Page 68 - Proceedings of the 2017 ITU Kaleidoscope

2017 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

Standards Association, a crucial role is performed by the Difference of Arrival (U-TDOA) technology for LTE
BOG, whose members are selected by IEEE members wireless networks. TruePosition argued that since the
following a rigorous process. In contrast, any update of the defendants’ affiliates were in control of the key committees
W3C Process Document and its Patent Policy requires of the SDOs, they had the power to manipulate standards
approval of the entire membership, and the Advisory Board, development processes and offer their own technologies for
entrusted with amendments of operational framework, is inclusion into technical specifications, while eliminating
selected by all W3C members in the Advisory Committee. competition from other vendors [17]. The litigation process
Likewise, ETSI membership is consulted when developing ended with a settlement between Ericsson and TruePosition.
and modifying Institute’s procedural rules and facilitating The most recent example of disagreement among the SDO’s
settlement of disputes, since both activities are performed by membership is the process of approving Encrypted Media
the General Assembly. Modifications of IETF’s standard- Extensions (EME) recommendation within the W3C, and the
setting procedures are carried out by a Working Group, subsequent resignation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
rather than by a governing body or its committees. In the (EFF) from the W3C membership. Adoption of an EME
absence of definite membership, any estimation of the extent recommendation by W3C has been subject of a lengthy
to which IETF standardizers are represented in the decision- discussion among W3C members. Opponents of EME
making of its governance is hardly possible. An interesting asserted that the recommendation will run afoul of the W3C
observation can be made as regards the IETF patent policy main principle of the open web, and may even risk legal
that, unlike it was the case in other SDOs, was offered for consequences. In turn, those in favor of the recommendation
public review. In contrast to these four SDOs, governance suggested that it’s adoption will guarantee security and
and standard-setting processes within Bluetooth SIG are accessibility and offer a better user experience, but most
mainly driven by a small group of companies: contributions importantly, allow W3C to regain control over a practice that
from other members are permitted for as long as they are has already been widely adopted and implemented by web-
approved by Promoters. browsers. Pursuant to the opposing members, their
objections have been continuously ignored during the
4. POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE drafting and approval processes, and any attempt from their
DISCONNECT BETWEEN GOVERNANCE AND side to reach a compromise with EME proponents resulted in
STANDARD-SETTING failure [18].
13
The work on recommendation continued despite the lack of
As self-regulatory bodies, SDOs by all means enjoy a high consensus and a clear divide between the membership. In
degree of autonomy when designing their governance July 2017, the EME was promoted to the W3C
models. In the long run, all five SDOs have proved to recommendation by the decision of the W3C Director, which
develop successful standards and still remain attractive was taken following the procedure defined in the W3C
platforms for various types of stakeholders, irrespective of Process Document. This decision was promptly appealed
14
their governance mechanisms. Challenges arise when (a by the opposing members, who stated that the overruling of
group of) standardizer(s) sharply disagrees with the methods formal objections to EME by the Director was improper
underlying the adoption of a standard but is not provided since the W3C membership has not been consulted on
with means to voice their concerns. Such type of situation negotiation of a covenant to protect EME’s users against
undermines the achievement of consensus between affected anti-circumvention regulation. The decision to publish
15
stakeholders and is likely to affect the quality and market EME recommendation was upheld in the appeal by 58.4% of
acceptance of a standard in question, not to mention the membership (108 members voted in favor, 57 opposed and
fairness and openness of standardization process. 20 abstained) which, despite the positive result for EME
16
Modern history of technological standardization is rich in proponents, marks a departure from consensus. In
cases where procedural guarantees of SDOs’ members were September 2017, the EFF - one of the main opponents of the
at stake. The amendments of IEEE-SA Patent policy in 2015 EMA - announced its withdrawal from the W3C as a
received much critique with respect to its drafting process consequence its “collapse of confidence in the W3C
[14] [15]. The strong dissent of patent-holders against the process”, which paved the way for procedural abuse by a
policy resulted in their lack of compliance with the new rules certain group of stakeholders [18].
12
and fueled uncertainty within the Working Groups [16]. Each party of the aforementioned disputes certainly has
Few years earlier, TruePosition Inc., a US-based developer strong reasons to defend its position. That being said, the
of high accuracy location products for radio access networks, paper does not aim to reconstruct all controversies between
accused Ericsson, Qualcomm Inc. and Alcatel-Lucent in stakeholders affected by SDOs’ decisions, and nor does it
conspiring with 3GPP and ETSI, who was later dismissed attempt to suggest which of the parties were “wrong” or
from the action, to hijack standardization of Uplink Time “right”. Rather, the three examples demonstrate that the

12 This is evident from the increased number of negative Letters of 14 Article 6.6 and Article 7.1.2 W3C Process Document. See also
Assurance submitted after new policy took effect. the e-mail of Philippe Le Hégaret of 6 July 2017.
13 See also the e-mail from Harry Halpin of 9 July 2017 regarding 15 See the e-mail of Cory Doctorow of 12 July 2017.
the Disposition of Comments for Encrypted Media Extensions and 16 W3C Press Release, ‘W3C Publishes Encrypted Media
Director's decision, retrieved from the W3C public mailing list Extensions (EME) as a W3C Recommendation (18 September
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html- 2017) retrieved from https://www.w3.org/2017/09/pressrelease-
media/2017Jul/0003.html. eme-recommendation.html.en.

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