icann 52 singapore business digest
TRANSCRIPT
ICANN 52
Singapore
Business Digest
Why a Business Digest?
This Digest is designed to serve as a non-exhaustive review of highlights of the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Public Meeting relevant to a variety
of businesses stakeholders affected by ICANN’s work, presented in business friendly
language. Please provide feedback and comments to the ICANN business engagement team
In order to keep interested businesses informed about ICANN’s work, Internet governance
and the business world’s participation, this Business Digest is complemented by two online
spaces meant to inform and exchange ideas on an ongoing basis with interested business
leaders: the Twitter feed @ICANN4biz and the LinkedIn group ICANN for Business. You can
also listen to the pre-ICANN 52 webinar for business newcomers, designed to explain what
happens at an ICANN meeting and the role of business sector constituencies, here.
Feel free to join, participate, debate, engage, and provide feedback.
Executive Summary
The ICANN 52 public meeting took place in Singapore on 8-12 February 2015. The meeting
featured 300 sessions delivered to more than 1,600 checked-in participants.
ICANN 52 saw extensive community discussions on the Internet Assigned Names Authority
(IANA) Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability processes. The IANA
Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) held sessions reviewing proposals on how the IANA coordination role could serve its communities absent a contract with the U.S.
government. Check out the latest proposals on the Stewardship page. Meanwhile, the Cross-Community Working Group on Accountability (CCWG-Accountability)
examined how to strengthen accountability mechanisms so that when the U.S. National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is no longer performing its
current contractual role, ICANN remains accountable to the global community (this is also called Work Stream 1). The Board issued this statement at the end of ICANN 52.
Other Key takeaways from the meeting:
The Global Domain Division (GDD) is proceeding with the New generic Top Level
Domains (gTLD) Program reviews and is supporting new groups to address related
technical issues such as Universal Acceptance.
The Board resolution regarding the release of two-character American Standard
Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) labels at the second-level was of particular
interest for private sector stakeholders.
As ICANN keeps growing, the issue of volunteer recruitment and retention becomes
more and more central. This and more topics were discussed during a high-interest
topic panel led by community leaders from different Supporting Organizations and
Advisory committees.
Are you new to ICANN? Start here: ICANN 52 Newcomer Welcome Session
ICANN’s Newcomer Program
Take an introductory course on ICANN Learn
Acronyms
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
BRG – Brand Registry Group
CBUC – Commercial and Business Users Constituency
ccTLD – Country code Top-Level Domain
CCWG – Cross-Community Working Group
CSG – Commercial Stakeholder Group
DNA – Domain Name Association
DNS – Domain Name System
DNSSEC – Domain Name System Security Extensions
GAC – Governmental Advisory Committee
GDD – Global Domains Division
GNSO- Generic Names Supporting Organization
gTLD – Generic Top-Level Domain
IANA – Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
IDN – Internationalized Domain Name
IPC – Intellectual Property Constituency
ISPCP – Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers Constituency
RA – Registry Agreement
SSAC – Security and Stability Advisory Committee
UASG – Universal Acceptance Steering Group
UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
For more help with Acronyms in this report, please see the ICANN Generic Names
Supporting Organization (GNSO) Acronym Helper.
1
Welcome Ceremony and President’s Opening Session Roundup
Board Chair Steve Crocker opened the ICANN 52 Opening Ceremony by reaffirming ICANN’s commitment to international inclusivity, operational excellence, and corporate accountability. After highlighting new challenges posed by changing technologies and
security threats, Crocker invited speakers to share perspectives on the upcoming transition of the IANA functions’ stewardship over the coming months.
The Minister of Information and Communication of Singapore, Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, was the first to speak. Dr. Ibrahim emphasized the importance of the Asia-Pacific region to the U.S.
$42 trillion Internet economy and announced the creation of a new Cyber Security Agency. Dr. Ibrahim also pledged Singapore’s support to ICANN and the multistakeholder Internet
community in the stewardship transition.
