On this day in history in 1986, a group of engineers met for the first time for the express purpose of making the internet run better. They were volunteers, and dedicated themselves to improving the internet from an engineering standpoint. Meetings are held three times per year, and are open to the public, so anyone can attend and contribute.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is dedicated to making the internet a better place… from an engineering standpoint. “We try to avoid policy and business questions, as much as possible,” says their Newcomers page at ietf.org. “If you're interested in these general aspects, consider joining the Internet Society.” Translation: “We’re engineers doing engineering. Go away and leave us alone unless you’re interested in engineering with us!”
The Internet Society was created to support the Internet Engineering Task Force: someone to answer people’s questions so that the engineers could concentrate on engineering. The engineers of the IETF work, and the Internet Society does the paperwork.
Happy Anniversary, Internet! It’s nice to know there are actually some people in the world working to make you a better place.
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