Some standard materials to use when speaking about the IETF.
If you are contacted by a member of the press on an issue related to the IETF, you should feel free to direct them to a dedicated page on the www.ietf.org website that provides information about the IETF and resources tailored for members of the press. For further information or to request interviews, you can direct them to:
Greg Wood, IETF LLC Senior Director of Communications and Operations
via media@ietf.org
(Messages to this address are generally answered within 24 hours)
These guidelines may be useful for Area Directors speaking about their Areas, and Working Group Chairs speaking about their group. They may also be generally useful for any IETF participant.
As a general rule, speaking about the IETF, the IAB, a Working Group, or in general about work of the IETF is useful because while the technologies used by and on the global Internet depend on work undertaken in the IETF, many people (including those who's work or businesses depend on the Internet!) are unfamiliar (or even unaware) about the IETF and its work.
It is always good to speak about facts: how things work at the IETF, what the IETF is working on, or how the work of the IETF is being used (e.g. where and how IETF specifications are used, implemented, and deployed). For example, describing a particular working group in the context of its charter or the problem it is addressing, or what is written in an RFC, or the where a particular Internet-Draft is in the IETF process (or is not, for example, if it is an individual submission not yet adopted by a Working Group), and when a service is built on technologies specified by IETF documents is all useful information to share. The tranparency of the IETF process and public availability of its documents often makes it easy to point to or provide links so that people can find out more about these topics on their own.
For other things, the best approach is to ground an explanation or an answer in an official position. For example, an IESG statement, an IAB statement, or a liason statement, and then explain that. An IETF-stream RFC can be referenced as a consensus opinion of the IETF (remembering not all IETF RFCs are Standards track documents). For example, RFC 7258 is a BCP that states, "Pervasive monitoring is a technical attack that should be mitigated in the design of IETF protocols, where possible."
Topics or questions that do not fall under items 2 or 3 above should be explicitly noted as having NOT agreed by the IETF. This could be because a) the issue has not yet been discussed within the IETF, or b) the issue is outside the IETF's remit. When deciding whether (or not) to answer this kind of question, any response should be clearly labeled as a personal opinion. For example, "The IETF has not come to agreement on this topic; my personal view is...".
Particularly if you on a leadership group, acquiring some feedback from the group (e.g., IESG or IAB) before saying something is recommended. For example, if an IAB member is presenting at an Internet governance conference, they may wish to share their slides with the entire IAB in time to gather and incorporate feedback.
There are situations where it is not possible to acquire feedback beforehand (reporters' in-person question, panel discussions, questions from the audience). Use your judgment. Categorising what you say according to items 2 through 4 above may be useful. Of course it is always possible to decline to answer a question.
Use judgment when participating in any statements as a group. Be particularly mindful of attributions that include affiliations related to the IETF as they may be misconstrued.
NOTE: even when following the guidelines above, there are a number of common pitfalls:
If you are approached (in person or online) to speak to the media about an IETF issue, you should never feel compelled to respond immediately and can refer inquiries to: media@ietf.org. (Email to that address gets responses w/in 24 hours.) Experienced reporters understand that requests are often routed through media relations personnel for coordination.
If you are consistently speaking to the media, or have advance notice that you will likely be speaking to the media about issues related to the IETF, it is advisable to get media training, commonly available for senior employees from your employers. You are also encouraged to contact media@ietf.org to inquire about options for this.
Any statement that's made publicly and then shared broadly is likely to be misinterpreted by some, and any statement made to the press is likely to be misquoted, badly summarized, and/or taken out of context. So, craft what you say carefully, and be especially watchful of a statement that depends too much on the rest of the context, and that might seem inflammatory if taken by itself. Determine what the message is that you want to convey, and stick to that without feeling the pressure to answer all questions that may be asked.
IETF and IAB chairs have found it useful to summarise to their boards or to the IETF lists what they have said in some public context. For instance, what they said to reporters in an interview. This helps transparency, and can provide a more direct source for the IETF community on what was said. (One way of providing this transparency is also to run interviews based on already developed opinions that were previously posted to the community.) This practice is recommended.
If there is an IETF-related media opportunity that warrants immediate reply, you are encouraged to send email after the fact to media@ietf.org with the person’s name, the publication or outlet, the general topics of conversation and any issues or concerns raised by the interaction. That will allow monitoring for publication, and follow-up in case any elaboration, clarification or correction is warranted.