The POISED working group in 1993-1994 established the basis of the IETF process in its current form. Poised95 established a base set of documents to describe the essentials of the IETF process. POISSON is concerned with documenting issues relevant to the IETF process. The name POISSON: The tricky part of describing the IETF process, certainly in the fast changing world of the Internet, is that when you describe the process in too much detail, the IETF loses its flexibility, when you describe to little it becomes unmanageable. This is therefore a slippery subject, hence the name POISSON, which is French for fish. The French word also serves to indicate the international aspect of the WG. Furthermore the IETF operates by consensus, which sometimes seems to have a POISSON distribution. The POISSON WG will work on the following items in 1999: - Review of copyright issues as described in RFC2026, that describes the Internet standards proces. - Drafting of an agreement for registration and assignment of protocol parameters as performed by the IANA. The WG will focus on the operational and technical aspects of the contract. The IETF lawyer will be asked to add the necessary legal phrases. - Discuss the relationship between IETF and ICANN. Should the IETF be participating in ICANN at all? If so, as part of the ICANN PSO? Under which conditions? An RFC detailing the position will be published if the WG decides that the IETF should not be part of the ICANN PSO. RFC on proposed ICANN PSO bylaws will be produced if the WG consensus is in favor of joining the PSO. Furthermore, in the latter case an RFC will be produced that describes how ICANN PSO officers (on behalf of the IETF) are to be selected. - Discuss an update of the Nominations Committee document RFC-2282, if and when the current NomCom has suggestions for changes. Furthermore, the POISSON WG will review documents that are related to the IETF standards process (but that will not be produced by the POISSON WG itself) when available. Such documents may include: - IETF Charter; This needs to be written by the IETF chair. It is essentially a short mission statement like document that contains references to other Poised documents for further details. - IESG Charter; This document will be written by the IESG. - IAB Charter; The IAB needs to revise its charter (RFC1601). - Proposals related to standards publishing. Last but not least, Poisson will serve as a generic platform where the IAB and IESG can discuss policy questions if there is the need for consensus polling.