Open Internet Standards

The Internet is fundamentally based on the existence of open, non-proprietary standards. They are key to allowing devices, services, and applications to work together across a wide and dispersed network of networks.

You can trace the origins of standards back to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The resulting protocols spawned the invention and development of a wealth new applications and protocols.

Some of the core groups behind the development of the standards are:

These organizations are all open, transparent, and rely on a bottom-up consensus-building process to develop standards. They help make sure open standards have freely accessible specifications, are unencumbered, have open development and are continuously evolving.

The IETF also makes sure these standards are available online at no charge, thus facilitating adoption of them.

Our Work

The Internet Society provides a corporate home for the administrative entity that supports the IETF, the IAB, and the IRTF, and supports the work of these groups through a variety of programs. [Learn more in RFC 8712.]

Read more about the IETF and our related work.

How to take part

You can also have your say in the development of Internet Standards by participating in the IETF. Its activities are open to anyone around the world. While the IETF conducts all of its official business online, there are three meetings per year you can join in person or virtually.

One of our projects in 2020 is ‘Open Standards Everywhere’. This project will demonstrate and teach people how the open Internet standards and protocols make web servers, and the greater Internet, more secure.

Open Internet Standards News

G7 And Technical Standards: Blink And You Might Have Missed The New Battleground
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In the News 20 May 2021

G7 And Technical Standards: Blink And You Might Have Missed The New Battleground

techdirt
Twitter and the American University of Dubai launch an Open Internet Partnership with Internet Society Middle East
Alamrakamy logo
In the News 22 March 2021

Twitter and the American University of Dubai launch an Open Internet Partnership with Internet Society Middle East

Alamrakamy
Internet Society and IETF agreement ensures the continuity of critical work in creating open standards
Helpnet Security logo
In the News 1 December 2020

Internet Society and IETF agreement ensures the continuity of critical work in creating open standards

Help Net Security
Speed Matters: How Businesses Can Improve User Experience Using Open Standards
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Open Internet Standards 13 August 2020

Speed Matters: How Businesses Can Improve User Experience Using Open Standards

A recent report – Milliseconds make Millions – commissioned by Google and published by Deloitte, has shown that mobile...

Mozilla cautions India’s national open digital plan is ‘open-washing’. Internet Society also weighs in with worries about vague definition of ‘open’
The Register logo
In the News 2 June 2020

Mozilla cautions India’s national open digital plan is ‘open-washing’. Internet Society also weighs in with worries about vague definition of ‘open’

The Register
Hackathon at Africa Internet Summit 2019: Network Programmability, Network Time, IPv6, IPWAVE, and Measurement
Hackathon at Africa Internet Summit 2019: Network Programmability, Network Time, IPv6, IPWAVE, and Measurement Thumbnail
Open Internet Standards 24 July 2019

Hackathon at Africa Internet Summit 2019: Network Programmability, Network Time, IPv6, IPWAVE, and Measurement

The Internet Society and AFRINIC collaborated to organize the 3rd Hackathon@AIS in Kampala, Uganda, which took place alongside the...