Internet DRAFT - draft-hoffman-what-is-ietf
draft-hoffman-what-is-ietf
Internet Draft Paul Hoffman
draft-hoffman-what-is-ietf-05.txt Internet Mail Consortium
Januray 12, 2001 Scott Bradner
Expires in six months Harvard University
Defining the IETF
Status of this memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
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1. Introduction
Many RFCs refer to "the IETF". Many important IETF documents speak of
the IETF as if it were an already-defined entity. However, no IETF
document correctly defines what the IETF is. This document gives a
more concrete definition of "the IETF" as it understood today.
2. Defining the IETF
BCP 9 ("The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", RFC 2026) [BCP
9], the primary document that describes the Internet standards process,
never defines the IETF. As described in BCP 11 ("The Organizations
Involved in the IETF Standards Process", RFC 2028) [BCP 11], the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an open gobal community of
network designers, operators, vendors and researchers producing
technical specifications for the evolution of the Internet architecture
and the smooth operation of the Internet.
It is important to note that the IETF is not a corporation: it is an
unincorporated, freestanding organization. The IETF is partially
supported by the Internet Society (ISOC). ISOC is
an international organization incorporated as a non-profit
in the US with thousands of individual and corporate
members throughout the world who pay membership fees to join. The
Internet Society provides many services to the IETF, including insurance
and some financial and logistical support.
As described in BCP 11, Internet standardization is an organized
activity of the ISOC, with the ISOC Board of Trustees being responsible
for ratifying the procedures and rules of the Internet standards
process. However, the IETF is not a formal subset of ISOC; for
example, one does not have to join ISOC to be a member of the IETF.
There is no board of directors for the IETF, no formally signed bylaws,
no treasurer, and so on. The structure of the IETF (its leadership, its
working groups, the definition of IETF membership, and so on) are
described in detail in BCP 11. Procedures for choosing
leadership are described in detail in BCP 10.
Thus, when RFCs say "the IETF", they are describing the group that acts
in accordance with BCP 9, BCP 10, and BCP 11.
3. Security Considerations
All IETF protocols must describe the security aspects of the environment
in which they will be used. Also, the IETF has a Security Area which
discusses the security aspects of IETF protocols. However, descriptive
documents such as this one do not affect the security of the Internet.
A. References
[BCP 9] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3",
RFC 2026, October 1996.
[BCP 10] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall
Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees", RFC 2727,
February 2000.
[BCP 11] Hovey, R., and Bradner, S., "The Organizations Involved in the
IETF Standards Process", RFC 2028, October 1996.
B. Editors' Addresses
Paul Hoffman
Internet Mail Consortium
127 Segre Place
Santa Cruz, CA 95060 USA
phoffman@imc.org
Scott Bradner
Harvard University
29 Oxford St
Cambridge MA 02138
sob@harvard.edu
