[cabfpub] Question about a possible inconsistency --- FW: Voting has started on Ballot 183 - Amending the Bylaws to Clarify the Ballot Approval Process

N. Atilla Biler atilla.biler at turktrust.com.tr
Thu Jan 26 06:50:35 UTC 2017


Dear Kirk and Dear Ben,

While examining the Ballot 183, we think we come across an inconsistency
between the total number of valid votes that will be used in the calculation
for ballot adoption stated in item 2.2 (f) and the final note at the end of
the ballot message as follows:

 

1.  Ballots Among Forum Members.  Section 2.2 of the Bylaws is hereby
amended to read in its entirety as follows:  

"2.2 General Provisions Applicable to all Ballots

The following rules will apply to all ballots, including Draft Guideline
Ballots (defined in Section 2.3). 

(a)  ... 

.

(e)  Members may vote yes, no, or abstain on a ballot.  Only votes that
indicate a clear 'yes' or 'no' response to the ballot question shall be
considered (i.e. votes to abstain and votes that do not indicate a clear
'yes' or 'no' response will not figure in the calculation of item (f),
below). 

(f)  Members fall into two categories: CAs (comprising issuing CAs and root
CAs, as defined in the membership criteria) and browsers (as defined in the
membership criteria). In order for the ballot to be adopted by the Forum,
two-thirds or more of the votes cast by the Members in the CA category must
be in favor of the ballot, and at least 50% plus one of the votes cast by
the members in the browser category must be in favor of the ballot. At least
one CA Member and one browser Member must vote in favor of a ballot for the
ballot to be adopted. 

 

vs.

 

A vote in favor of the ballot must indicate a clear 'yes' in the response. A
vote against must indicate a clear 'no' in the response. A vote to abstain
must indicate a clear 'abstain' in the response. Unclear responses will not
be counted. The latest vote received from any representative of a voting
Member before the close of the voting period will be counted. Voting Members
are listed here: https://cabforum.org/members/ 

 

According to this final sentence above, it is understood that for
calculations of item 2.2 (f), "abstain" votes should also be counted in the
number of total votes, and only unclear responses will not be counted.
However, item 2.2 (e) above seems to exclude the "abstain" votes totally in
item 2.2 (f) calculations.

We wonder which one is the real situation for calculating the votes. If item
2.2 (e) above excludes the "abstain" votes altogether, then there will
remain no difference among an "abstain" vote, an unclear vote, and no vote
at all.

Could you please clarify this point for us and for all voting members before
finalizing the voting for Ballot 183?

Best regards,

 

N. Atilla BILER

Business Development Manager / Advisor to R&D Center

TURKTRUST Inc.

 

Address: Hollanda Cad. 696.Sok. No:7 Yildiz 06550 Cankaya / ANKARA - TURKEY

Phone   : +90 (312) 439 10 00

Mobile  : +90 (530) 314 24 05

Fax         : +90 (312) 439 10 01

E-mail    :  <mailto:atilla.biler at turktrust.com.tr>
atilla.biler at turktrust.com.tr 

Web      :  <http://www.turktrust.com.tr/> www.turktrust.com.tr 

 

 

From: Public [mailto:public-bounces at cabforum.org] On Behalf Of Kirk Hall via
Public
Sent: 25 Ocak 2017 Çarşamba 18:27
To: CA/Browser Forum Public Discussion List <public at cabforum.org>
Cc: Kirk Hall <Kirk.Hall at entrustdatacard.com>
Subject: [cabfpub] Voting has started on Ballot 183 - Amending the Bylaws to
Clarify the Ballot Approval Process

 

Voting has started on Ballo3 183, and continues through Tuesday, January 31,
2017 at 22:00 UTC.  Please vote via the Public list.

 

Ballot 183 - Amending the Bylaws to Clarify the Ballot Approval Process

 

The following motion has been proposed by Kirk Hall of Entrust, Inc. and
endorsed by Virginia Fournier of Apple, Inc. and Chris Nalevanko of
Amazon.com, Inc. to amend the CA/Browser Forum Bylaws (the "Bylaws"):

 

-- MOTION BEGINS -

 

In accordance with Section 6.1 of the Bylaws of the CA/Browser Forum (the
"Forum"), the Bylaws are hereby amended as follows:

1.  Ballots Among Forum Members.  Section 2.2 of the Bylaws is hereby
amended to read in its entirety as follows:  

"2.2 General Provisions Applicable to all Ballots

The following rules will apply to all ballots, including Draft Guideline
Ballots (defined in Section 2.3). 

(a)  Only votes by Members shall be accepted. 

(b)  Only one vote per Member company shall be accepted; representatives of
corporate affiliates shall not vote. 

