[LINK] Ars: ISO reforms proposed in response to OOXML shenanigans

[Roger Clarke]

ISO reforms proposed in response to OOXML shenanigans
By Ryan Paul | Published: September 07, 2007 - 12:59PM CT
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070907-iso-reforms-proposed-in-response-to-ooxml-shenanigans.html

Late last month, evidence emerged indicating that Microsoft has used 
financial incentives to influence the outcome of Office Open XML 
(OOXML) fast-track approval in various national standards bodies. 
Although ISO ended up voting against fast-track approval for OOXML, 
the company's efforts have created doubts about the reliability of 
the standards process. In response to these revelations, Freecode CEO 
Geir Isene has proposed several ISO reforms and calls for an 
"investigation" to determine if OOXML "was unduly put on the ISO fast 
track."

Isene argues that Microsoft's ability to influence the standards 
process at the national level reflects fundamental problems in the 
standards process itself. In a blog entry, Isene outlines some of the 
problems that have emerged in countries where Microsoft allegedly 
manipulated standards approval bodies, including Norway, Sweden, 
Switzerland, Portugal, and Malaysia. "Even if this is the tip of an 
iceberg," writes Isene, "the examples should warrant a thorough 
examination of the national processes."

Isene's first suggested reform is establishing a clear process for 
national standards bodies. "The fact that ISO enforces no standard 
for national bodies opens the standardization process for 
manipulation or corruption," Isene argues. "I strongly urge ISO to 
adopt a strict policy for its members detailing the rules for how a 
national body shall determine its vote in ISO and that it enforces 
such policy vigorously." The JTC1 procedural directives already 
provide some guidance on the matter, but individual national 
standards bodies are given much latitude in choosing how they 
determine their vote.

The problem with mandating a consistent process for all ISO member 
countries is that countries have very different governmental 
structures and different industry dynamics. Allowing the national 
standards bodies to choose their own processes for determining their 
vote is probably necessary because no single process will work for 
all countries.
Isene also calls for reevaluating "the one country one vote 
principle." He implies that the vote of large countries-like 
China-should potentially carry more weight than the vote of small 
countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Columbia, and other latecomers.

Finally, Isene suggests that ISO "would greatly benefit from adopting 
the IETF requirement of two independent reference implementations for 
passing a standard." Obviously, this isn't applicable to all ISO 
standards (there are ISO standards for paper sizes, for instance), 
but it does make sense for technical formats and programming 
languages. Indeed, having support for a particular format in products 
created by two separate vendors before the format reaches the 
standards process would answer a lot of questions about the viability 
of the format as a standard. The question, however, is how complete 
the implementations would need to be before they count.

"The strength, integrity and scalability of ISO have been tested," 
writes Isene. "The organization's agility and adaptability will now 
be measured." Indeed, the ISO fast-track approval process for OOXML 
has revealed some weaknesses in the standardization process and 
illuminates the need for potential reform. The viability of Isene's 
reforms are debatable, but national standards bodies certainly need 
to make an effort to reduce the potential for direct manipulation.

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW