互联网架构委员会（IAB）于2020年8月28日发布了RFC 8890《互联网为终端用户而存在》[1]，旨在为互联网工程任务组（IETF）的决策制定明确的指导原则。这份文档主张IETF在制定技术标准时应优先考虑互联网用户的利益，通过阐明决策的正当性来应对日益复杂的利益冲突。
成立于1980年代的IETF负责文档化互联网技术设计和协议开发，包括TCP、IP、DNS、HTTP等基础设施[1]。该组织采用"粗共识和运行代码"的决策模式，而非正式投票[1]。然而，技术标准制定日益呈现出政治性质。DNS-over-HTTPS（DoH）标准化过程引发了关于隐私、网络管理和儿童安全的政治争议[1]，暴露了不同利益相关者之间的深刻分歧。
RFC 8890指出，IETF早已在RFC 7258中确立共识：广泛的隐蔽监控对互联网有害[1]。该文档强调，"当决定改进互联网在某一司法管辖区的用户体验，但代价是对其他地方用户的潜在伤害时，这不是好的权衡"[1]。同时，RFC 8890澄清了IETF权力的实际限度——其决策仅涉及文档，不直接控制互联网，真实权力掌握在设备供应商、软件厂商、用户和政府手中[1]。
The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) published RFC 8890 on August 28, 2020, establishing a guiding principle that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) should prioritize the interests of end users when making standards decisions [1]. The document addresses the inherently political nature of technical standard-setting and proposes clarified principles to enhance the legitimacy of IETF decision-making across competing stakeholder interests [1].
The IETF, established in the 1980s, has long been responsible for documenting Internet technology design and developing core protocols including TCP, IP, DNS, and HTTP [1]. Historically, the organization has relied on a "rough consensus and running code" decision model rather than formal voting procedures [1]. The release of RFC 8890 reflects tensions that have surfaced in recent years, particularly surrounding the standardization of DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), which sparked political controversy involving questions about privacy, network management, and child safety [1]. This conflict prompted the IAB to articulate an explicit framework for balancing these concerns.
The RFC draws on existing IETF consensus, including RFC 7258, which established that widespread covert surveillance harms the Internet [1]. The document emphasizes that compromising the user experience in one jurisdiction to potentially benefit another does not constitute a legitimate trade-off [1]. However, the IAB acknowledges that IETF decisions affect only documentation and standards; actual power over Internet implementation remains distributed among device manufacturers, software vendors, users, and governments [1].