Ira Magaziner, Chief Internet Policy Advisor to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and Byron Holland, chair of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), gave historical context to the evolution in stewardship. Magaziner explained that the U.S. government had long intended to give up its authority over ICANN, and recommended four tactics to ensure
a successful transition:
1. ICANN must fulfill its specific purposes and not overreach its power.
2. The ICANN community needs more developing country presence.
3. ICANN must support the Internet’s roots as a bottom-up structure that
encourages innovation, rebelliousness, and creativity.
4. ICANN must remain self-financing but not become a corporate giant. Instead,
ICANN must make investments that serve Internet development.
Other speakers included Jonathan Robinson, chairman of Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), Paul Wilson of the Number Resource Organization (NRO), Alan Barrett,
Vice Chair of the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) Address Council, and Jari Arko of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
ICANN’s President and CEO, Fadi Chehadé, closed the ceremony by announcing his
strategies for strengthening ICANN throughout the transition process:
Strengthening international confidence ICANN’s operations.
Diversifying ICANN’s multistakeholder community.
Maintaining ICANN’s roots in the global public interest.
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Global Domain Division Operations
The work of GDD is important to companies who have applied for new gTLDs and also to
those companies considering applying for one in a future round. Companies contemplating
increasing their online presence by registering new names under gTLDs also follow their
work closely.
Akram Attalah, President of GDD, wrote a brief description of GDD sessions held in
Singapore in his blog post, “Countdown to ICANN 52: Global Domains Division (GDD)
Sessions.”
Here are more details about some of the sessions and their topics:
Global Domains Division (GDD) Update
This session is meant to provide high-level update on all GDD activities:
Security, Stability and Resiliency and Technical engagement
IANA Functions
Domain Name Industry Engagement
New gTLD Program
Operations and Costumer Support
Initiatives: IDNs, WHOIS, Universal Acceptance
Before the next public meeting in Buenos Aires, ICANN will host the first contracted parties
intersessional meeting in Los Angeles, continue the review of the New gTLD Program, and
work to expand global customer service capabilities.
Learn More: GDD
GDD Webinars
ICANN hosts a variety of webinars on New gTLD Program topics. View the
recordings, listen to the audio and/or download the presentations and Q/A
documents. You can also find out when upcoming webinars will take place.
Announcements
Get the most current information on the New gTLD Program, including contracting
statistics.
Susanna Wong Bennett’s blog “Building Confidence in ICANN’s Operations”
Read this blog post by ICANN COO to learn more about ICANN’s steps to improve its
global services.
New gTLD Program: Status, Reviews and Next Round
The New gTLD Program, one of the most important developments in the Internet space in
recent years, continues to gain momentum: so far, almost 850 new Registry Agreements
(RAs) for new gTLDs have been signed and over 530 strings have been delegated to the root
of the Internet. Examples of strings delegated since ICANN 52 include .NISSAN, .EPSON, and
.ORACLE.
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ICANN is currently focusing
resources on a series of New
gTLD Program reviews to
evaluate the results of the
Program in light of the original
goals.
We encourage you to take a
look at the new Program
Reviews page, where you will
find relevant reports, drafts,
and public comment fora, to
participate in and support the
activities that will help inform
the development of the next
round of the New gTLD
Program. Full participation and input from the Internet community are key to making these
reviews successful.
Individual pages provide detail on each review area, including:
Program Implementation – A review of the efficiency and effectiveness of the
implementation of the New gTLD Program
Security & Stability – A review of the New gTLD Program's impact on the DNS root
system
Rights Protection – A review of the effectiveness of rights protection mechanisms
such as the Trademark Clearinghouse, Uniform Rapid Suspension system, and Post-
Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedures
Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice (CCT) – A review under the
ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments that will include consideration of the
Program's impact in these areas, as well as the effectiveness of the Program's
evaluation procedures and safeguard elements.
Learn More:
Updated draft of the Work Plan for New gTLD Program Reviews and Assessments
New gTLD Program Statistics
A snapshot of applications as they pass through program phases. Updated weekly.
Read Karen Lentz’s blog post: “Tracking the Future of the New gTLD Program”
New Program Reviews page
Public comment page for the Draft Report on Rights Protection Mechanisms Review
The Draft Report seeks to provide an initial assessment of the effectiveness of the
rights protection safeguards put in place to mitigate potential issues in the New
gTLD Program. The public comment period on this review is open until 1 May 2015.
