According to abbreviationfinder, Internet Architecture Board is abbreviated as IAB. An independent committee of researchers and professionals with a technical interest in the health and evolution of the Internet system. IAB members are deeply committed to making the Internet work effectively and evolve to meet the high-speed future at scale.
History
The IAB evolved from the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB), originally established in 1979 by ARPANET Program Manager Vinton Cerf, and oversees the development of Internet technology standards . In 1983, the ICCB was reorganized around a series of technical working groups by Cerf’s successor, Dr. Barry Leiner, and named the Internet Activities Board (IAB).
The IAB was supported during the 1980s by the Federal Research Internet Coordinating Committee (FRICC), an informal group of United States government leaders that supported the interconnection of networks that was absorbed by the Federal Networking Council, Consejo Federal de Redes, in 1990. In June 1992, the Internet Activities Board was renamed the Internet Architecture Board by the Internet Society at the INET’92 conference in Kobe, Japan.
Function
The role and responsibility of the IAB are described in RFC 2850, and are simplified to:
- Provides oversight of Internet architecture, protocols, procedures, and standards.
- Handling of RFCs. Provides editorial and posting management of Request for Comments documents.
- Selection of the Internet Engineering Steering Group. Selects the members of the Internet Engineering Steering Group and the chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
- IETF oversight. It is responsible for the IETF’s relationship with other peer groups and related organizations.
- IANA Administration. It carries out the administration of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which controls the various parameters and numbers of the Internet.
Structure
The IAB is made up of 13 members, 12 of whom are nominated by the IETF and approved by the Internet Society ‘s Board of Trustees, plus the IETF chair, who has a vote on all official actions except approval of members of the Internet Engineering Steering Group and in their appeals. Each member serves for two years and may serve for more than one term. Interestingly, the members of this board must serve as individuals, and not as representatives of companies, agencies or other organizations. All this process described above is found in RFC 3777.
Internet Ethics
The IAB strongly supports the opinion of the Division Advisory Panel of the National Science Foundation Division of Network, Communications, Research and Infrastructure, which, in paraphrase, characterizes as immoral and unacceptable any activity that purposely:
- Try to gain unauthorized access to Internet resources,
- Alter the Internet destination,
- Waste resources (people, capacity, equipment) through these actions,
- Destroy the integrity of computer-based information,
- Endanger the privacy of users.