The original RFC that described the Telnet protocol was RFC 854, titled "Telnet Protocol Specification," published in May 1983. This RFC defined the basic Telnet protocol as a standard for the ARPA Internet community
. Earlier documents such as RFC 97 (February 1971) and RFC 137 (April 1971) were proposed or initial drafts related to Telnet, but RFC 854 is recognized as the formal specification that standardized the protocol