4
Universal Acceptance: An Emerging and Important Issue
The New gTLD Program has opened the door for more frequent additions of legitimate top-
level domains in non-Latin alphabets, like Cyrillic, Arabic, or Mandarin. These new TLDs face
acceptance problems because of software, tool or network configurations. The same
acceptance problems may be encountered by longer strings with more letters.
The cooperation of software vendors, open source tool developers, Internet service
providers, website developers and others is required so that these new TLDs are available to
all who wish to use them. There are three concerns to address:
Removing the "false positive" in filters preventing the use of new TLDs,
The ability to render (see and write) all names in the native script,
Achieve the intended level of safety and convenience in a rapidly changing DNS.
A new Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) was formed by members of the ICANN
Community with the support of ICANN and the Domain Names Associations (DNA). The
purpose of the UASG is to guide the identification of topline issues and proposed solutions,
as well as the creation and dissemination of best practices and general outreach
information about Universal Acceptance. The UASG is envisioned to be an advocacy group
rather than a policy oriented group.
A small group of community members interested in Universal Acceptance convened at a
workshop on Thursday 22 January 2015. The group discussed who should work on this
issue, and how it should be dealt with. The workshop attendees engaged in conversations
and ultimately formed sub-groups to discuss recommendations in advance of a public
meeting at ICANN 52 in Singapore.
A call for general membership to the Steering Group was announced at the ICANN Universal
Acceptance meeting at ICANN 52 in Singapore, and there was affirmative community
acceptance of these recommendations.
The group is looking for broader multistakeholder participation to define its structure,
formalize its charter, and to develop marketing and outreach plans.
They group also seeks assistance in publicizing the Universal Acceptance issue among
software vendors, open source tool developers, Internet services providers, and web site
developers.
Learn More: Universal Acceptance
ICANN's Universal Acceptance resources page
This page provides overview and background of the Universal Acceptance Initiative
as well as other useful links and FAQs.
Join the conversation at https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/ua-discuss
Discussion list to cover Universal Acceptance topics.
Read the UASG letter to the Board
The Universal Acceptance Repository for developers
Open space on the DNA website to share Universal Acceptance resources, papers,
contacts, and solutions.
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Security & Stability Matters
SAC069
The SSAC held its public meeting on 12 February during which it provided an activities
update on work completed in 2015, current and new work parties, and the recent publication relating to the IANA stewardship transition: SAC069: SSAC Advisory on Maintaining the Security and Stability of the IANA Functions Through the Stewardship Transition.
Learn More: SSAC
List of SSAC Reports and Advisories
Complete list of all documents published in different languages.
SSAC landing page on ICANN website
Contains information on SSAC history and operations, membership and workings.
SSAC Public Meeting
Get the ICANN 52 SSAC public meeting recording, transcript and presentation.
DNSSEC
Companies can help enhance security of the Internet by deploying Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), because these extensions are more effective when
universally implemented. Registries, registrars, registrants, hosting companies, software
developers, hardware vendors, government, businesses and agencies with an Internet
presence, and Internet technologists and coalitions all have responsibility for the success of this massive effort.
ICANN 52 included a very popular, recurring session: DNSSEC for Everybody, plus a DNSSEC workshop.
Learn More: DNSSEC
DNSSEC for Everybody -- A Beginner's Guide This session aims to demystify DNSSEC and show how you can easily and quickly
deploy DNSSEC in your business. DNSSEC Workshop
This day-long session is designed for registries, registrars and ISPs who are already engaged in the deployment of DNSSEC to share best practices.
Verisign page on DNSSEC Adoption Benefits
Useful Verisign microsite showing benefits of DNSSEC adoption for registries,
registrars, and ISPs.
“2015 Will be a Good Year for DNSSEC”
Web content and DNS hosting provider CloudFlare has announced that it is going to
deploy DNSSEC across its platform. Read Rick Lamb’s blog about this topic and how
this development will impact DNSSEC deployment.
6
GAC Advice
The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Communiqué was issued on 11 February 2015.
The GAC provided advice to the ICANN board on the New gTLD program review and
assessment and the release of two-letter codes and country names at the second level.
