[Servercert-wg] [EXTERNAL] Request for a Moratorium on New Certificate Consumer Members

Wed May 10 05:45:17 UTC 2023

Here is a draft ballot. I'm looking for one more endorser, preferably from
a Certificate Issuer member.

*Ballot SC-0XX:  Establish a Temporary Moratorium on New Certificate
Consumer Memberships*

*Purpose of the Ballot*

During discussions at Face-to-Face Meeting 58, it was noted that the
membership criteria for Certificate Consumers in the Charter for the Server
Certificate Working Group (SCWG) lacked sufficient detail. Since then,
several members of the CA/Browser Forum have worked to develop better
criteria for membership of Certificate Consumers in the SCWG. A moratorium
is necessary to preserve the status quo and ensure impartiality while we
re-evaluate and revise our membership criteria so that they are more clear,
fair, and aligned with the goals of the Forum.

The following motion has been proposed by Ben Wilson of Mozilla and
endorsed by Tobias Josefowitz of Opera and _____ of _____.

*Motion Begins*

Effective immediately, there is a temporary moratorium established on the
acceptance of applications for membership as Certificate Consumer members
in the Server Certificate Working Group. This moratorium will expire on XX,
2023, or prior to such date, upon publication of the Forum’s vote on a
revised Charter for the Server Certificate Working Group.

During the moratorium, the Server Certificate Working Group will not accept
or consider applications for membership as Certificate Consumers.
Applications for other types of membership may be accepted and considered.

*Motion Ends*

This ballot does not propose a Final Guideline or Final Maintenance
Guideline.  The procedure for approval of this ballot is as follows:

Discussion (7 days)

    Start Time: 2023-05-XX  xx:xx UTC

    End Time: Not before 2023-05-xx  xx:xx UTC

Vote for approval (7 days)

    Start Time: TBD

    End Time: TBD

On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 10:28 PM Ben Wilson <bwilson at mozilla.com> wrote:

