Re: XML Signature is "evil" ;-))

     Andrew:

     Why do you think that only government bodies have a right to issue
standards?  The IETF is hardly the first non-governmental agency to do
this.  Industry and professional groups issue technical standards all the
time, and even the American National Standards Institute is
non-governmental although it has some government representation.  There is
nothing wrong with W3C entitling its work products "Recommendations" rather
than "Standards", but it's not a necessary consequence of its
non-governmental status.  Any members of the W3C who think that it is are
unreasonably modest.

          Tom Gindin


Svgdeveloper@aol.com@w3.org on 12/07/2001 07:04:03 AM

Sent by:  w3c-ietf-xmldsig-request@w3.org


To:   w3c-ietf-xmldsig@w3.org
cc:
Subject:  Re: XML Signature is "evil" ;-))




 > When I see an article that refers to "Draft Standard" (capitalised)
 stage for
 > a W3C specification, I have to ask if the author understands W3C
 process.

 On the other hand, if you know the first thing about IETF process then you

 know that "Draft Standard" is the step after "Proposed Standard" and
 before
 "Standard", and it's a lot more official than the word "Draft" makes it
 sound.



The above was sent to me off list and raises, from my point of view, an
issue relating to IETF process which I hope isn't too off topic.

Some list members may be aware that a reason W3C issues "Recommendations"
rather than "Standards" is that W3C is a non-governmental body and, so I
understand, only inter-governmental bodies have an official right to issue
"Standards".

What is IETF's viewpoint on issuing "Standards"? Is it, implicitly,
claiming that an IETF "Standard" is legitimately so named?

I am not trying to start a flame war or any such thing. But it does seem
potentially confusing that IETF issues "Standards", given what I understand
to be the status of IETF.

Andrew Watt

Received on Sunday, 9 December 2001 13:08:10 UTC