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Who Governs the Internet
In many ways the Internet is like a church: it has its council of
elders, every member has an opinion about how things should work, and
you can either take part or not. It's your choice. The Internet has
no president, chief operating officer, or Pope. The constituent
networks may have presidents and CEO's, but that's a different issue;
there's no single authority figure for the Internet as a whole.
The ultimate authority for where the Internet is going rests with the
Internet Society, or ISOC. ISOC is a voluntary membership
organization whose purpose is to promote global information exchange through
Internet technology. (If you'd like
more information, or if you would like to
join, contact information is provided in the "For
More Information" section, near the end of this document.)
It appoints a council of elders,
which has responsibility for the technical
management and direction of the Internet.
The council of elders is a group of invited volunteers called the
Internet Architecture Board, or the IAB. The IAB meets regularly to
"bless" standards and allocate resources, like addresses. The
Internet works because there are standard ways for computers and
software applications to talk to each other. This allows computers
from different vendors to communicate without problems. It's not an
IBM-only or Sun-only or Macintosh-only network. The IAB is
responsible for these standards; it decides when a standard is
necessary, and what the standard should be. When a standard is
required, it considers the problem, adopts a standard, and announces
it via the network. (You were expecting stone tablets?) The IAB also
keeps track of various numbers (and other things) that must remain
unique. For example, each computer on the Internet has a unique 32-
bit address; no other computer has the same address.
How does this address get
assigned? The IAB worries about these kinds of problems.
It doesn't actually assign the addresses, but it makes the rules
about how to assign addresses.
As in a church, everyone has opinions about how things ought to run.
Internet users express their opinions through meetings of the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF is another volunteer
organization; it meets regularly to discuss operational and near-term
technical problems of the Internet. When it considers a problem
important enough to merit concern, the IETF sets up a "working
group" for further investigation.
(In practice, "important enough" usually
means that there are enough people to volunteer for the working group.)
Anyone can attend IETF meetings and be on working groups; the
important thing is that they work. Working groups have many different
functions, ranging from producing documentation, to deciding how
networks should cooperate when problems occur, to changing the
meaning of the bits in some kind of packet. A working group usually
produces a report. Depending on the kind of recommendation, it could
just be documentation and made available to anyone wanting it, it
could be accepted voluntarily as a good idea which people follow, or
it could be sent to the IAB to be declared a standard.
If you go to a church and accept its teachings and philosophy, you
are accepted by it, and receive the benefits. If you don't like it,
you can leave. The church is still there, and you get none of the
benefits. Such is the Internet. If a network accepts the teachings of
the Internet, is connected to it, and considers itself part of it,
then it is part of the Internet. It will find things it doesn't like
and can address those concerns through the IETF. Some concerns may be
considered valid and the Internet may change accordingly.
Some of the changes may run
counter to the religion, and be rejected. If the
network does something that causes damage to the Internet, it could
be excommunicated until it mends its evil ways. |
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