About the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) develops open standards through transparent processes with one goal in mind: to make the Internet work better.
A large international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers, the IETF focuses on the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet.
IETF and the Internet Society
The Internet Society and the IETF have long been aligned on the advocacy of multistakeholder processes and open standards. Since 1992, we have supported the IETF by providing a corporate home for the IETF LLC—the administrative entity of the IETF—and through annual financial contributions.
We assist in the IETF’s standards process by appointing the IETF’s Nominating Committee chair, through various activities such as Policymaker Program, and encouraging others to support the deployment of IETF standards. IETF plays a role in Internet Society governance by appointing a set of trustees to our board.
Read more about our relationship in RFC 8712. You can also read Vint Cerf’s history of the relationship from July 1995.