Internet Society
Encyclopedia
The Internet Society or ISOC is an international, nonprofit organization founded during 1992 to provide direction in Internet
related standards, education, and policy. It states that its mission is "to assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world".
The Internet Society has offices near Washington, DC, USA, and in Geneva, Switzerland. It has a membership base comprising more than 80 organizational and more than 50,000 individual members. Members also form "chapters" based on either common geographical location or special interests. There are currently more than 90 chapters around the world.
, Bob Kahn
, Lyman Chapin released a document, Announcing ISOC, which explained the rationale for establishing the Internet Society. This document also defines the original charter of the organization as follows:
Many of the main forces of the Internet, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF), were (and still remain) very informal organizations from a legal perspective. There was a growing need for financial support and organization structure. The Internet Society was incorporated as a non-profit educational organization which could provide that support structure, as well as promoting other activities that were important for the development of the Internet.
Like many functions and organizations active in the Internet, growth and evolution have been so rapid that no single perspective gives an understanding of the Society. From one view, ISOC is the parent corporation of the IETF; as such all IETF Request for Comments
documents, including those RFCs which describe "Internet Standards", are copyrighted by ISOC (although available freely to anyone, including non-members, at no charge). From another perspective, ISOC grew out of the IETF, to support those functions that require a corporate form rather than simply the ad-hoc approach of the IETF. In reality, ISOC was formed because the IETF Secretariat, which had been operated under NSF contract by staff at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) would not be supported beyond 1991 by NSF. The then Internet Activities Board sought to create a non-profit institution that could provide financial support for the IETF Secretariat among other things. CNRI served as the first host for ISOC's operation.
Under the standards category, ISOC supports and promotes the work of the standards settings bodies for which it is the organizational home: the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF), the Internet Architecture Board
(IAB), the Internet Engineering Steering Group
(IESG), and the Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF). ISOC also seeks to promote understanding and appreciation of the Internet model of open, transparent processes and consensus-based decision making.
Under the public policy category, ISOC works with governments, national and international organizations, Civil Society
, the private sector, and other parties to promote policies about the Internet that conform to ISOC's core values. The following statement illustrates the foundation for ISOC's policy positions:
ISOC has a prominent function in Internet governance
discussions, including significant involvement in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
and Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
.
Under the category of education, ISOC pursues its goals by coordinating and delivering hands-on technical training, seminars and conferences on topical Internet issues; supporting local and regional Internet organisations; issuing briefings and white papers on Internet technologies; and funding participation opportunities for Internet experts in developing countries.
ISOC today is the parent company for the Public Interest Registry
, which manages the .ORG
top-level domain.
ISOC has joint offices in Reston, Virginia
, United States
and Geneva, Switzerland. It has also established "Regional Bureaus" for Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.
ISOC helped organize World IPv6 Day
, which gathered companies such as Facebook
, Google
, Yahoo, Akamai Technologies
and Limelight Networks
as well as ISPs to raise awareness of IPv6 issues such as fragmentation.
The current board of Trustees is composed of
Officers
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
related standards, education, and policy. It states that its mission is "to assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world".
The Internet Society has offices near Washington, DC, USA, and in Geneva, Switzerland. It has a membership base comprising more than 80 organizational and more than 50,000 individual members. Members also form "chapters" based on either common geographical location or special interests. There are currently more than 90 chapters around the world.
History
ISOC was formed officially in 1992, with one of its purposes being to provide a corporate structure to support the Internet standards development process. Vint CerfVint Cerf
Vinton Gray "Vint" Cerf is an American computer scientist, who is recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title with American computer scientist Bob Kahn...
, Bob Kahn
Bob Kahn
Robert Elliot Kahn is an American Internet pioneer, engineer and computer scientist, who, along with Vinton G. Cerf, invented the Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol , the fundamental communication protocols at the heart of the Internet.-Career:After receiving a B.E.E...
, Lyman Chapin released a document, Announcing ISOC, which explained the rationale for establishing the Internet Society. This document also defines the original charter of the organization as follows:
The Society will be a non-profit organization and will be operated for international educational, charitable, and scientific purposes, among which are:
- To facilitate and support the technical evolution of the Internet as a research and education infrastructure and to stimulate involvement of the academic, scientific, and engineering communities (among others) in the evolution of the Internet.
- To educate the academic and scientific communities and the public concerning the technology, use, and application of the Internet.
- To promote scientific and educational applications of Internet technology for the benefit of educational institutions at all grade levels, industry, and the public at large.
- To provide a forum for exploration of new Internet applications and to foster collaboration among organizations in their operation and use of the Internet.
Many of the main forces of the Internet, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force
Internet Engineering Task Force
The Internet Engineering Task Force develops and promotes Internet standards, cooperating closely with the W3C and ISO/IEC standards bodies and dealing in particular with standards of the TCP/IP and Internet protocol suite...
(IETF), were (and still remain) very informal organizations from a legal perspective. There was a growing need for financial support and organization structure. The Internet Society was incorporated as a non-profit educational organization which could provide that support structure, as well as promoting other activities that were important for the development of the Internet.
Like many functions and organizations active in the Internet, growth and evolution have been so rapid that no single perspective gives an understanding of the Society. From one view, ISOC is the parent corporation of the IETF; as such all IETF Request for Comments
Request for Comments
In computer network engineering, a Request for Comments is a memorandum published by the Internet Engineering Task Force describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems.Through the Internet Society, engineers and...
documents, including those RFCs which describe "Internet Standards", are copyrighted by ISOC (although available freely to anyone, including non-members, at no charge). From another perspective, ISOC grew out of the IETF, to support those functions that require a corporate form rather than simply the ad-hoc approach of the IETF. In reality, ISOC was formed because the IETF Secretariat, which had been operated under NSF contract by staff at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) would not be supported beyond 1991 by NSF. The then Internet Activities Board sought to create a non-profit institution that could provide financial support for the IETF Secretariat among other things. CNRI served as the first host for ISOC's operation.
