RFC stands for “Request for Comments.” Many organizations publish documents using the term “RFC.” Generally speaking, these documents are memoranda regarding new research, innovations, and methodologies pertaining to World Wide Web technologies. More specifically, well-known RFC documents have to do with internetworking and computer network engineering.

The RFC, non-committee driven group, and document based format was established in 1969. During its early days these documents left open questions, and were written in casual/less formal styles; and this is primarily because the “scope” of the Internet/computer engineering was just beginning to become defined. Throughout the “Internet Society,” computer scientists and engineers have published discourse in the form of RFC documents. The RFC production process differs from the standardization process of formal standard organizations (i.e. ANSI) in that any Internet technology expert may submit Internet drafts without approval/backing from external institutions. These documents are the experts’ way of sharing/pooling information facilitating debate and peer review. Not all Internet drafts become published RFC’s.

Every RFC document has a unique serial number. Once these documents are published, they are never rescinded or modified; authors publish revised documents. One wonderful aspect of RFC documents is together these serialized documents compose a continuous historical record of the evolution/de-evolution of “Internet Standards.” The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), developed January 1986 consisting of “experts” in the technology field adopted many RFC documents (published from 1969-1998 when Jon Postel served as RFC Editor) as Internet standards.

Today RFC’s have a network of global contributors. Unfortunately the RFC is no longer under the leadership of/former editor Jon Postel, a true technology/Internet visionary. To say many significant contributions to the development of the Internet in the area of “standards” were developed, created, and articulated by Jon Postal would be an understatement. Not only was he the editor of the RFC document series, but served as the “Internet Assigned Numbers Authority” until his death in 1998. (RFC 793 is a “famous” document in technology circles because it articulates robustness principle otherwise known as Postel's Law. “Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others”

The “Official RFC Editor” home page is the best place for more information about the RFC committee, history, news, and published documents. The official RFC Editor page can be found at: http://www.rfc-editor.org. (That link is not a part of U4H, Inc.’s Global Web Presence.)