Minutes of the Membership Meeting at Eurocrypt 2002

Membership Meeting

Eurocrypt 2002

Amsterdam

1 May 2002

 

IACR President Clark convened the meeting at 16:10.

 

Raffle tickets were distributed to those in attendance for a drawing for
a bottle of Champagne.

 

Clark presented the meeting agenda which consisted of information about
the IACR, its Board of Directors, its finances, its conferences and
workshops, the Journal of Cryptology, the Newsletter, current issues
including euro-denominated conference registration and electronic
registration, and a period of open discussion.

 

Clark quoted the purposes of the IACR from the Bylaws as "to advance the
theory and practice of cryptology and related fields, and to promote the
interests of its members with respect thereto, and to serve the public
welfare."  He then described the three annual IACR conferences of
Eurocrypt, Crypto, and Asiacrypt and the two IACR-sponsored workshops:
FSE and PKC.  He then described IACR publications of the Journal of
Cryptology and the IACR Newsletter and noted the web site at
www.iacr.org.

 

Clark then introduced the members of the Board of Directors.

 

Clark next presented a brief financial report noting that IACR finances
were stable with reserves of approximately $376,000 (approximately
$350,000 at the end of 2001) and observed that costs of a typical
conference are approximately $250,000.  He added that all three IACR
conferences in 2001 had returned modest surpluses and that the 2002
conferences were on track.

 

Clark then expressed thanks to Eurocrypt 2002 General Chair Berry
Schoenmakers and Program Chair Lars Knudsen and awarded them plaques of
appreciation.

 

Clark then enumerated upcoming IACR conferences and workshops as
follows.

 

Crypto 2002       Santa Barbara                 August 18-22

Asiacrypt 2002    Queenstown, New Zealand       December 1-5

PKC 2003          Miami, Florida                January 5-7

FSE 2003          Lund, Sweden                  February 24-26

Eurocrypt 2003    Warsaw, Poland                May 4-8

Crypto 2003       Santa Barbara                 August 17-21

Asiacrypt 2003    Taipei, Taiwan                November 30-December 4

PKC 2004          Singapore                     March 1-3

Eurocrypt 2004    Interlaken, Switzerland       May 2-6

Crypto 2004       Santa Barbara                 dates TBD

Asiacrypt 2004    Jeju, Korea                   December 5-9



[N.B. Some of these dates conflict with the IACR Calendar of Events on
the web site.]

 

Clark then noted that bids were being sought to host Eurocrypt 2005.

 

Clark next proceeded to describe the Journal of Cryptology as the
premier journal in this field, and described it as being published by
Springer-Verlag and mailed to all IACR members with the cost of the
Journal accounting for roughly 75% of member dues.  He introduced Ueli
Maurer as the new Editor-in-Chief who solicited high-quality papers for
the Journal and mentioned its short current backlog.

 

Clark then described the IACR Newsletter which is published thrice
annually and emailed to members as well as being available at
www.iacr.org/newsletter.

 

Clark then described current issues that were being addressed by the
Board beginning with the consideration of acceptance of currencies other
than U.S. dollars for IACR conference registration.  He said that this
had been investigated and considered for the current conference and
noted that the UCSB Secretariat gives very favorable rates to the IACR
but cannot except currencies other than U.S. dollars.

 

Clark then presented an analysis of the currency options available to
the IACR -- specifically with regard to possible acceptance of euros.
He stated that commercial acceptance of credit cards could be managed
with a contract that either charged a percentage plus a fixed constant
per transaction or eliminated the fixed cost in exchange for higher
percentage rates.  He noted that the current fee from UCSB was 2.75% and
that the best commercial deals would likely result in a fee of
approximately 5% plus a fixed cost of approximately 10 euros.  He
computed the estimated additional costs would therefore total about 22
euros which were said to be much higher than the cost of foreign
currency exchange, and he asserted that it would therefore still be much
less expensive for European delegates to pay in U.S. dollars.  Clark
also noted that the next two Eurocrypts would be hosted by non-Eurozone
nations and stated that the dollar would remain the only currency for at
least Eurocrypt 2003 and 2004.

 

Clark then raised the issue of electronic registration.  He said that he
had hoped to have electronic registration in place for Crypto 2002 but
that it had been delayed until Crypto 2003 in hopes of having a full
solution rather than an interim approach.

