What Is Internet Standard (STD)?

When you think of the internet, you probably think of a bunch of nerds in their mom's basement, hunched over their keyboards and coding away. That's not the whole story. The internet is also made up of people like you and me who use it for all kinds of things, from shopping for groceries to sending cat memes back and forth with our friends. When we're online, we've got to know that what we're doing is safe, secure, and reliable. That's where Internet Standard (STD) comes in. The specifications approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) help promote consistent and universal Internet users worldwide. So next time you're on your phone or laptop surfing the web? Remember: this isn't just some random website—it's part of an international computer network that spans the globe! The Internet standard process is like a baby: before it can be born, it has to go through the stages of conception, gestation, and labor. Once a proposal is submitted to the IETF, it begins as a draft. It might get approved and published as an RFC (Request for Comments). If that happens, then it becomes an official standard. The IETF has several different groups that work on various aspects of the Internet standardization process—these are called "working groups" or "WGs" for short. Each WG focuses on developing one particular area of protocol development or implementation. The Working Group most likely involved in your proposed internet standard will depend on your proposal's complexity and the types of technologies you want to incorporate into your design. RFCs and proposed internet standards cover much ground. From standards for handling technical TCP/IP processes to displaying various media types, the IETF weighs in on many of these standards as they progress toward adoption.