Q & A on Internet Standards Q: I need information on Internet E-Mail Standards. Who sets the standards ? A: Standards for the protocols used in the Internet are set by vote of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) or the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), groups under the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). The entity that owns the groups is the Internet Society. Q: How can one access the standards? A: The Internet standards appear in a series of reports known as Request For Comments (RFCs), which are available online via file transfer. Look at: http://www.isi.edu/rfc-editor/ which has information on RFCs and how to obtain them. Q: What are the mail standards? A: There are several: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) specifies how one computer sends mail to another 822 (common name taken from the RFC) specifies the format of mail messages (i.e., header lines) POP (Post Office Protocol) allows a user access a mailbox on another computer (e.g., a dial-up user can access a mailbox on a server) MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) allows one to send multi-part mail messages as well as non-ASCII data (e.g., to send an image as an attachment) Q: Are there different protocols for ISPs and the Online services like AOL? A: Most ISPs and online services uses the standard protocols mentioned above. A few provide special mail-reading software, but almost everyone uses the same underlying protocols.