1.10 Standardization Process

Who controls the TCP/IP protocol suite, approves new standards, and the like? There are four groups responsible for Internet technology.

The Internet Society (ISOC) is a professional society to facilitate, support, and promote the evolution and growth of the Internet as a global research communications infrastructure.
The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is the technical oversight and coordination body. It is composed of about 15 international volunteers from various disciplines and serves as the final editorial and technical review board for the quality of Internet standards. The IAB falls under the ISOC.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the near- term , standards-oriented group , divided into nine areas (applications, routing and addressing, security, etc.). The IETF develops the specifications that become Internet standards. An additional Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) was formed to help the IETF chair .
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) pursues long-term research projects.

Both the IRTF and the IETF fall under the IAB. [Crocker 1993] provides additional details on the standardization process within the Internet, as well as some of its early history.