ISOC-Chicago

What is the Internet Society?

The Internet Society (ISOC) was founded in 1991 and became a non-profit corporation in 1992, but its origins date from the beginnings of the Internet. ISOC was originated by Vint Cerf (considered one of the "Fathers of the Internet" as co-inventor of TCP/IP with Robert Kahn) and Anthony Rutkowski (then Chair of the IAB).

ISOC was created to be the organizational home of the international Standards body for the Internet, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF writes the standards called RFCs (Request for Comments) that are in effect the "evolving constitution" of the Internet and which have guaranteed its open, orderly, continued growth. ISOC now is the majority funder of IETF, which is developing the Standards for IPv6 and 'the next Internet'.

The Internet Society has grown to a world-wide organization with over 13,000 members from 100 countries. ISOC educates the world's Internet leadership and coordinates the development of global Internet policy, in addition to our continuing, vital Standards work.

And in the past several years, ISOC has assumed the additional role of helping bridge the so called "Digital Divide" by working with members to reach into the communities of those who are less fortunate, with educational programs and mentoring, and in some cases, even free computers and modems with which to access the Internet. Indeed, the motto of the Internet Society is "The Internet is for Everyone".

ISOC's programs in Standards & Protocols, Education & Training, and Public Policy are entirely Member-supported by its 130 Organization Members, http://www.isoc.org/orgs/orgsbylevel.shtml, who invite you to join with them.