Internet Architecture Board (IAB)

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The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is the governor or advisor of the Internet Society. Its primary concern is to provide advice concerning Internet evolution. The three main purposes that the IAB serves are as follows:

• Overseeing the activities of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

• Overseeing the implementation of Internet standards and their processes.

• Overseeing, managing, and publishing Request For Comments (RFCs).

What does all of this have to do with ethics? The answer: everything. The IAB statement of policy describes the Internet, explains why it exists, and tells how it should be used. The IAB policy specifically states, 'Internet Activity should be treated as a privilege.' The following information is provided to the public by the IAB. The quotes that you will see next are directly form the IAB Statement of Policy and RFC 1087 that pertain to ethics and the Internet. (Source of these quotes is http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc1087.html.) You should already be aware that an RFC is a document that provides information or an approved Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet standard.

The Internet is a national facility whose utility is largely a consequence of its wide availability and accessibility.

Irresponsible use of this critical resource poses an enormous threat to its continued availability to the technical community.

The U.S. Government sponsors of this system have a fiduciary responsibility to the public to allocate government resources wisely and effectively. Justification for the support of this system suffers when highly disruptive abuses occur. Access to and use of the Internet is a privilege and should be treated as such by all users of this system.

The IAB strongly endorses the view of the Division Advisory Panel of the National Science Foundation Division of Network, Communications Research and Infrastructure which, in paraphrase, characterized as unethical and unacceptable any activity which purposely:

• Seeks to gain unauthorized access to the resources of the Internet

• Disrupts the intended use of the Internet

• Wastes resources (people, capacity, computer) through such actions

• Destroys the integrity of computer-based information

• Compromises the privacy of users

If you are interested in becoming further educated with RFC 1087 and Internet ethics, please visit http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc1087.html.

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