________________________________________________________________________

 

At 16:30 Clark opened the floor for discussion from the membership.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Markus Dichtl disputed the analysis of currency costs presented by
Clark.  He noted that many expenses had to be paid in the local
currency, asserted that the credit card costs should not be as high as
stated, and added that not all payments are made with credit cards.  He
also noted the international character of the IACR.

 

Clark responded that the IACR is registered in the U.S.

 

Dichtl expressed the view that this policy was a humiliation to other
currencies and made the following motion:

 

"Fees for conferences sponsored or co-sponsored by the IACR are payable
in the local currency of the country where the conference takes place."

 

The motion was seconded by Evangelos Kranakis.

 

Discussion on the motion then began.

 

Paul Van Oorschot noted that the IACR is a volunteer organization and
that it was undesirable to place such impositions on those volunteering
their time.

 

Jurjen Bos suggested adding different currencies to the motion, but
Dichtl said that he did not want any modifications.

 

Desmedt asserted that many delegates are on tight travel budgets and
would not wish actions taken that would raise costs.  He added his view
that economic factors outweigh nationalistic ones here.

 

Niels Ferguson said that as a Dutch national he is happy with U.S.
dollars and doesn't want the IACR spending time on this issue.

 

Brian Snow asked for clarification on the Bylaws rules about such
motions and was told that members can make motions during Membership
meetings.

 

Dichtl was asked if the motion required that only euros be used in
Eurozone nations, and he responded that his proposal was not
restrictive.  Others suggested that the wording of the motion seemed to
restrict payments to only the local currency.

 

Clark then answered Snow's question more thoroughly saying that a motion
made from the floor of a Membership meeting with a 25-member quorum
would, if approved by a simple majority, be enacted or, if in the
opinion of the IACR President not reflective of the majority of IACR
members, placed on the ballot to be voted upon by the entire membership.

 

A member suggested the establishment of an IACR arm in Europe that would
accept payment in euros.  Clark responded that this would also entail
additional costs.

 

Tal Rabin asked for clarification on whether both dollars and euros
could be accepted, and Dichtl responded that this would be fine.

 

Langford noted that two currencies cause administrative problems, and
Clark described his experience as General Chair of Eurocrypt '91, in
which two currencies were used, as being difficult.  Clark then
expressed his opinion that multiple currencies were dropped for good
reason.

 

Clark then asked for a vote on whether future conferences should accept
payment in the local currency only.  Approximately 7 members voted
"yes", approximately 93 voted "no", and approximately 15 abstained.

 

Clark then moved to consideration of the possibility of accepting
multiple currencies.

 

Cachin suggested that Dichtl's motion be amended to not exclude any
other currencies.

 

Moti Yung suggested that arrangements for payments be left up to the
General Chair and the IACR Board and Ferguson seconded this suggestion.

 

Cachin asked that we stay with the Dichtl motion, and Dichtl amended his
motion by adding the sentence:  "This does not exclude payments in other
currencies if the IACR Board decides so."

 

Rose seconded this amendment.

 

A vote on the amended motion was then taken in which approximately 11
members voted "yes", approximately 100 voted "no", and approximately 20
abstained.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Phil Rogaway then expressed his unhappiness with the lack of a policy to
protect non-smokers at Eurocrypt and offered the following motion:

 

"IACR conference participants are requested not to smoke in lecture
halls, the vicinity of lecture halls, and dining areas."

 

Clark offered to write this recommendation into the General Chair
Guidelines.

 

Desmedt added his view that General Chairs should have non-smoking areas
clearly marked.

 

Clark repeated that he would write this into the General Chair
Guidelines.

 

Rogaway asked for clarification as to why this should not be adopted as
IACR policy.

 

Clark then suggested that the General Chair Guidelines include a request
that the conference area be designated as non-smoking.  Many members
then expressed their support for a smoking ban.

________________________________________________________________________

 

A member then asked if it would be possible to produce a CD-ROM with the
conference proceedings.  Clark responded that he thought that this would
be impractical to do within the time restrictions, and McCurley offered
to speak privately on this issue.

________________________________________________________________________

 

A bottle of Champagne was then raffled off to Membership meeting
attendees.

________________________________________________________________________

 

The Membership meeting was then adjourned at 17:10.

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted

Josh Benaloh

IACR Secretary



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