30 October, 2010

New gTLD Program Update





From the minutes of the 28 October ICANN Board Meeting:

Vertical Integration – No resolution
GNSO New gTLD Recommendation 6 Objection Process – No resolution
GAC Issues Letter including Geographic Names – No resolution
Affirmation of Commitment Considerations – No resolution

.xxx -- next steps

      1. Whereas, the Governmental Advisory Committee communicated to the ICANN Board regarding the application for the .XXX sTLD through: (1) the Wellington Communiqué; (2) a 2 February 2007 Letter from the Chair and Chair-Elect of the GAC to the Chair of the ICANN Board; (3) the Lisbon Communiqué; and (4) a 4 August 2010 Letter from the Chair of the GAC to the Chair of the ICANN Board;
      2. Whereas, ICM provided a proposed Registry Agreement to ICANN that was posted for public comment for 30 days;
      3. Whereas staff recommends that, though the proposed Registry Agreement provides sufficient measures to address many GAC concerns, entering into the proposed Registry Agreement may not be consistent with some of the broader-reaching communications from the GAC, and the GAC and the Board could benefit from consultation on those items [PDF, 48 KB].
      4. RESOLVED  (2010.10.28.18) the Board Chair shall engage the GAC Chair on developing a process for consultation with the GAC on its advice about the ICM application.
      5. RESOLVED  (2010.10.28.19) the Board Chair will suggest to the GAC Chair that any consultation process conclude prior to the ICANN Public Meeting in Cartagena, Colombia.

New gTLD Timeline

Source:  http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/new-gtld-work-plan-28oct10-en.pdf

29 October, 2010

ccNSO October Minutes Published

The minutes of the 19 October ccNSO meeting are now available.  Of interest:

1.  The recommendations of the Wildcard Study Group are almost ready to be sent.  The Final WG Report may be found here.  ICANN research on Wildcards can be found here.

2.  DNSCERT Survey
The Chair reported that Rod Beckstrom and Heather Dryden were notified about the group of Councillors that was formed to discuss the DNSCERT Survey. 
Peter Van Roste reported that the CENTR meeting in Brussels showed that no ccTLDs support the DNSCERT Survey in its current form and that the CENTR Secretariat was asked to draft a statement that reflects that view. He added that several ccTLDs declared that they will not participate in the survey.

Afilias IDN E-Mail Demonstration

dot Proxy

The Intellectual Property Constituency writes:


"As of October 25, 2010, there were 122,270,795 active domain name registrations in the 5 gTLDs included in the NORC sample. Adopting the conservative figure of 18%, and counting only the “proxy registrations,” this means that, for some 20 million gTLD registrations, the current Whois system is completely failing in its objective (as stated in the report) of “ensur[ing] that the community can identify who is responsible for a domain name.” If “.proxy” were its own TLD, it would be larger than every other gTLD in the world, except for .com."

On Privacy/Proxy Services

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group has submitted comments regarding the ICANN Study on the Prevalence of Domain Names Registered using a Privacy or Proxy Registration Service.  MAAWG writes:

"We would encourage ICANN to do further analysis to see whether some TLDs and/or some registrars have a disproportionately high or low number of proxy or privacy registrations. This analysis should be easy to do without any extra data collection since the WHOIS dataset should identify each domain's registrar and the monthly registry TLD reports provide the number of domains each registrar had at the time the data was collected.

Finally, we note that ICANN is in the midst of an RFP for a further proxy/privacy study to document the relay and reveal practices of proxy/privacy services. We agree that this study is the essential next step, but we are baffled at ICANN's statement that the study will not even start until a yet to be determined time in 2011. If this study is worth doing, which it certainly is, it is worth doing now. MAAWG encourages ICANN to perform this study as soon as is practicable."

Spotted in the wild: dotBUD

No, it's not a .brand gTLD application from Budweiser; rather it's an initiative to launch a city-TLD for Budapest.  This will be a nexus-based effort allowing registration only by organizational entities which have established headquarters in Budapest, or by individuals who maintain permanent or temporary residential addresses in Budapest.

Strategic Planning Process: Invitation to Participate

A letter has gone out from ICANN Senior Vice President, Kurt Pritz, and ICANN COO, Akram Atallah, inviting senior GNSO leadership to attend a private briefing on a planned "lightweight review" of the ICANN Strategic Plan.

They write:  "We plan to undertake an in depth review every three years and undertake a more streamlined approach the other two years.  Given the significant re-write last year, this year will be the first year in which we are doing a lightweight review.  We plan to set a conference call with you, others from your leadership, and selected ICANN management over the next several days if that is possible."

Final Slate of At-Large Director Candidates Revealed

Sébastien Bachollet, Pierre Dandjinou and Alan Greenberg have been selected by the BCEC as the at-Large Director slate of candidates.  

