EODIR

Summary

The EODIR session at IETF 125 featured a comprehensive training session on antitrust and competition law, an update from the RFC Production Center (RPC), and a briefing on current network congestion issues at the meeting venue. The session was chaired by the IETF LLC Executive Director and included participation from various working group chairs and IETF leadership.

Key Discussion Points

Network and Connectivity Issues

Jay Daley provided an update on network congestion experienced during the week.

Wi-Fi Congestion: Analysis indicated significant Wi-Fi interference caused by personal hotspots (approximately five times the normal volume). Chairs were encouraged to ask participants to disable hotspots during sessions.
VPN and Meetecho: To minimize latency and round-trip delays when using Meetecho over a VPN, participants were advised to set their VPN exit nodes to Singapore, as Meetecho's primary AWS servers for this meeting are located there.
Monday Incident: A configuration error in Meetecho's autoscaler (scaling in Frankfurt instead of Singapore) caused issues on Monday; this has since been resolved.

Antitrust for IETF Participants

Jay Daley presented Antitrust for IETF Participants.

Legal Framework: The IETF, as a US-incorporated entity, is subject to US antitrust laws, including the principle of "treble damages." Many other jurisdictions (EU, China, etc.) also apply extraterritorial competition laws.
Per Se Violations: Participants must avoid activities considered automatic violations: price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation, and group boycotts.
IETF Mitigations: The IETF's structure (Openness, Balance of Interest, Due Process, and Consensus) aligns with the US Standards Development Organization Advancement Act, allowing IETF activities to be judged under the "rule of reason" rather than as per se violations.
IPR and Disclosure: Adherence to BCP 79 is critical. The session discussed "patent ambushes" and the importance of timely disclosure. Adrian Farrel noted that RFC 6701 provides guidance on handling late disclosures.
Practical Guidance:
- Avoid: Discussing specific product pricing, profit margins, market allocation, business relationships with specific customers, or employee compensation/wage fixing.
- Allowed: Discussing general implementation costs of a technology and technical merits of competing proposals.
Liability: The IETF LLC provides insurance and indemnity for those acting in official capacities (Chairs, ADs) to protect against individual liability in antitrust claims.

RFC Production Center (RPC) Update

Jean Mahoney presented the RFC Production Center Update - IETF 125.

SVG Guidance: RFC 9896 (SVGs in RFCs) has been published, providing new policy requirements and removing specific SVG profile limitations.
Five-Digit RFCs: The RPC expects to begin issuing five-digit RFC numbers by mid-June. The sequence will skip RFC 10,000 to avoid potential numbering confusion.
Tools Modernization:
- A new RFC Editor website is launching in mid-April with improved queue information and side-by-side errata displays.
- DraftForge: A VS Code plugin is available for testing, featuring automated checkers for abbreviations and XML/HTML split-screen editing.
Errata Handling: The new system will include a spam-reduction layer where the RPC will perform an initial triage before notifying the relevant stream-specific parties (e.g., ADs) for technical verification.
Pilot Programs: The GitHub and Markdown (Cramdown) pilots are ongoing, accepting five documents per month for each program.
Queue Status: The current processing time from the queue is approximately 12 weeks.

Decisions and Action Items

Action Item: Jay Daley to add a dedicated page to the Working Group Chairs Wiki detailing the specific insurance and indemnity protections provided by the IETF LLC for leadership roles.
Action Item: Chairs experiencing technical issues in sessions should proactively advise participants to disable Wi-Fi hotspots and adjust VPN exit nodes to Singapore.

Next Steps

The Antitrust training presented by Jay Daley will be converted into an online training course for all IETF participants in the coming weeks.
The RPC tools modernization and new website transition are targeted for completion in mid-April 2025.
The transition to five-digit RFC numbers is scheduled for mid-June 2025.

Session Date/Time: 19 Mar 2026 23:45

EODIR

Summary

The EODIR (Education and Outreach Directorate) meeting at IETF 125 focused on the success of new participant programs, regional outreach initiatives (specifically in China and Southeast Asia), and improving IETF tooling documentation. Key highlights included a significant increase in new participant attendance, the successful implementation of the Chinese Youth Talent Program, and plans for interactive GitHub training sessions at IETF 126 in Vienna.

Key Discussion Points

New Participant Program

Michelle Cotton reported high engagement: 361 new participants onsite and 318 remote. The Sunday program peaked at 137 attendees.
While the "Quick Connection" session had lower attendance, the New Participant Social saw a high ratio of leadership to newcomers.
Dhruv Dhody emphasized the need for post-meeting engagement to ensure newcomers transition from monitoring to active participation.

Regional Outreach and Fellowships

Chinese Youth Talent Program: Cheng Li (Huawei) presented on an initiative by Huawei, Internet Society of China, and other partners that funded 60 students to attend IETF 125.
- Barriers identified include high travel costs and the lack of academic recognition for RFCs in China.
- Dirk Kutscher noted that academic pressures (metrics like CCF rankings) often discourage students from standardisation work compared to traditional conferences.
- Jay Daley addressed a suggestion for regional mailing lists, noting that the IESG generally avoids this to prevent community fragmentation.
Fellowship Program: Jean-Francois reported on a fellowship that supported 14 participants from Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, and Kenya.
- Jean-Francois suggested improvements for "consolidated invoicing" for third-party payments to ease administrative burdens for sponsoring organizations.
- Dhruv Dhody highlighted the use of "Clubs" (e.g., in Indonesia) to provide local continuity and career development mapping.

WG Chairs Forum

Karen O'Donoghue summarized the Wednesday forum, which included:
The antitrust training was specifically noted as well-received by the chairs.

GitHub and Tooling Outreach

Karen O'Donoghue and Dhruv Dhody reported on the Hackathon table dedicated to GitHub documentation.
Identified "pain points" include barriers for non-technical contributors (e.g., legal experts) and confusion between mandatory IETF processes vs. suggested GitHub workflows.
Mirja Kühlewind proposed a three-track training approach for Vienna:
1. Reviewers (submitting comments/PRs).
2. Authors (the authoring process).
3. Chairs (managing working group repositories).
Dhruv Dhody mentioned an experimental effort to move YANG development work to GitHub, which may require specific educational support.

Sisters and Guides Program

Karen O'Donoghue (standing in for Flow and Carleen) reported on the Sisters networking events. Benoît (outgoing NomCom Chair) spoke about diversity in the leadership pool.
A challenge remains in ensuring participants are aware of and signed up for the Sisters mailing list.
The Guides program made 12-13 matches. Michelle Cotton noted a tooling issue where Chinese characters caused 500 errors in the registration system; this has been addressed by the tooling team.

Decisions and Action Items

Action: Michelle Cotton to send final new participant attendance numbers to the EODIR mailing list.
Action: Jean-Francois to email Michelle Cotton and Jay Daley regarding the list of fellows and specific registration/invoicing requirements.
Action: Karen O'Donoghue to update the Hackathon summary notes with the specific plan for Vienna training sessions.
Action: Dhruv Dhody and regional leads (Cheng Li, Jean-Francois, Georgios Karagiannis) to document "lessons learned" and best practices for regional outreach on the EODIR wiki.

Next Steps

Planning for IETF 126 (Vienna) will include smaller, interactive GitHub training sessions (maximum 20 people per group) with a sign-up process.
Benoît (NomCom) will organize a call with Sisters leadership and the incoming NomCom chair to discuss diversity outreach for the next cycle.
EODIR will explore ways to make the Guides and Fellowship programs less meeting-centric and more focused on year-round participation.