(c)  A representative of any Member can call for a proposed ballot to be
published for discussion and comment by the membership. Any proposed ballot
needs two endorsements by other Members in order to proceed. The discussion
period then shall take place for at least seven but no more than 14 calendar
days before votes are cast.  The proposer of the ballot will designate the
length of the discussion period, and each ballot shall clearly state the
start and end dates and times (including time zone) for both the discussion
period and the voting period. 

(d) Upon completion of the discussion period, Members shall have exactly
seven calendar days for voting, with the deadline clearly communicated in
the ballot and sent via the Public Mail List. All voting will take place via
the Public Mail List.   Votes not submitted to the Public Mail List will not
be considered valid, and will not be counted for any purpose.

(e)  Members may vote yes, no, or abstain on a ballot.  Only votes that
indicate a clear 'yes' or 'no' response to the ballot question shall be
considered (i.e. votes to abstain and votes that do not indicate a clear
'yes' or 'no' response will not figure in the calculation of item (f),
below). 

(f)  Members fall into two categories: CAs (comprising issuing CAs and root
CAs, as defined in the membership criteria) and browsers (as defined in the
membership criteria). In order for the ballot to be adopted by the Forum,
two-thirds or more of the votes cast by the Members in the CA category must
be in favor of the ballot, and at least 50% plus one of the votes cast by
the members in the browser category must be in favor of the ballot. At least
one CA Member and one browser Member must vote in favor of a ballot for the
ballot to be adopted. 

(g) A ballot result will be considered valid only when more than half of the
number of currently active Members has participated. The number of currently
active Members is the average number of Member organizations that have
participated in the previous three Forum-wide meetings (both teleconferences
and face-to-face meetings).  Working Group, subgroup, committee, PAG, and
other similar meetings do not count for purposes of calculating the "number
of currently active members." 

(h) The Chair will tabulate and announce the results within 3 business days
of the close of the voting period.

(i) The Chair may delegate any of his/her duties under this Section 2.2 and
Section 2.3 to the Vice Chair as necessary, or the Vice Chair may otherwise
execute the duties and obligations of the Chair as provided in Section
4.1(a) of these Bylaws."

 

2.  Draft Guideline Ballots.  A new Section 2.3 shall be added to the
Bylaws, and will read in its entirety as follows:

 

"2.3       Requirements for Draft Guideline Ballots 

 

This section applies to any ballot that proposes a Final Guideline or a
Final Maintenance Guideline (a "Draft Guideline Ballot"), all as defined
under the Forum's IPR Policy.  Draft Guideline Ballots must comply with the
following rules in addition to the requirements set forth in Section 2.2
above.

 

(a)  A Draft Guideline Ballot will clearly indicate whether it is proposing
a Final Guideline or a Final Maintenance Guideline.  If the Draft Guideline
Ballot is proposing a Final Guideline, such ballot will include the full
text of the Draft Guideline intended to become a Final Guideline.  If the
Draft Guideline Ballot is proposing a Final Maintenance Guideline, such
ballot will include a redline or comparison showing the set of changes from
the Final Guideline section(s) intended to become a Final Maintenance
Guideline, and need not include a copy of the full set of guidelines.  Such
redline or comparison shall be made against the Final Guideline section(s)
as they exist at the time a ballot is proposed, and need not take into
consideration other ballots that may be proposed subsequently, except as
provided in Section 2.3(j) below.

 

(b)  As described in Section 2.2(c), there will be a discussion period of at
least seven but no more than 14 calendar days before votes are cast on a
Draft Guideline Ballot, with the start and end dates of such discussion
period clearly specified in the ballot. 

 

(c)  As described in Section 2.2(d), upon completion of such discussion
period, Members shall have exactly seven calendar days to vote on a Draft
Guideline Ballot, with the deadline clearly communicated in the ballot sent
via the Public Mail List. All voting will take place via the Public Mail
List.  Votes not submitted to the Public Mail List will not be considered
valid, and will not be counted for any purpose.  The Chair may send an email
to the Public Mail List reminding Members of when the voting period opens
and closes. 

 

(d)  The Forum (via the Chair) will tabulate and announce the results within
3 business days of the close of the initial voting period (the "Initial
Vote").  If the Draft Guidelines Ballot does not pass the Initial Vote, the
ballot will stop. 

 

(e)  If a Draft Guideline Ballot passes the Initial Vote, the Chair shall
initiate, no later than the 3rd business day after the announcement of the
Initial Vote results, the Review Period of 30 or 60 days, as applicable and
as described in Section 4.1 of the IPR Policy.  The Chair will initiate the
Review Period by sending the Review Notice to both the Member Mail List and
the Public Mail List.  The Review Notice will clearly specify the open and
close dates and times (with time zone) of the Review Period.  If the Chair
does not initiate the Review Period within 5 business days after the
announcement of the Initial Vote results, the Vice Chair may initiate the
Review Period, using the same process as the Chair would have been required
to use. 

