| RFC 8712 | The IETF-ISOC Relationship | February 2020 |
| Camarillo & Livingood | Informational | [Page] |
This document summarizes the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) -Internet Society (ISOC) relationship, following a major revision tothe structure of the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) in2018. The IASA was revised under a new "IASA 2.0" structure by theIASA2 Working Group, which changed the IETF's administrative, legal,and financial structure. As a result, it also changed the relationshipbetween the IETF and ISOC, which made it necessary to revise RFC 2031.¶
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.¶
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents approved by the IESG are candidates for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.¶
Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained athttps://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8712.¶
Copyright (c) 2020 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.¶
The Internet Society provides a corporate home for the administrativeentity that supports the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), theInternet Architecture Board (IAB), and the Internet Research TaskForce (IRTF), and supports the work of these groups through a varietyof programs.¶
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the body that isresponsible for the development and maintenance of the InternetStandards. The IETF is primarily a volunteer organization. Its drivingforce is a group of dedicated, high-quality engineers from all over theworld. In a structure of working groups, these engineers exchangeideas and experience, and through discussion and collaboration (bothelectronically and face-to-face), they strive to achieve roughconsensus and implement the standards through running code.¶
The growth of the Internet over several decades has also led to thegrowth of the IETF. More and more people, organizations, and companiesrely on Internet Standards. Nontechnical issues, such as legal,administrative, and financial issues had long been an undesirable butunavoidable part of the IETF. To address these issues, the IETFestablished the Poised95 Working Group in 1995. Its goal was to structure anddocument the IETF processes in order to maximize the flexibility andfreedom of IETF engineers so that they could work in the way the IETFhad always been most successful and to honor the IETF credo: "Roughconsensus and running code".¶
The Poised95 Working Group concluded that the Internet Society (ISOC),which was formed in 1992, was the best organization to handle all ofthese legal, administrative, and financial tasks on behalf of, and inclose cooperation with, the IETF. This led to documenting things suchas the IETF standards process[RFC2026], the IETForganizational structure[RFC2028], the IETF NominatingCommittee (NomCom) procedures[RFC2027], and the IETF-ISOCrelationship[RFC2031].¶
As time passed and operational experience accumulated, additionalstructure was necessary. As a result, the Internet AdministrativeSupport Activity (IASA) was defined in 2005 and documented in[RFC4071] and[RFC4371].¶
In 2018, the IASA was revised under a new "IASA 2.0" structure by theIASA2 Working Group, which made significant revisions to the IETF'sadministrative, legal, and financial structure. One critical outcomewas the formation, in close cooperation between the IETF andISOC, of the IETF Administration Limited Liability Company (IETF LLC)as a subsidiary of ISOC.¶
As a result of the IASA 2.0 structure[RFC8711] and formation of the IETF LLC, therelationship between the IETF and ISOC has changed. This documentsummarizes the current state of the IETF-ISOC relationship at a highlevel and replaces[RFC2031].¶
ISOC and the IETF have historically been philosophicallyaligned. ISOC's connection with the IETF community has always playedan important role in its policy work, which has not changed. ISOC has always been and continues to be an advocatefor multistakeholder processes, which includes the technicalcommunity. Open standards are an explicit part of one of the focusareas in ISOC's mission: advancing the development and application ofInternet infrastructure, technologies, and open standards[ISOC-Mission].¶
The IETF remains responsible for the development and quality of theInternet Standards. Apart from the roles described below, the IETF andISOC acknowledge that ISOC as an organization has no direct influence whatsoever on thetechnical content of Internet Standards (though ISOC employees may independently continue to make technical contributions as individuals).¶
ISOC plays a small role in the IETF standards process. In particular,ISOC assists the standards process by appointing the IETF NomCom chairand by confirming IAB candidates who are put forward by the IETFNomCom, as described in[RFC8713], and by acting as thelast resort in the appeals process, as described in[RFC2026].¶
ISOC maintains liaison relationships and memberships in otherStandards Development Organizations (SDOs) and related organizations,which directly benefits the IETF. For example, ISOC is a Sector Memberof the ITU-T. As a result, ISOC delegates are afforded the same rightsas other ITU-T Sector Members[RFC6756].¶
ISOC also supports the IETF standards process indirectly (e.g.,by promoting it in relevant communities) through severalprograms. For example, ISOC's Policymakers Programme to the IETF (usually referred to simply as ISOC's IETF Policy Program) givespolicy experts an opportunity to interact directly with the IETFtechnical community. ISOC also performs technical work using thestandards developed in the IETF as its basis. An example of that isISOC's work in encouraging and supporting the deploymentof IETF standards.¶
Otherwise, the involvement of ISOC's employees in the IETF standardsprocess (e.g., as document editors or in leadership positions) is asindividual contributors rather than on institutional grounds.¶
The IETF plays a role in the governance of ISOC. Per ISOC's bylaws,the IETF appoints a set of trustees to the ISOC Board. The process bywhich the IETF makes those appointments is defined in[RFC3677].¶
The charter of the IAB (Internet Architecture Board)[RFC2850] states that "the IAB acts as a source of advice andguidance to the Board of Trustees and Officers of the Internet Societyconcerning technical, architectural, procedural, and (whereappropriate) policy matters pertaining to the Internet and itsenabling technologies". This connection between the IAB and ISOCensures that ISOC's proposals in the policy area are based on a soundunderstanding of the relevant technologies and architectures. ISOC'sstrong connection to the Internet technical community has always beenone of its main strengths.¶
The IETF LLC is a disregarded Limited Liability Company (LLC) of the Internet Society that was established to provide a corporate legal framework for facilitating current and future activities related to the IETF, IAB, and IRTF. It was established by the ISOC / IETF LLC Agreement[OpAgreement] on August 27, 2018, and governs the relationship between the IETF LLC and ISOC.¶
The IETF Trust, documented in[RFC5378], and updated in[RFC8714] and[RFC8715], provides legal protection forthe RFC Series of documents and other aspects of the IETF. Thisincludes things such as protection for trademarks, copyrights, andintellectual property rights. As part of the IETF Trust arrangement,IETF standards documents can be freely downloaded, copied, anddistributed without financial or other distribution restrictions,though all rights to change these documents lie with the IETF. TheIETF Trust also provides legal protection in case of disputes overintellectual property rights and other rights. The creation of theIETF LLC has changed the way that the IETF Trust's trustees areselected but did not change the purpose or operation of the Trust. Oneof the IETF Trust's trustees is appointed by the ISOC's Board ofTrustees.¶
Under the terms of the Operating Agreement[OpAgreement] between ISOC and the IETF, ISOC has agreed toprovide significant funding support for the IETF. In addition,the IETF LLC is responsible for creating andmanaging an annual operating budget for the IETF; for negotiating,signing, and overseeing contracts; for fundraising; for maintainingbank accounts; and for liability insurance. The IETF LLC is managed bya Board of Directors, one of whom is appointed by the ISOC's Board ofTrustees. The intention is that ISOC and the IETF LLC operate at arm'slength.¶
The IETF LLC establishes contracts with third parties to providedifferent types of services to the IETF. Note that it is possible thatsome of those services may be provided by ISOC or involve ISOC staff.¶
Under the new IASA 2.0 structure, the IETF LLC is solely responsible forits administration, including the IETF Trust, IAB, IESG, IETFworking groups, and other IETF processes. A further exploration ofthis can be found inSection 4 of [RFC8711].¶
This document has no IANA actions.¶
This document introduces no new security considerations.¶
This document introduces no new privacy considerations.¶
The authors would like to thankErik Huizer for his contribution asthe author of[RFC2031], which this documentreplaces.¶