



Network Working Group                                      M. Richardson
Internet-Draft                                  Sandelman Software Works
Intended status: Standards Track                            22 June 2025
Expires: 24 December 2025


              In Memoriam: acknowledging key contributors
                    draft-richardson-in-memoriam-00

Abstract

   This document allocates an IPv6 /64 prefix from the IANA Special Use
   registry.  This prefix is to be used to provide memorials for key
   contributors to the IETF that have passed way.

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   Status information for this document may be found at
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-richardson-in-memoriam/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the ietf Working Group
   mailing list (mailto:ietf@ietf.org), which is archived at
   https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ietf/.  Subscribe at
   https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/mcr/in-memoriam.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 24 December 2025.





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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components
   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Protocol Description  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Privacy Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   7.  Changelog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   8.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4

1.  Introduction

   At the time of this writing, the RFC series has been around for 55
   years, and the IETF itself will celebrate 40 years in 2026.  Given a
   typical minimum age of 30 for a first contribution, it is not
   surprising that many IETF contributors have retired, and each year a
   few people pass away of a variety of causes.

   When Jon Postel, the original RFC-editor, passed away in 1998, the
   Internet Society (ISOC) established the Jon Postel award, which is
   awarded approximately annually.  Another key contributor, Jun-ichiro
   Hagino, better known as Itojun, passed away in 2007, and a similar
   award was established by ISOC.

   These are key and important processes, but it is not scalable to
   establish such a memorial for everyone who has contributed.

   This document proposes a smaller mechanism for recognizing
   contributors after their death: a permanent PTR and TXT record in the
   ip6.arpa zone.





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2.  Protocol Description

   As described in IANA Considerations, a /64 prefix shall be allocated
   from the [RFC6890] Special Use Registry, named the IN-MEMORIAM
   prefix.

   An entry shall be made in the reverse map for the IN-MEMORIAM prefix
   consisting of a number of TXT records.

   1.  A TXT record would list the persons name, and their years.  For
       instance, it could say "Frederick J.  Baker (February 28, 1952 -
       June 18, 2025)"

   2.  A second TXT record would provide a URL to an obituary, such as:
       "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Baker_%28engineer%29" or
       "https://datatracker.ietf.org/person/Fred%20Baker"

   The IPv6 address allocated may make use of all 64-lower bits.  The
   recommended way to allocate this is to recognize that it consists of
   4 units of 16-bits, and each of these groupings can be used to
   present RFC numbers up to 9999 easily.  For instance, Fred Baker, is
   the author of RFC1220, RFC2804, RFC4595, and RFC8028 (and 60 other
   RFCs).  Fred's address could be given as
   2001:TBD:1220:2804:4595:8028.

3.  Privacy Considerations

   The families the deceased should be consulted prior to approved the
   record as the record may be intrusive, or might include information
   the family would prefer to be private.

4.  Security Considerations

   The Internet often includes hoaxes about the death of people, who
   have not in fact died.  It is recommended that the IESG seek multiple
   sources of corroboration, and to react slowly to new proposals to
   allow the facts to be properly evaluated.

5.  IANA Considerations

   IANA is asked to allocate a /64 prefix from the IANA Special Use pool
   [RFC4773] (2001::/23).

   A new sub-registry is to be created for this prefix called the "IETF
   In-Memoriam prefix".






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   This new sub-registry will be maintained using the [RFC8126] IESG
   Approval process.  No Internet-Draft or RFC is expected.  In some
   cases, the deceased may have left unfinished documents that are
   published posthumously, and it is appropriate for the IANA
   Considerations of that document to include the request.

   The IESG is otherwise asked to consider requests on an approximately
   twice yearly basis, reporting to the IETF plenary in March and
   November about such activity about any such allocations made.  It is
   common for the deceased to be remembered during the plenaries.

   IANA hosts a number of reverse zones already, and this zone would be
   hosted by IANA.

   The IESG is considered the "Designated Experts" for this registry.

   Memorials are only for people who have died, and may not be used for
   memorials for those not yet medically dead.  (In particular, someone
   in a coma even if they are not expected to recover)

6.  Acknowledgements

   Henk Birkholz found the first typos.  The people who said this wasn't
   the worst idea ever.

7.  Changelog

8.  Normative References

   [RFC4773]  Huston, G., "Administration of the IANA Special Purpose
              IPv6 Address Block", RFC 4773, DOI 10.17487/RFC4773,
              December 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4773>.

   [RFC6890]  Cotton, M., Vegoda, L., Bonica, R., Ed., and B. Haberman,
              "Special-Purpose IP Address Registries", BCP 153,
              RFC 6890, DOI 10.17487/RFC6890, April 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6890>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

Author's Address

   Michael Richardson
   Sandelman Software Works
   Email: mcr+ietf@sandelman.ca



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