ISOC today
ISOC conducts a great range of activities under three main categories, namely standards, public policy, and education.Under the standards category, ISOC supports and promotes the work of the standards settings bodies for which it is the organizational home: the Internet Engineering Task Force
Internet Engineering Task Force
The Internet Engineering Task Force develops and promotes Internet standards, cooperating closely with the W3C and ISO/IEC standards bodies and dealing in particular with standards of the TCP/IP and Internet protocol suite...
(IETF), the Internet Architecture Board
Internet Architecture Board
The Internet Architecture Board is the committee charged with oversight of the technical and engineering development of the Internet by the Internet Society ....
(IAB), the Internet Engineering Steering Group
Internet Engineering Steering Group
The Internet Engineering Steering Group is a body composed of the Internet Engineering Task Force chair and area directors.It provides the final technical review of Internet standards and is responsible for day-to-day management of the IETF...
(IESG), and the Internet Research Task Force
Internet Research Task Force
The Internet Research Task Force focuses on longer term research issues related to the Internet while the parallel organization, the Internet Engineering Task Force , focuses on the shorter term issues of engineering and standards making...
(IRTF). ISOC also seeks to promote understanding and appreciation of the Internet model of open, transparent processes and consensus-based decision making.
Under the public policy category, ISOC works with governments, national and international organizations, Civil Society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
, the private sector, and other parties to promote policies about the Internet that conform to ISOC's core values. The following statement illustrates the foundation for ISOC's policy positions:
We envision a future in which people in all parts of the world can use the Internet to improve their quality of life, because standards, technologies, business practices, and government policies sustain an open and universally accessible platform for innovation, creativity, and economic opportunity.
ISOC has a prominent function in Internet governance
Internet governance
Internet governance is the development and application of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet...
discussions, including significant involvement in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
World Summit on the Information Society
The World Summit on the Information Society was a pair of United Nations-sponsored conferences about information, communication and, in broad terms, the information society that took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis...
and Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
Internet Governance Forum
The Internet Governance Forum is a multi-stakeholder forum for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. It brings together all stakeholders in the internet governance debate, whether they represent governments, the private sector or civil society, including the technical and academic...
.
Under the category of education, ISOC pursues its goals by coordinating and delivering hands-on technical training, seminars and conferences on topical Internet issues; supporting local and regional Internet organisations; issuing briefings and white papers on Internet technologies; and funding participation opportunities for Internet experts in developing countries.
ISOC today is the parent company for the Public Interest Registry
Public Interest Registry
Public Interest Registry is a not-for-profit corporation created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the .org top-level domain. It took over the operation of the domain from VeriSign on 1 January 2003. Afilias manages the technical operations of the .org registry under a contract with the...
, which manages the .ORG
.org
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain of the Domain Name System used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization....
top-level domain.
ISOC has joint offices in Reston, Virginia
Reston, Virginia
Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Geneva, Switzerland. It has also established "Regional Bureaus" for Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.
ISOC helped organize World IPv6 Day
World IPv6 Day
World IPv6 Day was an event sponsored and organized by the Internet Society and several large content providers to test public IPv6 deployment. It was announced on January 12, 2011 with five anchoring companies: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Akamai Technologies, and Limelight Networks. The event started...
, which gathered companies such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Yahoo, Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies, Inc. is an Internet content delivery network headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.The company was founded in 1998 by then-MIT graduate student Daniel M. Lewin, and MIT Applied Mathematics professor Tom Leighton...
and Limelight Networks
Limelight Networks
Limelight Networks is a content delivery network service provider. The company is based in Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A., with offices in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Tokyo. The company operates a global fiber-optic network that helps content publishers avoid sending...
as well as ISPs to raise awareness of IPv6 issues such as fragmentation.
Board of trustees
The Board of Trustees of the Internet Society is its governing body.The current board of Trustees is composed of
- Raúl Echeberría - Chair
- Hiroshi Esaki - Audit Committee
- Eric Buerger
- Ted Hardie - Treasurer, Audit Committee
- Daniel Karrenberg - Nominations Committee Chair
- Khaled Koubaa
- Désirée MiloshevicDésirée MiloshevicDésirée Zeljka Miloshevic is an Internet public servant, and was a special advisor to the chair of theUnited Nations' Internet Governance Forum Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group...
- Alejandro Pisanty
- Lynn St. Amour - President/CEO
- Patrick Vande WallePatrick Vande WalleBorn May 8, 1960, in Ronse , Belgium, Patrick Vande Walle is an Internet engineer. He is a member of the Security and Stability Committee of ICANN and a former member of its At-Large Advisory Committee. He is also the founder of the project, an applicant for the .sport Top Level Domain....
- Elections Committee Chair - Bert Wijnen
- Philip SmithPhilip SmithPhilip or Phil Smith may refer to:*Philip Smith , soccer player*Philip Smith , American trumpeter*Philip Smith , Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross*Philip Smith, television writer and producer...
- Jonathan ZittrainJonathan ZittrainJonathan L. Zittrain is a US professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a faculty co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society...
Officers
- Scott BradnerScott BradnerScott Bradner is a senior figure in the area of Internet governance. He serves as the secretary to the Internet Society and was formerly a trustee. He is on the board of ARIN, the North American IP address registry. He has also held numerous senior leadership roles on the Internet Engineering Task...
- Secretary
External links
- The ISOC Web site
- IETF and ISOC by Vint CerfVint CerfVinton Gray "Vint" Cerf is an American computer scientist, who is recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title with American computer scientist Bob Kahn...