Minutes of the Membership Meeting at Eurocrypt 2003

Membership Meeting
Eurocrypt 2003
Warsaw
7 May 2003
 
IACR President Clark convened the meeting at 16:10.
 
Clark then introduced the Officers of the IACR and noted that the
purpose of the meeting was to give information about 
IACR activities and solicit comments from the membership.  He added that
the Board was elected by the membership.
 
Clark then stated that the IACR faced challenging times and detailed
current issues.  He noted that the IACR is not 
for profit and that its purpose is to promote research in cryptology and
related fields.
 
Clark described the activities of the Board including conferences and
workshops, the Journal of Cryptology, the IACR 
Newsletter, the ePrint Archive, and the web site at http://www.iacr.org.
 
Clark noted that the IACR Board includes 4 elected Officers, 9 elected
Directors, and 6 General Chairs of IACR 
conferences.  He indicated that 3 Directors terms would be expiring at
the end of 2003 and added that 3 Board members 
were appointed to various roles.
 
Clark said that attendees of Eurocrypt automatically become members of
the IACR for the following year.
 
Clark then announced members of the Election Committee that would be
supervising the next elections.
 
IACR Treasurer Langford then delivered a financial report.
 
Langford noted that in 2002, Eurocrypt had returned a surplus of
approximately $23,000, Crypto had returned a surplus 
of approximately $17,000, and Asiacrypt had suffered a loss of
approximately $8,000 with an additional loss of 
approximately $7,000 due to currency fluctuation.  Langford added that
at the end of 2002, the IACR had approximately 
$625,000 in assets with total reserves after obligations of
approximately $405,000.
 
Langford then noted that the IACR faced fiscal challenges due to
declining attendance (not unique to the IACR) and 
two-year advance planning in the face of lower membership.  She
recommended budgeting for lower attendance, cutting 
costs, and seeking more sponsorship.
 
Clark noted that IACR mailing costs were roughly $20,000 annually and
indicated that as of 2003, the paper membership 
list would be replaced by an electronic pdf mailing.
 
Whit Diffie then offered to provide historic Eurocrypt attendance data.
 
Clark then reported on recent and future conferences and workshops.
 
He said that Asiacrypt 2002 had been an excellent conference.  Clark
then thanked Eurocrypt 2003 General Chair 
Gawinecki and Program Chair Biham for their work in this conference.
 
Clark then announced that Crypto 2003 would be held in Santa Barbara
August 17-21, 2003 with Greg Rose as General 
Chair and Dan Boneh as Program Chair.
 
Clark then announced that Asiacrypt 2003 would be held in Taipei, Taiwan
November 30 through December 4, 2003 with 
Chin Chen Chang as General Chair and Chi Sung Laih as Program Chair and
would feature an IACR Distinguished Lecture to 
be delivered by Don Coppersmith.
 
Clark then announced that FSE 2004 would be held in New Delhi, India
February 5-7, 2004 and that PKC 2004 would be 
held in Singapore March 1-4, 2004.
 
Clark then announced that Eurocrypt 2004 would be held in Interlaken,
Switzerland May 2-6, 2004 with Jan Camenisch as 
General Chair and Christian Cachin as Program Chair.
 
Clark then announced that Crypto 2004 would be held in Santa Barbara in
late August, 2004 with James Hughes and 
General Chair and Matt Franklin as Program Chair.
 
Clark then announced that Asiacrypt 2004 would be on Jeju Island, Korea,
December 5-9, 2004 with Kwangjo Kim as General 
Chair and Pil Joong Lee as Program Chair.
 
Clark then announced that Eurocrypt 2005 would be held in Aarhus,
Denmark with Ivan Damgaard as General Chair.
 
Clark then solicited proposals to host Eurocrypt 2006.
 
Journal of Cryptology Editor-in-Chief Maurer then reported on the
Journal which he described as the premier journal 
in the field.  Maurer encouraged members to submit their best papers and
do their job as referees.  He added that the 
Journal was on track with 3 special issues forthcoming.
 
Clark then briefly described the IACR Newsletter which is published
thrice annually.
 
Clark then gave an update on the IACR relationship with Springer-Verlag.
He said that a new contract had been signed 
that would allow Springer-Verlag to continue publishing IACR proceedings
and the Journal of Cryptology and the 
copyrights would be listed as being owned by the IACR.  He gave the
Springer-Verlag LINK service URL and password.
 
Clark then discussed the impact of SARS on Asiacrypt 2003.  He said that
the issue had been discussed at length by the 
Board and that the situation was being actively monitored with respect
to both Asiacrypt and Crypto and noted that 
this was not unique to Asia and the Pacific.  He said that the Board
encouraged continued support of and submission of 
papers to Asiacrypt and that alternatives would be found if necessitated
by extraordinary circumstances.
 
Clark then reported on planning for new IACR Information Systems with
goals that include on-line membership 
management, on-line conference registration, on-line paper submission
and review, hosting of the IACR web site and 
archive, and Newsletter mailing.  Clark said that these services would
cost money but that they would deliver better 
service while reducing the costs of mailings and management.
 
________________________________________________________________________
 
At 16:37 Clark opened the floor for discussion from the membership.
________________________________________________________________________
 
Whit Diffie expressed the view that if SARS caused Asian delegates to
not be welcomed by the University of California 
then the IACR should be prepared to move the Crypto conference.  Clark
responded that the IACR would continue to 
monitor the situation and be sensitive to the needs of its members.
Diffie suggested the possibility of influencing 
the situation ahead of time, and Clark said that he would work with
Crypto 2003 General Chair Rose and the UCSB.
 
________________________________________________________________________
 
The Membership meeting was then adjourned at 16:40.
________________________________________________________________________
 
 
 
Respectfully submitted
Josh Benaloh
IACR Secretary