Illustrated TCP/IP by Matthew G. Naugle Wiley Computer Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN: 0471196568   Pub Date: 11/01/98

Chapter 7
The Governing Bodies of the Internet

The growth continued, resulting in even further substructure within both the IAB and IETF. The IETF combined Working Groups into Areas, and designated Area Directors. An Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) was formed of the Area Directors. The IAB recognized the increasing importance of the IETF, and restructured the standards process to explicitly recognize the IESG as the major review body for standards. The IAB also restructured so that the rest of the Task Forces (other than the IETF) were combined into an Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), with the old task forces renamed as research groups. The growth in the commercial sector brought with it increased concern regarding the standards process itself. Starting in the early 1980s (and continuing to this day), the Internet grew beyond its primarily research roots to include both a broad user community and increased commercial activity. Increased attention was paid to making the process open and fair. This coupled with a recognized need for community support of the Internet eventually led to the formation of the Internet Society in 1991, under the auspices of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI).

In 1992, the Internet Activities Board was reorganized and renamed the Internet Architecture Board, operating under the auspices of the Internet Society. A more “peer” relationship was defined between the new IAB and IESG, with the IETF and IESG taking a larger responsibility for the approval of standards. Ultimately, a cooperative and mutually supportive relationship was formed among the IAB, IETF, and Internet Society, with the Internet Society taking on as a goal the provision of service and other measures that would facilitate the work of the IETF.

The Governing Bodies of the Internet.

This community spirit has a long history beginning with the early ARPAnet. The early ARPAnet researchers worked as a close–knit community to accomplish the initial demonstrations of packet switching technology described earlier. Likewise, the Packet Satellite, Packet Radio, and several other DARPA computer science research programs were multicontractor collaborative activities that heavily used whatever available mechanisms there were to coordinate their efforts, starting with electronic mail and adding file sharing, remote access, and eventually, World Wide Web capabilities.