The GAC views the Public Interest Commitments Dispute Resolution Procedure
(PICDRP) as overly complex and potentially ineffective in addressing threats. To remedy this problem, the GAC recommends either refining the process or
developing a “fast track” process for issues that involve serious risks of harm to the public.
The GAC advised the amendment of the current process for requests to release two-letter codes. Specifically, the GAC suggests the establishment of a notification system to alert relevant governments and the creation of a public database to inform whether individual GAC members intend to agree to all requests, review
them case by case, or not agree to any.
Other topics of discussion included:
The transition of U.S. stewardship of IANA and enhancing ICANN accountability.
Safeguards Advice Applicable to all new gTLDs and Category 1 (consumer
protection, sensitive strings and regulated markets) and Category 2 (restricted registration policies) strings.
Independent Review Panel and dot Africa.
Internet security.
Internet governance.
Lear More: GAC
To read the full GAC Singapore Communiqué, click here.
To view past GAC Communiques, click here.
To learn more about the GAC and its members, visit gacweb.icann.org.
7
Internet Governance Landscape
ICANN 52 served as an opportunity to review the activities taking place in the larger world of
Internet governance beyond ICANN’s remit and ICANN’s interaction with those broader
activities.
The Internet Governance public session at this meeting was organized in collaboration with
the community members form the Cross-Constituency Working Group (CCWG) on Internet
Governance, and featured a more interactive format to allow participation from the session
audience.
The topics that the CCWG members decided to touch upon were:
The NETmundial initiative.
The WSIS+10 review process culminating in December 2015 at the United Nations.
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the renewal of its mandate.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO)
CONNECTing the Dots: Options of Future Action.
Lear More: Internet Governance
Report on Internet Governance Activities since ICANN 51
This report, compiled by members of the ICANN Global Stakeholder Engagement
team provides an overview of the Internet governance issues ICANN is actively
engaged in.
UNESCO’s Internet Study: Keystone’s to foster inclusive Knowledge Societies
UNESCO is currently collecting feedback on this draft study, which was the subject
of the CONNECTing the Dots event mentioned above. The final version of the study
will be presented during UNESCO’s General Conference in 2015 and will be
submitted as input in the WSIS+10 review.
Internet Governance – Public Session
Recording, transcript, and agenda from ICANN 52 public session.
CCWG on Internet Governance
The CCWG on Internet Governance was created right after the ICANN 48 meeting in
Buenos Aires (when the NETmundial meeting was announced) in order to have a
cohesive ICANN community position among the various Supporting Organizations
and Advisory Committees as well as staff.
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Private Sector Participation Corner
Advocacy Groups
The Brand Registry Group (BRG)
The BRG was born out of the desire of a number of major brands to have a unified voice to navigate the New gTLD Program. The BRG held a public session on Sunday to welcome potential new .brand applicants and those awaiting the second round of gTLDs to highlight the advantages of collective action. Members of the BRG, who must meet a set of criteria
(including ownership of trademark rights and the intent at time of application to run the applied for string as a ‘.brand’ and not sell open registrations at the second level), include Alibaba, Amazon, BBC, Deloitte, Gucci, LEGO Juris, Microsoft, Philips, Richemont, Shell, Virgin Enterprises and Yahoo!.
The BRG was particularly involved in the issues of the release of country names and two-
character codes (e.g. www.example.us.brand). Under Specification 5 of the base new gTLD
RA, registry operators are required to reserve all two-character ASCII labels at the second-
level. The RA also states that two-character label strings could be released to the extent that
registry operators reach agreement with the related government and country‐ code
manager of the string. Effective 1 December 2014, after a series of public comment periods,
GAC recommendations and a Board resolution, ICANN published a general authorization for
release of all non-Letter/Letter two-character ASCII labels for all new gTLD Registry
Operators. After a series of new consultations with various stakeholders prior to ICANN 52,
the Board passed a new resolution accepting advice included in the ICANN 52 GAC
Communiqué that brought alterations to the Authorization Process.
Learn More: BRG
Brand Registry Group (BRG) Potential Members Meeting ICANN
52 public session.
