new working groups—General Area Dispatch (GENDISPATCH), Lightweight Authenticated Key Exchange (LAKE), and Media Operations (MOPS)—will likely be chartered by the time of IETF 106 and will not be discussed further below.

The IESG approved three BOF sessions for IETF 106 whose aim is to form a new working group:

Application Behavior Considering DNS (ABCD): This session follows up from the Applications Doing DNS (ADD) BOF that was held at IETF 105. This work is looking at the set of shifts that may occur as encrypted DNS transports (DNS over TLS (DoT) [RFC 7858], DNS over DTLS [RFC 8094], and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) [RFC 8484]) become more widely deployed and as applications begin allowing for their own configuration of DNS services independent of network operators. The goal is to determine whether there is engineering or operational work that can help smooth the deployment of encrypted DNS transports, and whether having a focused working group would be beneficial towards that end.

Reliable and Available Wireless (RAW): This work aims to provide mechanisms that approach a deterministic networking experience over wireless networks, similar to the objectives of the Deterministic Networking (DETNET) working group for fixed networks. The methods to achieve RAW are different from those used to support time-sensitive networking over wires, as a RAW solution will need to address less consistent transmissions, energy conservation and shared spectrum efficiency. This effort was previously organized as a non-working-group-forming BOF with the name Predictable and Available Wireless (PAW), which met at IETF 104.

Web Packaging (WPACK): The WPACK BOF will aim to form a working group that would define a packaging format for HTTP resources, a security and privacy model for packages, and mechanisms to allow packages to be cryptographically signed. With many websites now being comprised of tens or hundreds of different resources, this effort is exploring mechanisms for bundling those resources together for secure sharing in a way that is consistent with the web architecture. The work being proposed here is related to the broader topics that were discussed at the Exploring Synergy between Content Aggregation and the Publisher Ecosystem Workshop (ESCAPE) workshop organized by the IAB in July 2019.

There will be four non-working-group-forming BOF sessions aiming to generate discussion and gauge community interest in their topics:

Mathematical Mesh (MATHMESH): The mathematical mesh proposes a user-centered Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) that uses cryptography to make computers easier to use. The mesh aims to address three concerns that have proved obstacles to the use of end-to-end security in computer applications: device management, exchange of trusted credentials, and application configuration management. This proposal was discussed during the Security Dispatch (SECDISPATCH) session at IETF 105 where the community recommended bringing it to a BOF.

Transactional Authorization and Delegation (TXAUTH): The Open Authorization (OAuth) protocol has come into wide use over the last decade. A transactional model for collecting user consent, describing authorization requests, and delegating authority to another party could provide additional flexibility and power in ways that extending the existing OAuth 2.0 framework does not currently allow. The goal of this BOF is to discuss the additional needs in delegated authorization protocols, gauge the current thinking on how to address them, and to examine how some current and proposed efforts to approach such problems.

Trustworthy Multipurpose Remote ID (TMRID): The TMRID effort is being proposed in the context of a number of external efforts to define requirements for remote identification of unmanned aircraft systems (also known as drones). This session will explore the design space and potential mechanisms for specifying remote identifiers whose trustworthiness can be at least assessed if not ensured when they are communicated via the Internet. This will be a non-WG-forming BOF where both a Host Identity Protocol (HIP)-based solution and other possible solutions will be discussed, as well as the privacy properties of the solutions.

Web Transport (WEBTRANS): The WEBTRANS effort is exploring the standardization of a protocol suite for reliable and unreliable bidirectional client-server transmission of data in a way that provides security guarantees and fits into the web security model. The aim is to build on top of HTTP/3 and QUIC and thereby overcome some of the limitations associated with traditional WebSockets and other conceivable solutions. The BOF will discuss requirements and identify work items for future IETF standardization.

Finally, there will be an IAB session, RSEME, to gather community input on the process to use for evolving the RFC Series Editor (RSE) model.

These sessions plus all of our ongoing work should make for a packed agenda in Singapore. I hope to see you there!