Updating the IAA SETI Protocols

The International Academy of Astronautics SETI Committee has recently been undertaking an update of the ‘SETI Post-Detection Protocols’, as mentioned at the last PSETI symposium in 2023. More specifically, a Task Group has been revising the 2010 IAA “Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence”, which in turn had superseded the original IAA “Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence” of 1989. (See https://iaaseti.org/en/protocols/ for texts.) In this talk we will provide an update to the SETI research community on the process and status, and a look forward at our next steps. For background, two working papers presented at the International Astronautical Congress in 2023 and 2024 describe the history of the Protocols and the groundwork for the current revision: C. Oliver, K. Denning. L.I. Tennen, and M.A. Garrett 2023 “Revising the SETI Post-Detection Protocols for the 2020s and Beyond: A Report on Work in Progress” https:/dl.iafastro.directory/event/IAC-2023/paper/79618/; L. I. Tennen, K. Denning, C. Oliver, and M.A. Garrett 2024 “The Future of the SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards Revisions” https://dl.iafastro.directory/event/IAC-2024/paper/84417/.