Network Working Group Adrian Farrel
IETF Internet Draft Olddog Consulting
Proposed Status: Informational
Expires: April 2004 November 2004
draft-farrel-rtg-morality-requirements-00.txt
Requirements for Morality Sections in Routing Area Drafts
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
It has often been the case that morality has not been given proper
consideration in the design and specification of protocols produced
within the Routing Area. This has led to a deline in the moral
values within the Internet and attempts to retrofit a suitable
moral code to implemented and deployed protocols has been shown to
be sub-optimal.
This document specifies the requirement for all new Routing Area
Internet-Drafts to include a "Morality Considerations" section, and
gives guidance on what that section should contain.
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Conventions used in this document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].
The key words "SHALT", "SHALT NOT", "SMITE", and "PILLAR OF SALT" in
this document are to be interpreted as expected.
1. Introduction
It is well accepted by popular opinion and other reliable metrics
that moral values are in decline and that degeneracy is on the
increase. Young people are particularly at risk from the rising
depravity in society and much of the blame for this can be placed
squarely at the door of the Internet.
When new protocols or protocol extensions are developed within the
Routing Area, it is often the case that not enough consideration is
given to the impact on the moral fiber of the Internet that the
protocols cause. The result is that moral consequences are only
understood once the protocols have been implemented and sometimes not
until after they have been deployed.
The resultant attempts to restore the appropriate behavior and purge
the community of improper activities are not always easy or
architecturally pleasant. Further, it is possible that certain
protocol designs make morality particularly hard to achieve.
Recognising that moral issues are fundamental to the utility and
success of protocols designed within the IETF, and that simply
making a wishy-washy liberal-minded statement does not necessarily
provide adequate guarantees of a correct and proper outcome for
society, this document defines requirements for the inclusion of
Morality Considerations sections in all Internet-Drafts produced
within the Routing Area. Meeting these requirements will ensure that
proper consideration is given to moral issues at all stages of the
protocol development process from Requirements and Architecture,
through Specification and Applicability.
The remainder of this document describes what subsections are needed
within a Morality Considerations section, and gives advice and
guidance about what information should be contained in those
subsections.
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2. Presence and Placement of Morality Considerations Sections
2.1. Null Morality Considerations Sections
It may be the case that the authors of Internet-Drafts have no or few
morals. This does not relieve them of the need to understand the
consequences of their actions.
The more likely an author is to say that a null Morality
Considerations section is acceptable, the more pressure must be
exerterd on him by the Area and the appropriate Working Group to
ensure that he gives full consideration to his actions, and reflects
long and hard on the consequences of his writing and the value of his
life.
On the other hand, some authors are well known to have the highest
moral pedigree: a fact that is plainly obvious from the company they
keep, the Working Groups they attend, and their eligibility for
NomCom. It is clearly unnecessary for such esteemed persons to waste
effort on Morality Consideration sections. It is inconceivable that
anything that they write would have anything other than a beneficial
effect on the Routing Area and the Internet in general.
2.2. Mandatory Subsections
If the Morality Considerations section is present, it MUST contain at
least the following subsections. The content of these subsections is
surely self-evident to any right-thinking person. Further guidance can
be obtained from your moral guardian, your household gods, or from any
member of the IMM (Internet Moral Majority).
- Likelihood of misuse by depraved or sick individuals. This
subsection must fully address the possiblity that the proposed
protocols or protocol extensions might be used for the distribution
of blue, smutty or plain disgusting images.
- Likelihood of misuse by misguided individuals. There is an obvious
need to protect minors and people with misguided thought processes
from utilising the protocols or protocol extensions for purposes
that would inevitably do them harm.
- Likelihood of misuse by large, multi-national corporations. Such a
thought is, of course, unthinkable.
- Availablity of oversight facilities. There are those who would
corrupt our morals motivated as they are by a hatred of the freedom
of Internet access with which we are graced. We place a significant
burden of responsibility on those who guard our community from
these evil-doers and it is only fitting that we give them as much
support as is possible. Therefore, all encryption and obfuscation
techniques MUST be excluded - no-one who has nothing to hide need
fear the oversight of those whose morals are beyond doubt.
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- Inter-SDO impact. We must allow for other moral frameworks and
fully respect other people's right to subscribe to other
belief systems. Such people are, however, wrong and doomed to
spend eternity in a dark corner with only dial-up access. So
it has been written.
- Care and concern for avian carriers. A duck may be somebody's
mother.
In the event that one or more of these subsections is considered to
be not relevant, it MUST still be present, and MUST contain a full
rebuttal of this deviant thought.
2.3. Optional Subsections
Additional subsections may be added to accommodate zealots.
2.4. Placement of Morality Considerations Sections
The Morality Considerations section MUST be given full prominence in
each Internet Draft.
3. Morality Considerations
The moral pedigree of the author of this draft places him and his
writings beyond question.
4. IANA Considerations
IANA should think carefully about the protection of their immortal
souls.
5. Security Considerations
Security is of the utmost important.
A secure Internet community will ensure the security of all of its
members.
6. Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my guru Alex Dipandra-Zinin.
No avian carriers were harmed in the production of this document.
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7. Intellectual Property Considerations
Property is theft. What is yours is mine. What is mine, you keep
your hands off.
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
8. Normative References
I don't need to be told how to formulate my morals.
9. Informative References
To be frank, I don't find many other documents informative.
10. Author's Address
Adrian Farrel
Old Dog Consulting
Email: adrian@olddog.co.uk
Phone: I'm not telling you that.
11. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). This document is subject
to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM 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.
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