The Internet Engineering Task Force
The IETF consists of a handful of areas, each of which are focused on particular topics of interest (such as routing or security). Each area is chaired by an Area Director, who is responsible for guiding the development of the protocols and services within the group.
The IETF areas are further broken into working groups that conduct research and development on specific protocols within the relevant area. For example, the Applications Area has working groups on HTTP, SMTP, and other application protocols.
The majority of the work performed by each of the working groups is conducted using mailing lists. In addition to the mailing lists, the IETF holds face-to-face meetings three times a year, allowing the working group participants to get together and hash out issues in person. Anyone can subscribe to any of these mailing lists or attend these meetings.
For more information on the IETF, visit their web page at http://www.ietf.org/.
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