> All,
>
> I reiterate my intent that we establish a moratorium on admitting new
> Certificate Consumer members until we have updated the criteria for
> membership of Certificate Consumers.
>
> I think we've made good progress on refining a set of membership criteria,
> which I'll soon share, but the effort takes time. A moratorium will allow
> us to re-evaluate our criteria and revise them so that they are more clear,
> fair, and aligned with the goals of the Forum.
>
> I am looking for one more endorser so that I can propose a ballot that
> would formalize the moratorium.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ben
>
> On Mon, Apr 10, 2023 at 6:39 PM Ben Wilson <bwilson at mozilla.com> wrote:
>
>> I've set up a call for those interested in discussing this. It's on
>> Wednesday, 12-April-2023, at 1400 UTC.
>> I'll send out the dial-in/Zoom information separately for those
>> interested.
>> Ben
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 6, 2023 at 3:22 PM Ben Wilson <bwilson at mozilla.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Paul,
>>>
>>> These are all things that I would like to discuss with those of you who
>>> are interested in helping to work on the membership requirements for
>>> Certificate Consumers in the Server Certificate WG.  Those of you who
>>> are interested, please send me email, and I'll set up a discussion.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Ben
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Apr 6, 2023 at 2:44 AM Paul van Brouwershaven <
>>> Paul.vanBrouwershaven at entrust.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Ben,
>>>>
>>>> Here are some intial questions on your proposal.
>>>>
>>>> > That the Applicant develops and maintains its own code;
>>>>
>>>> Can you explain what you mean with this, I suppose that this does not
>>>> mean that Microsoft can no longer be a Certificate Consumer as their
>>>> browser is based on Chromium? What would this say about the usage of
>>>> Open-Source code, etc.?
>>>>
>>>> > That the Applicant provides a browser for both mobile and desktop
>>>> platforms;
>>>>
>>>> Certificate Consumers are Application Software Suppliers, and these are
>>>> not limited to browsers. Why would a Certificate Consumer be required to
>>>> provide an application for both mobile and desktop platforms?
>>>>
>>>> > That the Applicant has an installed user base of at least one tenth
>>>> of a percent of all browsers in use globally (or some other comparable
>>>> objective measurement);
>>>>
>>>> This means that the CA/Browser Forum is excluding all browsers that
>>>> would like to enter the market until they have a sufficient user base,
>>>> which might take years for new browsers, or a browser might even choose to
>>>> operate in a niche market, for example in a specific demographic. While it
>>>> is not required to be a Certificate Consumer Member to operate a browser or
>>>> a root store, it feels like this is hindering new/niche browsers to
>>>> participate on an equal level.
>>>>
>>>> > That the Applicant and its representatives have never been sanctioned
>>>> for misconduct;
>>>>
>>>> Can you be more specific on "sanctioned for misconduct", for what and
>>>> by who? This would currently mean that an employee of a certificate
>>>> consumer would be sanctioned for life for any misconduct of any form,
>>>> which can be irrelevant for the CA/Browser forum, we probably should
>>>> provide a path to rehabilitation in the aftermath of misconduct in a way
>>>> that recognizes the humanity of those involved.
>>>>
>>>> > That the Applicant has actively participated in the CA/Browser Forum
>>>> as a non-voting Associate Member for at least one year.
>>>>
>>>> What is the purpose of this requirement, we don't have this requirement
>>>> for certificate issuers.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Paul
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> *From:* Servercert-wg <servercert-wg-bounces at cabforum.org> on behalf
>>>> of Ben Wilson via Servercert-wg <servercert-wg at cabforum.org>
>>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 5, 2023 18:30
>>>> *To:* CA/B Forum Server Certificate WG Public Discussion List <
>>>> servercert-wg at cabforum.org>
>>>> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [Servercert-wg] Request for a Moratorium on New
>>>> Certificate Consumer Members
>>>>
>>>> WARNING: This email originated outside of Entrust.
>>>> DO NOT CLICK links or attachments unless you trust the sender and know
>>>> the content is safe.
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> All,
>>>>
>>>> I would like to request a moratorium on admitting new Certificate
>>>> Consumer members to the Server Certificate Working Group until we have
>>>> updated the criteria for membership of Certificate Consumers.
>>>>
>>>> The basis for this request is that we are in the process of developing
>>>> better criteria for membership of Certificate Consumers. As noted during
>>>> Face-to-Face meeting #58, our current requirement of “produc[ing] a
>>>> software product intended for use by the general public for browsing the
>>>> Web securely” lacks sufficient detail. Here are a few things we are
>>>> considering that should be part of the membership criteria for Certificate
>>>> Consumers:
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant develops and maintains its own code;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant maintains its own root store;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant provides a browser for both mobile and desktop
>>>> platforms;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant patches and delivers automatic updates of its
>>>> browser software and root store;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant has publicly disclosed and documented processes for
>>>> its users to report problems and to receive updates on the resolution of
>>>> those problems;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant has an installed user base of at least one tenth of
>>>> a percent of all browsers in use globally (or some other comparable
>>>> objective measurement);
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant employs developers and infosec-trained professionals;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant’s representatives regularly, consistently, and
>>>> actively participate in relevant standards bodies such as the W3C, IETF,
>>>> WHATWG, and OWASP;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant and its representatives have never been sanctioned
>>>> for misconduct;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant has a good history of compliance with industry
>>>> standards, including but not limited to HTML (
>>>> https://platform.html5.org
>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://platform.html5.org/__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!Ypa5WQHN2FbZUYE7Kjs1Lm1fL3oRd24UBjDyVngBxMiVnOxRmyqQtMzEv8h1TC7QxqctX2YlUpiW8WiW1vjLTb4ekfWZTPL5ytmb$>);
>>>> CSS (https://www.w3.org/TR/css-2023/
>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.w3.org/TR/css-2023/__;!!FJ-Y8qCqXTj2!Ypa5WQHN2FbZUYE7Kjs1Lm1fL3oRd24UBjDyVngBxMiVnOxRmyqQtMzEv8h1TC7QxqctX2YlUpiW8WiW1vjLTb4ekfWZTE2pxyS5$>);
>>>> JavaScript, HTTPS/TLS, and the IETF RFCs, such as RFC 5280;
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant’s browser passes at least certain percentages of
>>>> various test suites (Acid Tests, Test 262 and web-platform-tests);
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant has a published commitment to user security and
>>>> privacy; and
>>>>
>>>> That the Applicant has actively participated in the CA/Browser Forum as
>>>> a non-voting Associate Member for at least one year.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ben
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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