Subject: Re: MARID to close

From: Mark <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 22:48:38 GMT

Ted Hardie wrote:

> After an assessment of the current state of the MARID working group,
> its charter, and its milestones, the working group chairs and Area
> Advisor have concluded that the MARID working group should be
> terminated.

I respect the decision of the chairs, and their reasons for reaching it.

Having said so, I am still saddened by that decision, though. No issue, like
IPR, has ever gone away by ignoring it; nor has any problem ever been solved
by simply closing the case.

I believe the "raison d'etre" for MARID remains unchanged: we still need MTA
Authorization Records in DNS. What will happen now, is that we will have to
regroup, and come together somewhere else, and still be faced with the exact
same questions. In that light, closing MARID feels like an unwelcome detour.

I also wish to express my deep concern over core Internet technology being
patented and elevated to standard. I believe the IETF should never even
consider standardizing such patented technology. As a body of great
authority, I feel the IETF has a responsibility to the Internet community at
large. And I assert here my strong belief that standardizing, or seeking to
get standardized, patent-encumbered, core Internet technology, runs counter
to facilitating "the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth
operation of the Internet". Especially the latter: "encumbered" and "smooth"
simply do not go together.

Nonetheless, I wish to thank the chairs for sticking with, what must
undoubtedly have been, a frustrating process.

- Mark

        System Administrator Asarian-host.org

---
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