Editing Internet Architecture Board (section)

==RFC1087 – Ethics and the Internet and a rise to modernity==
The IAB takes a formal stance on what constitutes proper use of the Internet in their 1989 memo, RFC 1087: “Ethics and the Internet.”<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1087|title=RFC1087 – Ethics and the Internet|date=January 1989 |access-date=2018-03-16}}</ref> They introduce their contemporary version of the Internet, which at the time was in its nascent stages, serving primarily as a tool for communication of research in the scientific community, and identify the use of this internet as a “privilege.”

The IAB then proclaims as unethical any activity which:
* seeks to gain unauthorized access to the resources of the Internet,
* disrupts the intended use of the Internet,
* wastes resources (people, capacity, computer) through such actions,
* destroys the integrity of computer-based information
* compromises the privacy of users.
 
This memo was written at a time during which the Internet existed in the general research milieu, but since that time the Internet has evolved greatly and expanded its user base. The IAB has accordingly taken new stances on ethical and secure Internet use, such as in RFC 8890, where the IAB identifies protecting end users as the first priority in their maintenance of the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8890|title=RFC8890 – The Internet is for End Users |date=August 2020 | access-date=2021-04-22 |last1=Nottingham |first1=Mark }}</ref>

As such, though their core principles are the same, the IAB's priority for protection has shifted from the technical and scientific community to the community of day-to-day users. In another memo RFC7624, the IAB takes a firm stance against pervasive mass surveillance through the use of the Internet on the part of national intelligence agencies, saying that it is necessary that the Internet technical community, including itself, “address the vulnerabilities exploited [by mass surveillance campaigns]...to ensure that the Internet can be trusted by [its] users.”<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7624|title=RFC7624 – Confidentiality in the Face of Pervasive Surveillance: A Threat Model and Problem Statement |date=August 2015 | access-date=2021-04-22 |last1=Barnes |first1=Richard |last2=Schneier |first2=Bruce |last3=Jennings |first3=Cullen Fluffy |last4=Hardie |first4=Ted |last5=Trammell |first5=Brian |last6=Huitema |first6=Christian |last7=Borkmann |first7=Daniel }}</ref>