Re: Yo Harald - an idea...

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com>]

In message <006201c3a5af$64025480$010aff0a@tsg>, "todd glassey" writes:
>You know that one of the things that this new Belkin DNS redirection fiasco
>brings to life an opportunity for the IETF. Basically what I am thinking now
>is that there needs to be some way of indicating "strict compliance with
>IETF standards" and as strange as this may sound, the compliance process for
>that may be one of  the most valuable things this organization can do.
>
>What I would propose is that you folks consider that the addition of a test
>and compliance specification or a process to create one should become an
>integral part of the IETF's standards process.
>
>I am not quite sure yet how to implement this concept and it clearly should
>be talked about, but FWIW I see a real value in networking equipment that
>has a way of declaring that it is IETF compliant in the protocols it
>executes and passes... and wanted to raise the topic as an idea to add value
>to the IETF Brand and Process.

Related ideas been discussed in the past.  The problem is that they would
require a large-scale, formal compliance testing laboratory, which 
would in turn require a lot of money to get started, and a lot of 
management cycles, plus a substantial, paid technical staff.  These in 
turn would force a fundamental change in the IETF, and no one has been 
willing to go there -- it would be very risky, and the payoff isn't 
clear.

		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb