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SUO: Disclosure

Paul,
Regarding  standards for disclosure, most people expect that employees
of corporations represent their employer's interest in standards
activities.  This is desirable since it helps to secure more general
adoption of the standard.   It is (in my opinion) a normal interplay of
commercial interest that is an accepted part of standards activity.

However, if one has a financial interest in the process of developing
the standard itself, administering the standard or otherwise profiting
from the process of the standard's adoption instead of the market the
standard may ultimately create, this should be disclosed.  Public
funding of participation in standards activities should also be
disclosed since it is not obvious when such funds are used, from whom
the funds were derived and the purpose for which the funds were made
available.

In addition to any regulation that the IEEE may chose impose on itself,
I believe there are rules imposed by public law (in the U.S. and perhaps
in other countries as well) that require certain levels of disclosure in
order to qualify for various types of tax exempt status.  Could you
explain the IEEE's position on this issue?

Bob

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