Subject: Revised Draft IESG Statement on Removal of an Internet-Draft from the IETF Web Site

From: IETF Chair <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:43:10 -0400

The IESG has updated the draft IESG Statement based on the many comments that have been received.  This revised text shows the linkage to RFC 2026 in a much more explicit manner, and it preserves the ability of the IESG to remove an Internet-Draft from the Public I-D Archive without a court order.  That said, the IESG firmly believes that the collection of I-Ds provide important historical records for the open and transparent operation of the IETF.  Therefore, removal of a I-D from the  Public I-D Archive should teated as a significant event.  As a result, this statement requires IESG consensus is needed to remove an I-D from the Public I-D Archive.

Comments from the community are solicited on the revised draft IESG statement.

On behalf of the IESG,
Russ

--- DRAFT IESG STATEMENT ---

SUBJECT: Removal of an Internet-Draft from the IETF Web Site

SUBJECT: Removal of an Internet-Draft from the IETF Web Site

Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) are working documents of the IETF.  RFC 2026,
BCP 9, describes the purpose of I-Ds, and it also provides some policies
that govern the I-D Repository.  RFC 2026 says:

   During the development of a specification, draft versions of the
   document are made available for informal review and comment by
   placing them in the IETF's "Internet-Drafts" directory, which is
   replicated on a number of Internet hosts.  This makes an evolving
   working document readily available to a wide audience, facilitating
   the process of review and revision.

   An Internet-Draft that is published as an RFC, or that has remained
   unchanged in the Internet-Drafts directory for more than six months
   without being recommended by the IESG for publication as an RFC, is
   simply removed from the Internet-Drafts directory.  At any time, an
   Internet-Draft may be replaced by a more recent version of the same
   specification, restarting the six-month timeout period.

   An Internet-Draft is NOT a means of "publishing" a specification;
   specifications are published through the RFC mechanism described in
   the previous section.  Internet-Drafts have no formal status, and are
   subject to change or removal at any time.

I-Ds provide important historical records for the open and transparent
operation of the IETF.  It should be noted that individuals and groups,
including the IAB and IRTF Research Groups, have chosen to distribute
working documents as I-Ds.

I-Ds are stored in two places on the IETF web site.  First, current I-Ds
are stored in the I-D Repository.  Second, current and past I-Ds are
stored in a Public I-D Archive.

The policies associated with I-D Repository are discussed in RFC 2026,
and this IESG statement offers no additional policies regarding the
I-D Repository.

As RFC 2026 says, the entries in the I-D Repository are subject to
change or removal at any time; however, I-Ds generally remain in the
Public I-D Archive to support easy comparison with previous versions.
This availability facilitates review, comment, and revision.

An I-D will only be removed from the Public I-D Archive under unusual
circumstances with consensus of the IESG.  If you are aware of abuse or
misuse that warrants removal of an I-D from the Public I-D Archive,
please write to [email-masked] and explain the situation.  At its
discretion, the IESG may consult counsel or the IETF community before
taking any action on such requests.  If circumstances permit, a removed
I-D will be replaced with a tombstone file that describes the reason that
the I-D was removed from the Public I-D Archive.

When an I-D is removed from the Public I-D Archive, a copy will be kept
in a location accessible by the IETF Secretariat.  This private location
is described in RFC 2026 as follows:

  ... Internet-Drafts that
  have been removed (for any reason) from the Internet-Drafts
  directories shall be archived by the IETF Secretariat for the sole
  purpose of preserving an historical record of Internet standards
  activity and thus are not retrievable except in special
  circumstances.
  
The IESG, IAB, IAOC, or the Internet Society Board of Trustees can
request the IETF Secretariat to search this private location in
support of responses to appeals, responses to subpoenas, or other
handling of legal matters.  The IETF Secretariat is expected to make
the results of searches of the private location available as needed to
appropriately respond such matters.

---

From: "John Levine" <[email-masked]>
Date: 12 Oct 2012 20:07:15 -0000

>circumstances with consensus of the IESG. ...

> If circumstances permit, a removed

That seems much more realistic and practical.  Ship it.

R's,
John

---

From: Harald Alvestrand <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2012 10:45:23 +0200

I like this.

Nit: There's a missing "to" in the last line.