Difference between revisions of "W3C Formal Objections"
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Philippe le Hégaret: bad news (sorry) | Philippe le Hégaret: bad news (sorry) | ||
− | + | * had a call w/objectors to TR 2-3 weeks ago | |
− | + | * did not manage to find common ground w/various folks | |
− | + | * decided to send formal objection to W3C council, getting pulled into W3C as legal entity | |
− | + | * advisory board has been working toward being director-free for some time, instead council w/advisory board & TAG members | |
− | + | * in case of formal objection, analysis is sent up to council | |
− | + | * have several formal objections to charters, DID is the only formal objection to a TR | |
− | + | * have yet to see how council will do with this | |
− | + | * this Thursday, AB will take formal objection on agenda and rule on it | |
− | + | * could take a month/month and a half to get through | |
− | + | * tricky bit is to get recusal within council, could end up leaving only people who don’t care or know as much | |
− | + | * if the council can make a ruling, we’re good with new process; otherwise we need to go back to drawing board | |
Daniel Burnett: question about recusal; any process that allows the objectors to participate in a ruling is unacceptable | Daniel Burnett: question about recusal; any process that allows the objectors to participate in a ruling is unacceptable | ||
Philippe le Hégaret: this is the tricky bit, I hear you | Philippe le Hégaret: this is the tricky bit, I hear you | ||
− | + | * every single formal objection triggers this; another one was a TAG participant | |
− | + | * will write analysis, circulate it to each side, and send to council | |
Brent Zundel: very curious to know who instigated this extra-process of going to council | Brent Zundel: very curious to know who instigated this extra-process of going to council | ||
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Drummond Reed don’t think any of us knew about this option; challenge is that those who are have been working on this are getting questions from customers about why this is happening | Drummond Reed don’t think any of us knew about this option; challenge is that those who are have been working on this are getting questions from customers about why this is happening | ||
− | + | * my question is: what’s public visibility of this process? | |
Philippe le Hégaret: fair question; if you look for a process, you will not find one, that’s part of the exercise to figure ou the process | Philippe le Hégaret: fair question; if you look for a process, you will not find one, that’s part of the exercise to figure ou the process | ||
− | + | * visibility: received authorization to make almost all formal objections public; there was also the call, minutes will be made public | |
− | + | * deliberations of council, believe they can be made public? not sure, process not set in stone; deliberations will be made public | |
Daniel Burnett: what, if anything, should we do? can we help the process move forward? | Daniel Burnett: what, if anything, should we do? can we help the process move forward? | ||
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Ted Thibodeau Jr. charters may have been waiting longer, but they don’t have an expiration; how far is extension going to go? | Ted Thibodeau Jr. charters may have been waiting longer, but they don’t have an expiration; how far is extension going to go? | ||
− | + | * what do we do if TR is rejected? | |
Philippe le Hégaret: extending charters as necessary (both DID/VC), if no decision, more extension | Philippe le Hégaret: extending charters as necessary (both DID/VC), if no decision, more extension | ||
− | + | * you guys did everything in the process you were asked to do, WG did nothing wrong in process | |
− | + | * technical perspective, remains to be determined | |
Daniel Burnett: there is some follow-on work that is depending on this, other charters, etc | Daniel Burnett: there is some follow-on work that is depending on this, other charters, etc | ||
− | + | * is everything put on hold until this is resolved? | |
− | + | * will there be a way for us to provide input to this council, particularly if the recusal process results in objectors remaining on the council | |
Philippe le Hégaret: yes; will happily share analysis, anyone is welcome to correct, disagreements are welcome to be written/submitted | Philippe le Hégaret: yes; will happily share analysis, anyone is welcome to correct, disagreements are welcome to be written/submitted | ||
− | + | * last time, council invited co-chairs to present directly to the council, likely to happen again | |
− | + | * council will be welcoming feedback on process, especially recusal issues; it’s recognized as a potential problem from the start | |
Daniel Burnett: this has gone on way longer than other items, but it’s important. | Daniel Burnett: this has gone on way longer than other items, but it’s important. | ||
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Philippe le Hégaret: council is composed of AB & TAG members, it’s public information | Philippe le Hégaret: council is composed of AB & TAG members, it’s public information | ||