 

(f)  The Review Period will continue to the end of the 30- or 60-day period,
as applicable, regardless of the number of Exclusion Notices filed pursuant
to the IPR Policy during such period, if any.  No later than 3 business days
after the conclusion of the applicable Review Period, the Chair will
distribute any Exclusion Notices submitted in accordance with Section 4.2 of
the IPR Policy via the Public Mail List; provided, however, that the Chair
may distribute such Exclusion Notices earlier. 

 

(g)  In addition to following the process for submitting Exclusion Notices
set forth in Section 4 of the IPR Policy, Members will also send Exclusion
Notices to the Public Mail List as a safeguard. 

 

(h)  If no Exclusion Notices are filed during the Review Period with respect
to a Draft Guideline Ballot, then the results of the Initial Vote are
automatically deemed to be final and approved, and Draft Guidelines then
become either Final Guidelines or Final Maintenance Guidelines, as
designated in the Draft Guidelines Ballot.  The Chair will notify both the
Member Mail List and the Public Mail List of the final approval within 3
business days, as well as update the Public Website of Final Guidelines and
Final Maintenance Guidelines within 10 business days of the close of the
Review Period.

 

(i)  If Exclusion Notice(s) are filed during the Review Period (as described
in Section 4.3 of the IPR Policy), then the results of the Initial Vote are
automatically rescinded and deemed null and void, and;

 

(i) A Patent Advisory Group (PAG) will be formed, in accordance with Section
7 of the IPR Policy, to address the conflict.  The PAG will make a
conclusion as described in Section 7.3.2 of the IPR Policy, and communicate
such conclusion to the rest of the Forum, using the Member Mail List and the
Public Mail List.; and

 

(ii) After the PAG provides its conclusion, if the proposer and endorsers
decide to proceed with the Draft Guidelines Ballot, and:

 

(A) The proposer and endorsers do not make any changes to the Draft
Guidelines Ballot, such ballot must go through the steps described in
Sections 2.3(b) through (d) above, replacing the "Initial Vote" with a
"Second Vote."  If a Draft Guidelines Ballot passes the Second Vote, then
the results of the Second Vote are deemed to be final and approved.  Draft
Guidelines then become either Final Guidelines or Final Maintenance
Guidelines, as designated in the Draft Guidelines Ballot.  The Chair will
notify both the Member Mail List and the Public Mail List of the approval,
as well as update the public website of Final Guidelines and Final
Maintenance Guidelines; or

 

(B) The proposer and endorsers make changes to the Draft Guidelines Ballot,
a new Draft Guidelines Ballot must be proposed, and must go through the
steps described in Sections 2.3(a) through (i) above.

 

(j)  If a ballot is proposed to amend the same section of the Final
Guidelines or the Final Maintenance Guidelines as one or more previous
ballot(s) that has/have not yet been finally approved, the newly proposed
ballot must include information about, and a link to, any such previous
ballot(s), and may include provisions to avoid any conflicts relating to
such previous ballots."

 

3.  Interpretation of Bylaws.  A new Section 6.3 shall be added to the
Bylaws and will read in its entirety as follows:

 

"6.3 Interpretation of Bylaws

  

Nothing in these Bylaws is intended to supersede or replace anything in the
IPR Policy. In the event of a conflict between these Bylaws and the IPR
Policy, the IPR Policy shall govern."

 

3.  Effect of Ballot.  Nothing in this ballot is intended to supersede or
replace anything in the IPR Policy.  In the event of a conflict between this
ballot and the IPR Policy, the IPR Policy shall govern.  Except as
specifically provided in this ballot, all other provisions of the Bylaws
shall remain in full force and effect.

 

-- MOTION ENDS - 

 

The procedure for this ballot is as follows (exact start and end times may
be adjusted to comply with applicable Bylaws and IPR Agreement):

 


BALLOT 183

Status: Amendment to Bylaws

Start time (22:00 UTC)

End time (22:00 UTC)


Discussion (7 days)

17 Jan. 2017

24 Jan. 2017


Vote for approval (7 days)

24 Jan. 2017

31 Jan. 2017

 

Votes must be cast by posting an on-list reply to this thread on the Public
Mail List. 

 

A vote in favor of the ballot must indicate a clear 'yes' in the response. A
vote against must indicate a clear 'no' in the response. A vote to abstain
must indicate a clear 'abstain' in the response. Unclear responses will not
be counted. The latest vote received from any representative of a voting
Member before the close of the voting period will be counted. Voting Members
are listed here:  <https://cabforum.org/members/>
https://cabforum.org/members/ 

 

In order for the ballot to be adopted, two thirds or more of the votes cast
by Members in the CA category and greater than 50% of the votes cast by
members in the browser category must be in favor.  Quorum is currently ten
(10) Members - at least ten Members must participate in the ballot, either
by voting in favor, voting against, or abstaining.

 

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