Mike AmundsenMar 25, 2024

There Are No Standards Police

https://www.mnot.net/blog/2024/03/13/voluntary

"There are no standards police. In other words, even if you do consider Internet standards to be a regulatory force, there is no enforcement mechanism. One of their key characteristics is that they’re voluntary. No one forces you to adopt them. No one can penalise you for violating a MUST; you have to want to conform." -- #MarkNottingham #mnot

#api360 #standards #IETF

There Are No Standards Police

It happens fairly often. Someone brings a proposal to a technical standards body like the IETF and expects that just because it becomes an RFC, people will adopt it. Or they’ll come across a requirement in an RFC and expect it to be enforced, perhaps with some kind of punishment. Or they’ll get angry that people don’t pay attention to an existing standard and do their own thing. This is so common that there’s a ready response widely used by IETF people in these situations:

Mark Nottingham
 Mike AmundsenDec 20, 2023

RFC 9518 - What Can Internet Standards Do About Centralisation?

https://www.mnot.net/blog/2023/12/19/standards-and-centralization

"Internet standards bodies can be seen as a kind of regulator, in that they constrain the behaviour of others. So it’s natural to wonder whether standards bodies (like the IETF and W3C) can help avoid or mitigate Internet centralization." -- #MarkNottingham #mnot

#ietf #api360

RFC 9518 - What Can Internet Standards Do About Centralisation?

RFC 9518: Centralization, Decentralization, and Internet Standards has been published, after more than two years of review, discussion, and revision.

Mark Nottingham
 Mike AmundsenNov 18, 2023

Technical Standards Bodies are Regulators

https://www.mnot.net/blog/2023/11/01/regulators

"Just like the FTC in the US, the eSafety Commissioner in Australia, or the ICO in the UK, Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) have a fundamentally regulatory aspect to them, and considering them in this way clarifies how they relate to Internet governance." -- #MarkNottingham

#api360 #IETF #SDO

Technical Standards Bodies are Regulators

There are lots of ways to view what Internet standards bodies like the IETF and W3C do. They are horizontal agreements between competitors as well as mission-driven public-good charities. One might believe they’re the homes of innovation that brought us the Internet and the Web, or that they’re boring, ineffective and slow committee talking shops. Some see them as vibrant, diverse communities, while others believe they’re completely dominated by big tech.

Show threadStrypeyFeb 15, 2023

"Therefore, standards efforts should focus on providing concrete utility to the majority of their users as published, rather than being a “framework” where interoperability is not immediately available. Internet functions should not make every aspect of their operation extensible; boundaries between modules should be designed in a way that allows evolution and discourages consolidation, while still offering meaningful functionality."

#MarkNottingham, 2023

StrypeyFeb 15, 2023

"... policymakers can use this document to help identify and evaluate proposed remedies for inappropriately centralized protocols and applications."

#MarkNottingham, 2023

https://mnot.github.io/avoiding-internet-centralization/draft-nottingham-avoiding-internet-centralization.html

#policy #TechPolicy #decentralization #centralization

Centralization, Decentralization, and Internet Standards

This document discusses aspects of centralization that relate to Internet standards efforts. It argues that while standards bodies have little ability to prevent many forms of centralization, they can still make contributions that improve the Internet.