The LEAP protocols are intended to be open in the fullest sense of the word; they are intended to be freely and permanently available, subject to public review and revision, and without usage restrictions of any kind. Therefore the processes and procedures used throughout the development and maintenance of the LEAP protocols have been such as to endow them with these characteristics, and to ensure their integrity as public protocols.
A detailed description of the LEAP development process is provided in the article entitled The LEAP Protocol Development Model within The LEAP Manifesto. In the following sections we provide a brief summary of the major development principles.
The development and maintenance of the LEAP protocols conforms fully to the policies and procedures of the Free Protocols Foundation. In particular, Neda has declared to the Free Protocols Foundation that the LEAP protocols are patent-free to the best of its knowledge, and that it intends to keep them patent-free permanently. For more information see http://www.FreeProtocols.org.
Both protocols have been published as Internet RFCs; ESRO in September 1997 as RFC-2188 [91], and EMSD in March 1999 as RFC-2524 [5]. RFC publication is the mainstream Internet publishing procedure, ensuring that the protocols are freely, easily and permanently accessible to anyone who wishes to use them.
To provide an open forum for the continued development and maintenance of the LEAP protocols, Neda has established a public organization for each protocol.
The ESRO and EMSD protocols are maintained, respectively, by ESRO.org at http://www.esro.org/, and by EMSD.org at http://www.emsd.org/.
Each of these organizations allows public review of the respective protocol, and provides mechanisms for enhancement of the protocol as a result of collective experience.
Any interested person may participate in the further development of the protocols. Participation in the development process is entirely open and non-exclusive; there are no membership fees.