BRG Statement to ICANN 52 Singapore
BRG’s position regarding the release of two-character ASCII labels.
Two-character labels webpage
Background, details, and information about Authorization Process for Release of
Two-Character ASCII Labels.
The Domain Name Association
The DNA is the first ever industry trade group to represent the interests of the entire domain
name industry and will promote, advance and support the common interests of the industry
with regards to the provisioning, expanded adoption and use of domain names. The DNA
membership is diverse in terms of geography and in terms of business segments and
expertise represented.
The association is very involved in the topics of registry-registrar cooperation and Universal
Acceptance.
Learn More: DNA
Domain Name Association Registry-Registrar Operations WG
Domain Name Association Members Breakfast
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Commercial Stakeholder Group Constituencies of the GNSO
The CSG represents the views of business users and connectivity providers; its mission is to
ensure ICANN policy and ICANN contracts are consistent with the development of an
Internet that is a safe place for business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions
and communications to take place, based on high levels of business, user and consumer
confidence. In Singapore the CSG met with the ICANN Board to discuss ICANN’s top
enterprise risks, and all three constituencies had informal meeting with ICANN staff to
discuss outreach.
Commercial and Business Users Constituency (CBUC)
The Commercial and Business Users Constituency (also known as the CBUC, the Business
Constituency, or BC) public meeting included presentations from the ICANN Finance and
Compliance teams. The group discussed at length about several policy issues, including the
New gTLD Program review, WHOIS, and release of country/territory names for brand gTLDs,
as well as the IANA Stewardship transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability processes.
Learn More: BC
BC Website
Get more information about BC mission, membership, and meetings.
BC Newsletter February 2015
Overview of BC interest topics for the Singapore meeting.
Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC)
It was a big meeting for the IPC, as the group finalized the election of new president Greg
Shatan and recognized the work of outgoing president Kristina Rosette. The IPC session
featured presentations on contractual compliance, ICANN’s operating plan, and the New
gTLD Program review. The group also spent time discussing Public Interest Commitments
(PICs), which are voluntary amendments that applicants can create, sign, and undertake
along with the general RA in order to hold their registry operations to certain standards.
Learn More: IPC
IPC Website
For IPC information, position statements and news.
Internet Service Provider & Connectivity Providers Constituency (ISPCP)
The ISPCP meeting focused primarily on the IANA Stewardship Transition and ICANN
Accountability processes. Part of the agenda was used to cover the topic of Universal
Acceptance, as one of the ISPCP members, Christian Dawson is a member of the newly
formed UASG. The ISPCP also explore outreach strategies to attract new members and
spread the word on topics of importance to their community.
Learn More: ISPCP
ISPCP Website
For ISPCP mission, membership, policy resources and statements.
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Stay Connected and Engage
ICANN Fellowship Program
The ICANN Fellowship Program seeks participants from developing regions and countries of
the world in order to help create a broader base of knowledgeable constituents who will
become the voice of experience in their regions. The 50 Fellows for ICANN 53 in Buenos Aires
were recently announced and the group includes 4 people from the business sector. The
application period for the ICANN 54 public meeting to be held in Dublin meeting will be
open from 3 April 2015 until 15 May 2015. We encourage participation of people from the
private sector.
Learn More: Fellowship Program
Fellowship Program Resources page
Find all the information you need on the program, its alumni, fellowship rounds
and FAQs.
ICANN Fellowship Application
Learn how to apply to the ICANN Fellowship Program.
ICANN Online Learning Platform
ICANN Learn was launched during ICANN 48. This free and open online learning platform is
meant to provide introductory information for new participants and share institutional
knowledge in order to increase the base of informed ICANN stakeholders. ICANN Learn
needs input and feedback to ensure the platform is as useful as possible. Introductory
courses for business participants are in development and will be available in 2015.
Go to learn.icann.org, create an account, enroll in a few courses, and start learning.
Learn More:
Monthly update on ICANN Policy Developments
ICANN Newsletters and alerts
Follow us on social media:
Twitter: @ICANN4biz
LinkedIn group: ICANN for Business
SlideShare
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Helpful Infographics (click to enlarge)
IANA Functions Trademark Protection
Domain Name Industry