Boycott IETF 127

At my company we make a niche software used by companies globally. Our plan was to arrange a conference in the US for our clients in North/Cental America. Considering the state of the US, we will probably cancel it, as we don't expect our Mexican and Canadian clients to feel comfortable at all. Neither do we at the head office in Europe. We will instead host it in Europe most likely.

I have been going to IETFs on and off for 20 years. As if the past few months were not nauseating enough in the US, I never thought I would see my own country on a page like this, and described in this way, and I feel even more deeply saddened, ashamed and horrified.

Is this a parody?<p>&gt; Beyond problems at the border, the current Secretary for Health and Human Services - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - has said that he will send those with ADHD to camps. Source: Futurism.<p>What he actually said:<p>&gt; &quot;I’m going to dedicate that revenue to creating wellness farms — drug rehabilitation farms, in rural areas all over this country,&quot; he said during the podcast. &quot;I’m going to make it so people can go, if you’re convicted of a drug offense, or if you have a drug problem, you can go to one of these places for free.&quot;<p>That what happens when you rely on Futurism as a source.

RISC-V moved to Switzerland as well a while ago. I think it&#x27;s a shame to see stuff like this happening. Regardless, of where one stands currently in the current environment making standards bodies want to move or move events to other countries is not a good.

Reminds me of [1] from 2013, and [2][3] from 2017. This is not new at all, just affecting more people, and more importantly, more Western people now.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2013&#x2F;oct&#x2F;05&#x2F;us-scientists-boycott-nasa-china-ban" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;2013&#x2F;oct&#x2F;05&#x2F;us-scientist...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14643467">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14643467</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24369233">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24369233</a><p>Clarification: the “not new” part is foreign attendees not being able to attend conferences in the U.S. So, if you valued inclusion, holding international conferences in the U.S. has been a bad idea for a long time.

Thank you. I am in the U.S. and am threatened by these measures. I&#x27;m not a member of the IETF, but I rely on their work heavily, and the solidarity is meaningful.

This website mixes some very real and very big problems (erosion of basic freedoms and rights in the US) with some entirely hallucinated ones (concentration camps for people with ADHD, and <i>torture</i>? I&#x27;d certainly want to learn more about that than a passing mention).<p>Personally I think the hyperbole only serves to cheapen the real problems.

@dang Why is this flagged? Even without the politics, knowing that a large cohort is not going to attend in an important piece of information.

I heard last night from my friend who works in astronomy that they decided to cancel their event in the US and let the US attendees travel to Europe instead.<p>I can’t get used to the fact that the US seems dead set on destroying its reputation in the world.<p>But with the direction the comment section of HN has taken over the last few years I’m sure there will be lots of commenters who will dismiss this as virtue signaling.

Wondering why this is flagged. Sure, it&#x27;s politics, but it&#x27;s also a serious issue on one of the major internet SDOs. It&#x27;s certainly relevant for &quot;good hackers&quot;?

The tech community has an interesting role to play here - I wonder how long it will take for gafam to start having issues recruiting skilled foreigners (or simply flying them to the US for interviews.)<p>It&#x27;s not too much of a problem now, as t Big Tech is not in the &quot;software business&quot; so much as in the &quot;laying off people to make the stock look good&quot; ; but at some point they&#x27;ll have to bring people in to actually write code.<p>Or, are they expexting LLMs to really make the bulk of the jobs?<p>Or maybe everything settles down in two years, and this is just a bout of neo-McCarthyism.<p>Time will tell. In the meantime, I guess Europe must not be that bad, if people are organizing conferences here instead of China or Dubai ?

Hear hear. Great initiative. I am not in the US but I do feel threatened by the way the US is conducting itself these days. It&#x27;s time for people working in tech to push back.

Iceland is a nice halfway point between the EU and the American continent, its a 5 hour flight from Boston and a 3.5 hour flight from London, its not a bad place to consider

European Countries are starting to officially advise non-binary citizens about US traveling risks: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2025&#x2F;mar&#x2F;21&#x2F;denmark-and-finland-urge-caution-for-us-bound-transgender-people" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2025&#x2F;mar&#x2F;21&#x2F;denmark-and-fi...</a>

&gt; Some have been tortured.<p>Any reputable news sources for this?

Regardless of your take on this, it&#x27;s very interesting to see the UI components they&#x27;re using. These look identical to the gov.uk system, but I wasn&#x27;t aware of it being available for use outside of their government websites.

Well, I don&#x27;t have a choice anyway. I&#x27;m latino and I don&#x27;t look like an approved American. It is literally dangerous for me to go.

It&#x27;s kind of ingenuous to take RFK&#x27;s views on drug rehabilitation options and re-state them as if people are being sent to re-education&#x2F;concentration camps.<p>That said, I do find the US border incidents to be super scary. I don&#x27;t blame people for not wanting to come.

As the current US administration is breaching the ietf&#x27;s own code of conduct [1] this should be a no brainer.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ietf.org&#x2F;administration&#x2F;policies-procedures&#x2F;code-of-conduct&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ietf.org&#x2F;administration&#x2F;policies-procedures&#x2F;code...</a>

I support the initiative, but it seems half the respondents are trolls (Debby does Dallas, USAID Fake news, etc), which make it all look very unserious. I would recommend some moderation or validation.

What an absolutely moronic website that spews factually inaccurate nonsense like concentration camps for ADHD sufferers.

If you&#x27;re traveling internationally, do so legally and with the correct paperwork. This isn&#x27;t too much to ask for. People freaking out because the US is finally enforcing its immigration laws is hilarious. This boycott page has some incredibly delusional takes. Follow the laws of the country your visiting and don&#x27;t worry about it.

&gt; Some have been tortured.<p>Is there any evidence of this?

I understand the sentiment that the Trump administration is draconian, especially for people traveling from abroad considering the new border policy. But, pardon me, how is that executive order about sex a &quot;threat&quot;? Listed as the top issue undermines the credibility of this petition I think.