− | + | * eg, Amy (a document editor) is by default recused in the council, don’t know who’s recused | |
− | + | * would be surprised if information is not public | |
Michael Prorock: what actual questions are coming up from the formal objection side that can be taken back to the WG to address? | Michael Prorock: what actual questions are coming up from the formal objection side that can be taken back to the WG to address? | ||
− | + | * related: payments spec is up for vote, directly uses blockchain, why is that not being held to the same standards? | |
Philippe le Hégaret: nothing WG can do to satisfy them short of waiting until DID methods are standardized … would surprise me if WG did that | Philippe le Hégaret: nothing WG can do to satisfy them short of waiting until DID methods are standardized … would surprise me if WG did that | ||
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Philippe le Hégaret: I doubt it | Philippe le Hégaret: I doubt it | ||
− | + | * Mozilla made formal objection public already, I don’t think there’s anything this group can do | |
− | + | * Mozilla objected to original charter | |
Michael Prorock: second question, why is DID WG being used as test case to push environmental concerns | Michael Prorock: second question, why is DID WG being used as test case to push environmental concerns | ||
− | + | * I agree withholding ourselves to higher standard | |
− | + | * reality is, payments group is up for vote | |
− | + | * DIDs are using existing infrastructure indirectly | |
− | + | * why are same standards not being applied to payments group? | |
− | + | * browser vendors want to support payments within their platforms, but want to block smaller tech | |
Philippe le Hégaret: if there are formal objections we will receive them in the next few weeks | Philippe le Hégaret: if there are formal objections we will receive them in the next few weeks | ||
− | + | * would be surprised to see objections on the same grounds | |
− | + | * none of the current implementations rely on bitcoin; it could be used, but it’s not the case today | |
− | + | * besides, who said that you have to be consistent, from one objection to another? you can disagree with yourself within a month ;) | |
− | + | * I don’t guarantee payments will go through smoothly | |
Markus Sabadello: thank you for explaining that process | Markus Sabadello: thank you for explaining that process | ||
− | + | * in this process, is there any role for advisory committee and rest of member organizations? | |
− | + | * 3 objections but 40 in favor, how does that fit in? | |
Philippe le Hégaret: right now we are at the phase of whether to sustain or override the formal objection | Philippe le Hégaret: right now we are at the phase of whether to sustain or override the formal objection | ||
− | + | * director decided to get input from the council | |
− | + | * once the director’s decision is made we can still file objections to director’s decision | |
− | + | * AC can request to overrule director | |
− | + | * AB is always open to hear from members | |
− | + | * environmental concerns: we agree we should look into this further, it’s up to the director; everyone is interested in solving the problem | |
Daniel Burnett: do you believe the director’s request to do this is because the director specifically needs input, or is this an opportunity because of the nature of the request & who’s involved to see whether the proposed future director-free plan will work? | Daniel Burnett: do you believe the director’s request to do this is because the director specifically needs input, or is this an opportunity because of the nature of the request & who’s involved to see whether the proposed future director-free plan will work? | ||
Philippe le Hégaret: speculating here, I think it’s more the latter (to see if the process will work) | Philippe le Hégaret: speculating here, I think it’s more the latter (to see if the process will work) | ||
− | + | * once we are director-free, too late to say we don’t like the roles | |
− | + | * hope that we see this as part of process 2022 | |
− | + | * I encourage you to comment on the whole experience with the council | |
Daniel Burnett: we may be discouraged with the delay, this isn’t indicative of greater concern with this specific work | Daniel Burnett: we may be discouraged with the delay, this isn’t indicative of greater concern with this specific work | ||
Philippe le Hégaret: correct, this WG did everything by the charter | Philippe le Hégaret: correct, this WG did everything by the charter | ||
− | + | * it’s an opportunity to test how we go director-free | |
Ted Thibodeau Jr.:: Comment here on evolving DRAFT Director-Free process – https://github.com/w3c/w3process/tree/director-free | Ted Thibodeau Jr.:: Comment here on evolving DRAFT Director-Free process – https://github.com/w3c/w3process/tree/director-free | ||
Brent Zundel: appreciate the recognition; we did everything according to charter and process, but objectors didn’t | Brent Zundel: appreciate the recognition; we did everything according to charter and process, but objectors didn’t | ||
− | + | * objectors had opportunity to object during two separate CR’s, they didn’t | |
− | + | * this is very frustrating; I speak for more than myself | |
Drummond Reed add myself to brent’s voice, already a lot of people depending on this | Drummond Reed add myself to brent’s voice, already a lot of people depending on this | ||
− | + | * being seen from the outside as classic back-room politics; v. small group is overriding a majority, with 2 years of work so i think you can appreciate the level of frustration that this causes for us. | |
Ryan Grant: +1 | Ryan Grant: +1 | ||
Philippe le Hégaret: appreciate you bringing that up | Philippe le Hégaret: appreciate you bringing that up | ||
− | + | * some did not formally object before, but did now | |
− | + | * process allows them to do that; but director/council can take that into account when ruling this | |
− | + | * understand the frustration | |
− | + | * timing-wise, it’s not like we’re missing opportunities | |
− | + | * the timing of the decision is always a consideration of the Director’s | |
− | + | * if you believe the objection is causing harm because of the delay, I encourage you to | |
− | + | * mention that to the director. It would be useful input, on that front. | |
− | + | * regarding the VC charter, the reason it’s getting delayed, is we were waiting on Brent | |
− | + | * to do a draft of the VC charter before sending to the committee. | |
− | + | * But as you pointed out, you’re waiting to see what happens with the DID WG charter, | |
− | + | * before knowing what the new VC charter should have. | |
Daniel Burnett: the result of this (DID spec) is important outside of W3C, and will be watched very closely. | Daniel Burnett: the result of this (DID spec) is important outside of W3C, and will be watched very closely. | ||
− | + | * I know this kind of stuff happens (this is not the only WG/Standards Group where this has occurred), | |
− | + | * but I just want to reiterate that there are many industries that could be harmed because of the delay. | |
Philippe le Hégaret: unfortunately, that added importance, makes it that much more important for us to | Philippe le Hégaret: unfortunately, that added importance, makes it that much more important for us to | ||
− | + | * observe what the committee does. | |
Brent Zundel: I want to raise the concern that VCs and DIDs represent a distinct methodology for handling digital | Brent Zundel: I want to raise the concern that VCs and DIDs represent a distinct methodology for handling digital | ||
− | + | * identity, that is in direct opposition to some standards that are already being adopted and folded into | |
− | + | * the technologies of the formal objectors. Any delays in our spec directly serve the business interests | |
− | + | * of the objectors, since it affects competing standards. | |
Philippe le Hégaret: unfortunately, that is very often the case. Formal objections like that get heated very quickly. | Philippe le Hégaret: unfortunately, that is very often the case. Formal objections like that get heated very quickly. | ||
− | + | * I will do my best to ensure council and the director makes the decision as soon as possible. | |
− | + | * I’m sorry you’re getting caught in this. | |
Brent Zundel: I appreciate everything you’re doing, Philippe. My ability to believe that the other side is acting in good faith is rapidly fading. | Brent Zundel: I appreciate everything you’re doing, Philippe. My ability to believe that the other side is acting in good faith is rapidly fading. | ||
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Philippe le Hégaret: at the moment, all formal objections will be sent to council. | Philippe le Hégaret: at the moment, all formal objections will be sent to council. | ||
− | + | * we have 4 charters being caught up in this right now. | |
− | Drummond Reed there’s a very specific reality (both DIDs and VCs are affected) – ISO has a spec for Mobile Drivers Licenses, | + | Drummond Reed: there’s a very specific reality (both DIDs and VCs are affected) – ISO has a spec for Mobile Drivers Licenses, |
− | + | * that is being widely perceived as a competitor to VCs and DIDs. And we know some of the objectors have strong | |
− | + | * business interests in the adoption of MDLs. So, it raises ethical questions in our mind, not just in objecting | |
− | + | * to competing tech, but in favoring the specification of a competing standards body (W3C vs ISO). | |
Philippe le Hégaret: neither the Director or I knew about that part. If you believe this should affect the decision, | Philippe le Hégaret: neither the Director or I knew about that part. If you believe this should affect the decision, | ||
− | + | * I encourage you to write to myself and the Director. | |
− | Drummond Reed will do | + | Drummond Reed: will do |
Daniel Burnett: this goes for everyone, if you believe there are critical items for Philippe and the Director, please send them. | Daniel Burnett: this goes for everyone, if you believe there are critical items for Philippe and the Director, please send them. | ||
Brent Zundel: Thank you Philippe for joining us today | Brent Zundel: Thank you Philippe for joining us today |
Revision as of 09:23, 9 October 2021
Full Title or Meme
The W3C has created a means to take a formal objection of any standard to the director.
