El Reg reports
The Internet Engineering Task Force has taken the rare (and possibly costly) decision to relocate an upcoming meeting out of America.
IETF 102, scheduled for mid-2018, was booked for the San Francisco Hilton, but instead will be held in the Fairmont Hotel in Montreal.
The reason, as announced by IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) chair Leslie Daigle, is the President Donald Trump administration: American travel restrictions make attendance uncertain.
[...] travel restrictions have been bounced around between the US legal system and the White House, and the Oversight Committee hasn't seen anything to reduce that uncertainty.
[...] it is impossible to know or predict the extent of the restrictions placed on individuals attempting to attend IETF 102 twelve months from now, or the level of uncertainty that will exist, and the impact that will have on the ability for the IETF to hold a successful meeting in the United States at that time. However, the current orientation and actions of the US government provide no basis for expecting conditions at the US border to improve for non-citizens.
[...] if the IETF cannot stage something in San Francisco, it will likely lose any deposit paid to the venue.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PiMuNu on Monday July 17 2017, @01:09PM (5 children)
Several colleagues (scientists working at a major UK physics lab) travelling to a recent conference had to give their phone passwords and facebook ids. Makes me actively try to avoid conferences in the US. I realise that this is not in detail the same reason given by IETF. But it is clearly related.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PiMuNu on Monday July 17 2017, @01:14PM
> had increased its vetting of individuals entering the country regardless of citizenship through searches of personal electronic devices and other means.
I RTFAed and noticed this, so it is actually part of IETF reasoning
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17 2017, @01:17PM (1 child)
No, they didn't.
It was completely optional, and it was completely ok for them to leave it blank as having a Facebook ID is not a requirement for entry into the US.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday July 21 2017, @03:55PM
I wasn't there, but I understand that they had to surrender passwords etc. Lying on an entry visa waiver form is not a good idea. IANAL but I am sure it at least leaves one open to extradition, if not criminal proceedings.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Lagg on Monday July 17 2017, @01:52PM (1 child)
I find it vaguely amusing that the IETF was founded in the US. Now thanks to the US doing orwellian shit with people's credentials and accounts it's trying to move in-person meetups out entirely. Must be annoying for an internet standards body. Especially when this is just another fine example of economic reality not clicking with these morons in the administration.
Sorry about that though, for what it's worth.
Also: Other reason given is SF is horrifically expensive. Which I can understand. I'd run to an entire other country out of sheer mind scramble from the CoL too. And "sjw virtue signaling" sounds like a dumbass term an SJW would come up with
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17 2017, @07:20PM
WRT the deposit to the venue, I saw another article that I was going to submit under /dev/random and now realize is related to this topic.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]