Internet Society

The internet society or the ISOC is a non-profit membership society of more than 100 member organizations and over 20,000 individual members from over 180 countries. Since 1992 it has served as a global clearinghouse for information about the internet and as a facilitator of internet deveoplment and innovations".^[1] That is an in depth explanation. In short the ISOC is an international organization that strives for global cooperation and coordination of the internet that is headquarted in Reston, Virginia, USA. ^[2] It was set up as a governing structure that would tackle the highest questions of internet authority. ^[3] It allows both individuals and organisations to become members. ^[4] The ISOC organises working groups and conferences. ^[5] and it emphazises the educating of the user community in use and appication of the internet as well as showing support for the technical evolution of the internet.^[6]

History

ISOC was officially formed in 1992, with one of its purposes being to provide a corporate structure to support the Internet standards development process. Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn, Lyman Chapin released a document, Announcing ISOC, which explained the rationale for establishing the Internet Society. This document also sets out 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.^[7]

Many of the driving forces in the Internet arena, 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 to 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 freely available 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.

ISOC today

ISOC conducts a wide 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 (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^[8].

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:

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.^[9]

ISOC plays a prominent role 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.^[10]

ISOC today is the parent company for the Public Interest Registry, which runs the .ORG top-level domain.

ISOC has joint offices in Virginia, United States and Geneva, Switzerland. It has also established "Regional Bureaus" for Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.

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
• Hiroshi Esaki
• Patrik Fältström - Audit Committee
• Ted Hardie - Treasurer, Executive Committee, Audit Committee
• Daniel Karrenberg - Chair, Executive Committee
• Franck Martin - Executive Committee
• Désirée Miloshevic - Executive Committee
• Alejandro Pisanty
• Lynn St. Amour - President/CEO
• Bill St.Arnaud
• Patrick Vande Walle - Nominations Committee Chair
• Bert Wijnen
• Baoping Yan

Officers

• Scott Bradner - Secretary

Chapters

References

See also

• History of the Internet

External links

• The ISOC Web site
• IETF and ISOC by Vint Cerf