An Example of such an Objection
Daniel Burnett: Philippe le Hégaret has joined us to update on objections to the DID Core Spec. 2021-10-06
Philippe le Hégaret: bad news (sorry)
- had a call w/objectors to TR 2-3 weeks ago
- did not manage to find common ground w/various folks
- decided to send formal objection to W3C council, getting pulled into W3C as legal entity
- advisory board has been working toward being director-free for some time, instead council w/advisory board & TAG members
- in case of formal objection, analysis is sent up to council
- have several formal objections to charters, DID is the only formal objection to a TR
- have yet to see how council will do with this
- this Thursday, AB will take formal objection on agenda and rule on it
- could take a month/month and a half to get through
- tricky bit is to get recusal within council, could end up leaving only people who don’t care or know as much
- if the council can make a ruling, we’re good with new process; otherwise we need to go back to drawing board
Daniel Burnett: question about recusal; any process that allows the objectors to participate in a ruling is unacceptable
Philippe le Hégaret: this is the tricky bit, I hear you
- every single formal objection triggers this; another one was a TAG participant
- will write analysis, circulate it to each side, and send to council
Brent Zundel: very curious to know who instigated this extra-process of going to council
Philippe le Hégaret: director & myself
Brent Zundel: will interpret this as director using the council to help make his decision
Philippe le Hégaret: he hasn’t delegated his power to the council, director can still disagree
Drummond Reed don’t think any of us knew about this option; challenge is that those who are have been working on this are getting questions from customers about why this is happening
- my question is: what’s public visibility of this process?
Philippe le Hégaret: fair question; if you look for a process, you will not find one, that’s part of the exercise to figure ou the process
- visibility: received authorization to make almost all formal objections public; there was also the call, minutes will be made public
- deliberations of council, believe they can be made public? not sure, process not set in stone; deliberations will be made public
Daniel Burnett: what, if anything, should we do? can we help the process move forward?
Philippe le Hégaret: sending one or more things through council, council should be able to make decision within month, month and a half at most
Ted Thibodeau Jr. charters may have been waiting longer, but they don’t have an expiration; how far is extension going to go?
- what do we do if TR is rejected?
Philippe le Hégaret: extending charters as necessary (both DID/VC), if no decision, more extension
- you guys did everything in the process you were asked to do, WG did nothing wrong in process
- technical perspective, remains to be determined
Daniel Burnett: there is some follow-on work that is depending on this, other charters, etc
- is everything put on hold until this is resolved?
- will there be a way for us to provide input to this council, particularly if the recusal process results in objectors remaining on the council
Philippe le Hégaret: yes; will happily share analysis, anyone is welcome to correct, disagreements are welcome to be written/submitted
- last time, council invited co-chairs to present directly to the council, likely to happen again
- council will be welcoming feedback on process, especially recusal issues; it’s recognized as a potential problem from the start
Daniel Burnett: this has gone on way longer than other items, but it’s important.
Pamela Dingle: do you expect transparency over who forms council, who recuses, and whether or not they’ve been voting members in the WG?
Philippe le Hégaret: council is composed of AB & TAG members, it’s public information
- eg, Amy (a document editor) is by default recused in the council, don’t know who’s recused
- would be surprised if information is not public
Michael Prorock: what actual questions are coming up from the formal objection side that can be taken back to the WG to address?
- related: payments spec is up for vote, directly uses blockchain, why is that not being held to the same standards?
Philippe le Hégaret: nothing WG can do to satisfy them short of waiting until DID methods are standardized … would surprise me if WG did that
Michael Prorock: they do not feel standardizing did:key & did:web would be sufficient anyway
Philippe le Hégaret: correct, but correct me if I’m wrong, it’s what I understand from the objectors … did:key & did:web are not decentralized enough
Michael Prorock: did:key is decentralized as possible, would a technical read of that help address their concerns?
Philippe le Hégaret: I doubt it
- Mozilla made formal objection public already, I don’t think there’s anything this group can do
- Mozilla objected to original charter
Michael Prorock: second question, why is DID WG being used as test case to push environmental concerns
- I agree withholding ourselves to higher standard
- reality is, payments group is up for vote
- DIDs are using existing infrastructure indirectly
- why are same standards not being applied to payments group?
- browser vendors want to support payments within their platforms, but want to block smaller tech
Philippe le Hégaret: if there are formal objections we will receive them in the next few weeks
- would be surprised to see objections on the same grounds
- none of the current implementations rely on bitcoin; it could be used, but it’s not the case today
- besides, who said that you have to be consistent, from one objection to another? you can disagree with yourself within a month ;)
- I don’t guarantee payments will go through smoothly
Markus Sabadello: thank you for explaining that process
- in this process, is there any role for advisory committee and rest of member organizations?
