[cabf_governance] Draft email on new Server Certificate Working Group for editing

Tue Jun 12 17:17:07 MST 2018

Here is what I plan to send tomorrow morning on the Public@ list - please check for errors and suggest edits.

We will discuss the message on the Thursday teleconference.

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The Governance Change Working Group met by teleconference today to talk about the steps needed once we transition to the new governance structure on July 3.  Here are some preliminary plans, which we can discuss on Thursday's Forum teleconference.  The new governance documents adopted in Ballot 206 are attached.

1.  Who can participate in the Forum or the Server Certificate Working Group (SCWG) after July 3?

Under Bylaw 5.5, In order to maintain your current participation rights, you must sign and return the IPR Agreement v1.3 (IPRA).

*       Any current Member who fails to sign the IPRA is downgraded to Associate Member status for 90 days and can't vote on ballots.

*       Any current Associate Member who fails to sign the IPRA loses its Associate Member status and its right to participate until the IPRA is signed.

*       Any current Member who is downgraded to Associate Member status and still fails to sign the IPRA over the following 90 days (by October 1) loses its Associate Member status and its right to participate until the IPRA is signed.

*       Any Interested Party who fails to sign the IPRA loses the right to participate.

2.  How does the new Server Certificate Working Group get started?

The SCWG Charter was approved by Ballot 206, but the Ballot is not effective until July 3 - so the SCWG does not exist until July 3.

The SCWG Charter says this:

Initial chairs and contacts: Chair, Kirk Hall, kirk.hall at entrustdatacard.com; Vice Chair, Ben Wilson, ben.wilson at digicert.com; terms to run concurrently with their terms as Chair and Vice Chair of the Forum, respectively, unless otherwise voted upon by the Working Group.

Bylaws v1.9 Sec. 5.3.1(c) says this generally about new Chartered Working Groups, including the SCWG:

(c) After the charter is approved, the CWG MAY elect a new Chair by majority vote of the CWG's members, or as otherwise specified in the charter. The CWG Chair will send an invitation to the Public Mail List for an initial CWG meeting and will solicit eligible Members, Associate Members and Interested Parties (as specified in the charter) with expertise and interest in the CWG's subject matter to participate in the CWG. In order to participate in a Working Group, a party must have agreed to the IPR Policy Agreement and formally declared participation. Each CWG Chair shall be responsible for ensuring that all parties attending the respective CWG meetings have signed the IPR Policy Agreement and have formally declared their participation in the CWG via the mechanism designated by the Forum prior to attending.

We think these provisions should be implemented as follows:

*       As of July 3, the SCWG comes into existence, and Kirk is Chair and Ben is Vice-Chair.  Our terms as Forum officers expire on October 21, but the Charter does not limit our terms as initial officers of the SCWG.  However, the SCWG can elect a new Chair prior to October 21, once it has established who the members of the SCWG are.

*       We think the new SCWG should meet in the same time slot as the Forum does for the first few meetings (Forum call first, then adjourn and reconvene as the SCWG).  The first such meeting date according to our calendar would be Thursday, July 12.

Accordingly, on July 3rd I will send the official "invitation to the Public Mail List for an initial CWG meeting and will solicit eligible Members, Associate Members and Interested Parties (as specified in the charter) with expertise and interest in the CWG's subject matter to participate in the CWG".  The invitation will indicate the first meeting will be on July 12 at 11:00 am Eastern, right after a brief Forum meeting starting at the same time adjourns.  As with our current Forum teleconferences, only Members and Associate Members can be on the teleconference - subject to the rules on signing the IPR Agreement described above.

We have created a page on the wiki under "Working Groups - Server Certificate Working Group."  Members and Associate Members who want to indicate their desire to be members of the SCWG can sign up there, either before or after July 3, to help us establish a roster of participants and establish a new SCWG email list.

3.  What will be on the SCWG's Agenda for its first meeting on July 12?

We think the SCWG's Agendas will generally be similar to the Forum's current Agendas.  However, there are two preliminary things to work on:

*       Approve a process for electing SCWG officers, then hold elections.  As quoted above, the Charter says Kirk and Ben are the SCWG Chair and Vice-Chair "unless otherwise voted upon by the Working Group".  The Bylaws say (for all new Working Groups) "After the charter is approved, the CWG MAY elect a new Chair by majority vote of the CWG's members, or as otherwise specified in the charter."  The SCWG will have to decide if it has power to elect both a new Chair and new Vice-Chair, and if it can adopt more detailed election procedures (e.g., like the Bylaws provisions for election the Forum's Chair and Vice-Chair) and schedule nominations and elections.

*       Approve Subcommittees for the SCWG.

Bylaw 5.3.1(e) says: "CWGs [Chartered Working Groups, like the SCWG] may establish any number of subcommittees within its own Working Group to address any of such CWG's business (each, a "Subcommittee"). A CWG-created Subcommittee needs to be approved by the CWG itself according to the approval process set forth in the CWG charter, but approval of the Forum is not necessary. Subcommittees must exist under an approved CWG."

The Forum currently has four Working Groups:

1.       Validation

2.       Network Security

3.       Policy Review

4.       Governance Change

We assume the SCWG will want to establish the first three as Subcommittees, but not the fourth one (not the Governance Change Working Group), as governance change issues are better addressed at the full Forum level.  However, the SCWG might want its own "Governance Subcommittee" to work through some of the initial SCWG start-up issues it is facing.

I may ask for suggestions on these two matters on the current Public list starting on July 3 (once the SCWG comes into existence) - we can certainly start discussing this before the July 12 initial meeting.

4.  How will we establish new email lists for the Server Certificate Working Group?

We think it's best to keep the current Public@ and Management@ lists for Forum communications after July 3, so we are likely to establish new email lists (one Public, one Management) for the SCWG.

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