Subject: TLS standard

From: Renato Golin <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 20:20:50 +0000

Dear IETF members,

It's been more than a decade that I know and respect the IETF. During
all those years, I've implemented lots of the standards, always
reading the RFCs and paying close attention to the details, and was
never afraid of patents or copyright. Actually, the IETF was the last
place I would expect to have raised those fears in me.

Now, I won't spend your time writing about why inserting patented
technology to IETF standards is a bad thing, you already know it
better than me. I'm just writing to let you know that we, the
developers, and ultimately the community (who will use our software)
do care about what they use. We don't want patent creeping up late
when our supposedly free software makes a big success. And because
it's at the base (protocols), a fork wouldn't make any difference in
this case.

I can see only one reason to accept such patented protocols, usage.
The argument that "it's widely used today" is strong enough to be
accepted as a "common" protocol, but the fact that it's patented is
even stronger to stop this nonsense. The consequences are far too
problematic and unforeseeable. If the usage argument is enough, then
why not adopt Microsoft Windows as an OS standard? Or Skype VoIP
protocol? Because it doesn't make any sense.

I do hope that you come to the consensus of rejecting that offer,
especially because there are other good and open alternatives also in
wide use.

best,
--renato

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