- 3 objections but 40 in favor, how does that fit in?
Philippe le Hégaret: right now we are at the phase of whether to sustain or override the formal objection
- director decided to get input from the council
- once the director’s decision is made we can still file objections to director’s decision
- AC can request to overrule director
- AB is always open to hear from members
- environmental concerns: we agree we should look into this further, it’s up to the director; everyone is interested in solving the problem
Daniel Burnett: do you believe the director’s request to do this is because the director specifically needs input, or is this an opportunity because of the nature of the request & who’s involved to see whether the proposed future director-free plan will work?
Philippe le Hégaret: speculating here, I think it’s more the latter (to see if the process will work)
- once we are director-free, too late to say we don’t like the roles
- hope that we see this as part of process 2022
- I encourage you to comment on the whole experience with the council
Daniel Burnett: we may be discouraged with the delay, this isn’t indicative of greater concern with this specific work
Philippe le Hégaret: correct, this WG did everything by the charter
- it’s an opportunity to test how we go director-free
Ted Thibodeau Jr.:: Comment here on evolving DRAFT Director-Free process – https://github.com/w3c/w3process/tree/director-free
Brent Zundel: appreciate the recognition; we did everything according to charter and process, but objectors didn’t
- objectors had opportunity to object during two separate CR’s, they didn’t
- this is very frustrating; I speak for more than myself
Drummond Reed add myself to brent’s voice, already a lot of people depending on this
- being seen from the outside as classic back-room politics; v. small group is overriding a majority, with 2 years of work so i think you can appreciate the level of frustration that this causes for us.
Ryan Grant: +1
Philippe le Hégaret: appreciate you bringing that up
- some did not formally object before, but did now
- process allows them to do that; but director/council can take that into account when ruling this
- understand the frustration
- timing-wise, it’s not like we’re missing opportunities
- the timing of the decision is always a consideration of the Director’s
- if you believe the objection is causing harm because of the delay, I encourage you to
- mention that to the director. It would be useful input, on that front.
- regarding the VC charter, the reason it’s getting delayed, is we were waiting on Brent
- to do a draft of the VC charter before sending to the committee.
- But as you pointed out, you’re waiting to see what happens with the DID WG charter,
- before knowing what the new VC charter should have.
Daniel Burnett: the result of this (DID spec) is important outside of W3C, and will be watched very closely.
- I know this kind of stuff happens (this is not the only WG/Standards Group where this has occurred),
- but I just want to reiterate that there are many industries that could be harmed because of the delay.
Philippe le Hégaret: unfortunately, that added importance, makes it that much more important for us to
- observe what the committee does.
Brent Zundel: I want to raise the concern that VCs and DIDs represent a distinct methodology for handling digital
- identity, that is in direct opposition to some standards that are already being adopted and folded into
- the technologies of the formal objectors. Any delays in our spec directly serve the business interests
- of the objectors, since it affects competing standards.
Philippe le Hégaret: unfortunately, that is very often the case. Formal objections like that get heated very quickly.
- I will do my best to ensure council and the director makes the decision as soon as possible.
- I’m sorry you’re getting caught in this.
Brent Zundel: I appreciate everything you’re doing, Philippe. My ability to believe that the other side is acting in good faith is rapidly fading.
Orie Steele: are all formal objections to specs going to the council? Or just specific ones?
Philippe le Hégaret: at the moment, all formal objections will be sent to council.
- we have 4 charters being caught up in this right now.
Drummond Reed: there’s a very specific reality (both DIDs and VCs are affected) – ISO has a spec for Mobile Drivers Licenses,
- that is being widely perceived as a competitor to VCs and DIDs. And we know some of the objectors have strong
- business interests in the adoption of MDLs. So, it raises ethical questions in our mind, not just in objecting
- to competing tech, but in favoring the specification of a competing standards body (W3C vs ISO).
Philippe le Hégaret: neither the Director or I knew about that part. If you believe this should affect the decision,
- I encourage you to write to myself and the Director.
Drummond Reed: will do
Daniel Burnett: this goes for everyone, if you believe there are critical items for Philippe and the Director, please send them.
Brent Zundel: Thank you Philippe for joining us today