Content-Type: text/html

# Protocol

HomePage | RecentChanges | Preferences
You can edit this page right now! It's a free, community project

In networking, a protocol is the specification of a set of rules for a particular type of communication. The term is also used to refer to the software that implements a protocol.

Most recent protocols are assinged by the IETF for internet communications, and the IEEE, or the ISO organizations for other types.

In international law and [international relations]?, a protocol is a treaty or [international agreement]? that supplements a previous treaty or international agreement. A protocol can ammend the previous treaty, or add additional provisions. Parties to the earlier agreement are not required to adopt the protocol; sometimes this is made clearer by calling it an 'optional protocol', especially where many parties to the first agreement do not support the protocol.

Some examples: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) established a framework for the development of binding greenhouse gas emission limits, while the Kyoto Protocol contained the guidelines later agreed upon.

HomePage | RecentChanges | Preferences
You can edit this page right now! It's a free, community project
Edit text of this page | View other revisions
Last edited August 4, 2001 2:09 am (diff)
Search: