Internet Engineering Task Force
Open standards organisation founded in 1986 that develops Internet protocols and publishes them as RFCs. Its legal and financial home is IETF Administration LLC, a Delaware company of the Internet Society.
Industry: Internet standards development | Founded: 1986
About Internet Engineering Task Force
The Internet Engineering Task Force, known as the IETF, is an open standards development organisation for the Internet. Its stated goal is to make the Internet work better by producing technical documents, including protocol standards, which are published as RFCs. It has no membership: anyone can take part by joining a working group mailing list or registering for a meeting, and participants act as individuals.
The IETF says it was founded in 1986. Its mission statement, RFC 3935, published in October 2004, sets out five principles: open process, technical competence, a volunteer core, rough consensus and running code, and protocol ownership. Roman Danyliw of Carnegie Mellon University is IETF Chair and chair of the Internet Engineering Steering Group, which manages the technical side of the standards process through area directors for seven areas. The Internet Architecture Board has 13 members and sets long-range technical direction.
Work starts as an Internet-Draft, is developed mostly in working groups and decided by rough consensus rather than voting. Drafts that clear review become RFCs. The IETF's site says more than 7,000 people take part each year and that it holds three week-long meetings annually. IETF 123 was held in Madrid in July 2025.
IETF Administration LLC is the corporate legal home of the IETF, the IAB and the IRTF. It is a Delaware single-member limited liability company of the Internet Society, which Wikipedia says created it in 2018. Jay Daley is its Executive Director, and its five-member board is chaired by Mirjam Kühne.
The LLC's audited statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 report total revenue, gains and other support of USD 18.5 million, including USD 10.2 million of contributions and sponsorships. Expenses were USD 11.2 million and net assets at year end were USD 39.3 million. These figures cover the LLC only.
In May 2026, TechScoop reported that Dubai-based Lyrie.ai said it was submitting its Agent Trust Protocol, an open cryptographic standard for AI agent identity, to the IETF. The company's press release called the submission planned.
Leadership
- Roman Danyliw, IETF Chair and IESG Chair
- Jay Daley, Executive Director, IETF Administration LLC
- Mirjam Kühne, Chair, IETF Administration LLC Board
- Gonzalo Camarillo, Member, IETF Administration LLC Board
- George Michaelson, Member, IETF Administration LLC Board
- Pete Resnick, Member, IETF Administration LLC Board