[STDS-802-16] Fwd: [802SEC] IEEE SA position on unofficial 802 related activities
Upon request, I'm forwarding a note from 802 Chair Paul Nikolich.
The note addresses an issue regarding the IEEE indemnification
policy. You may find this confusing if you know nothing about the
policy to begin with. The IEEE-SA Operations Manual says that "The
IEEE-SA follows the IEEE policies for indemnification as outlined in
IEEE Bylaw I-300.3, which you can find by searching at this link:
<http://www.ieee.org/portal/index.jsp?pageID=corp_level1&path=about/whatis/bylaws&file=i-300.xml&xsl=generic.xsl>
Roger
>Dear EC Members,
>
>As the Chair of 802 I have observed that it is not unusual for a
>group of individuals to collaborate in consensus building activities
>outside of the umbrella of the formal 802 process during the life of
>a standards development project. This unofficial 802 related
>activity can be beneficial to the formal standards development
>process because under the right conditions it may help build
>consensus across the 802 membership. The purpose of this email is
>to make sure that all individuals working in groups outside the 802
>process clearly understand that although they may be working on
>subject material relevant to an 802 project they are not covered by
>IEEE indemnification policy while participating in the unofficial
>802 related activities.
>
>For example, it has come to my attention that the IEEE 802.11 Task
>Group N (TGn) considered a motion at the July plenary session to
>grant TGn Sync, WWiSE and Mitmot time to complete a merged Joint
>Proposal to replace the three remaining TGn proposals. The Joint
>Proposal activity is not governed by the 802 process. Regardless,
>as documented in the July 2005 TGn minutes, the group voted
>overwhelmingly to allow the extra time requested by the three
>proponents to formulate a Joint Proposal as the motion was approved
>on a vote of 195-2-3. (This motion and result was in accordance
>with the TGn selection procedures, which required approval of 75% of
>the TGn members voting on the motion.)
>
>As can be seen in this particular case the activity to develop a
>Joint Proposal is not itself an activity of IEEE 802, hence like
>other activities outside IEEE 802 process, this activity does not
>meet the eligibility criteria for the IEEE indemnification policy.
>
>I ask that each EC member that is chair of a TAG or WG circulate
>this email to their entire group prior to the November plenary
>session so that all our members better understand the limits of
>indeminfication provided by IEEE.
>
>Regards,
>
>--Paul Nikolich