Internet Standards Organizations
The following organizations are principal players in Internet standards
development.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a loosely self-organized
group that contributes to the Internet's engineering and standards development.
Working groups in several technology areas are headed by area directors.
A nominating committee of members from the ranks nominates members of the
Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the Internet Engineering Steering
Group (IESG).
The Internet Society (ISOC) is a professional society concerned with
the growth and evolution of the Internet, the way it's used and resultant
social, political and technical issues. The ISOC board of trustees approves
appointments to the IAB from a list of nominees submitted by the IETF.
The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) is part of the ISOC
and manages the Internet standards process and technical activities for
the IETF. It follows rules and procedures set by the ISOC trustees. The
IESG oversees the progress and final approval of standards proposals.
The Internet Architecure Board (IAB) is a technical advisory group
of ISOC and oversees Internet architecture and protocols. It acts as an
appeals body for decisions of the IESG. The IAB approves appointments to
the IESG from the IETF's nominees.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is based at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's Laboratory for Computer Science and is directed
by Tim Berners-Lee, developer of the Web. W3C concerns itself with developing
common standards for the Web; for example, a standard for embedding active
objects into hypertext documents is under development by W3C members.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) coordinates the
U.S. voluntary consensus standards system and approves American national
data processing and communications standards. ANSI does not develop standards.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a voluntary
body of national standardization organizations. It accepts and certifies
international standards for telecommunications. ANSI is a member of ISO.