Netiquette BOF (ABBY) Reported by Martyne Hallgren/Cornell University Agenda o Explore the overall principles which underly the creation of a netiquette document. - What is the goal (i.e., what action do we wish to achieve)? - Who is the audience? - What is the scope? - Are there legal ramifications? o Examine the process of writing such a document. - What are the elements to be addressed? - Per application---for example, e-mail. - Ten commandments. o Identify existing documents that are available today. - RFC 1087. - Rinaldi---available via anonymous FTP. - Hambridge---document for INTEL. - Various chapters in books. o Other Issues Discussion The BOF was held due to the interest shown by various people over the last several months in creating such a document. Dave Sincoski stated that ISOC had made a resolution to create a code of conduct document, and he agreed to ask this group to fill that need. There was lively discussion regarding the kind of document that is actually needed. Will this be a document which will guide a service provider in creating their own netiquette statement, or something that is intended for users? The problems pertaining to generality (which would make the document universal) versus specificity (which would make the document useful in particular instances, useless in others) were discussed at length. This conflict was restated by describing the document as being a statement of minimal guidelines of enforced behavior versus an ethical, or idealistic, code that people aspire to. While there may be some basic code of civilized network behavior, the group recognized that what some might identify as ``common courtesy,'' others may view as infringement on academic freedom or freedom of speech. The group agreed that since there were both interest and people to pursue the topic, a working group should be formed to create an FYI RFC on the responsible use of the Internet and its tools. A draft charter and timeline were created. The co-chairs for the working group will be Sally Hambridge and Gary Malkin.