The nineteen remaining applicants will need to successfully petition three of the five RALOs in order to secure an opportunity to get onto the final ballot.

28 October, 2010

Resolution on Bylaws changes for Board Seat 15

Note from ICANN's General Secretary and Board Secretary sent on 28 October 2010:

Dear Cheryl,
As Board Secretary, I am pleased to inform you that by a unanimous vote of the ICANN Board of Directors, the attached resolution was approved regarding the Bylaws changes creating a Seat 15 on the Board of Directors, selected by the At-Large Community.  The resolutions will be posted shortly, in accordance with the Bylaws, though I understand you may need to share this information earlier for the purposes of proceeding with the Director selection process.  Congratulations to the At-Large Community on this achievement.

Best regards,
John Jeffrey
General Counsel & Secretary
ICANN

The full board resolution may be found here.

ICANN Ombudsman Announces Departure

Frank Fowlie has announced that he will be leaving his position as Ombudsman for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), effective on or before 31 January 2011.  ICANN has indicated that it will begin a search immediately to find a suitable successor.

Board Briefing Materials Posted

The briefing materials provided to the ICANN Board for their last special meeting -- 24-25 September 2010 -- have been posted.  In total 194 pages with only a few redacted sections (the economic study was one of the major blacked-out sections).

Newest At-Large Director Election Graphic

Source:  https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/2951179/candidate_diagram-v9.pdf

GNSO Council Election Procedures

At their meeting today, the GNSO Council approved the procedures for their upcoming Council election.  The procedures are documented here.  Please note that one change was made with respect to the election time frame -- the election will now conclude on 29 November (instead of 2 December).

Globally Coordinated Transfer Policy - Revised

A proposal has emerged at ARIN that would allow any RIR's resource registrant to transfer IPv4 addresses to the resource registrant of another RIR as long as the two RIRs agree and exercise Internet Stewardship and the values expressed in RFC2050.

The stated rationale:  Since individual RIRs now allow transfers, it makes sense to be able to transfer between regions as well.

Changes to the ICANN Bylaws

At today's ICANN Board meeting, changes will be made to the bylaws to allow for the seating of an at-large Director.  From the Board Structural Improvements Committee we have on the Consent Agenda (2g) "Approval of Bylaws Necessary to Seat Director from At-Large Community".

The revised bylaws dealing with this matter are posted here.

Of course, there is a Staff Summary of the issues on this topic (here), and there are, as well, the complaints that Staff commentary is "almost incomprehensible".

Board Intervention: Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up

The clash started with a note to the Vertical Integration WG from Peter Dengate-Thrush:

"My sense is that, while reluctant to appear to be making policy, the Board is unwilling to allow stalemate in the GNSO policy development process to act as an impediment to implementing other major policy work of the GNSO, which calls for the introduction of new gTLDS.  Some kind of Board intervention appears to be required, and we are considering that."

 
A reply was quick to follow, with Tim Ruiz stating:  "The community could not come to consensus on a change to the longstanding policy of separation. I am hopeful that you did not intend to imply that if the bottom up process does not produce the results that some of the Board and Staff wanted then the Board will just create its own policy top down. I hope that the Board keeps its word regarding VI as it was given to the GNSO. To not do so would make it difficult to have any confidence in the Board whatsoever."

Wildcard Report & more...

There's a section of the ICANN website that perhaps you have never visited... managed by Terry Manderson of the DNS Operations Team, this mini-site tracks Wildcards, provides a DNSSEC Report, shows RIR allocation data and more.

While you're at it, you might also want to have a look at The ICANN DNS Operations portion of the website.  Enjoy.

ALAC & ICANN Travel Guidelines

In the monthly APRALO Call, ALAC Chair Cheryl Langdon-Orr comments on the ICANN Travel Guidelines:

"The travel guidelines are published every year. This only applies to this financial year. It is not cast in stone. The 25 travelers we have are now being used as the benchmark by the other constituencies and this might create pressure on the budget and tension. ALAC is the only consitituency with guaranteed support. In order to keep this support we will need to show some return on investment. This is why we need to send highly active individual."

NOTE:  One wonders why ICANN supports the ALAC's RALOs with travel dollars, and yet doesn't support the user constituencies that actually work to devise ICANN policies within the GNSO.  Isn't it about time for a more equitable arrangement?

27 October, 2010

A Clash with ICANN Staff

"I have likened these rules to a Frankenstein's monster on occasion as we need books, charts, forms and full time self-appointed interpreters of the rules to make them even close to intelligible."

So writes Avria Doria in a letter to ICANN Policy Contractor Ken Bour.  She further states:  "As you know, I neither agree with your interpretation of the rules, nor accept that the rules that were approved capture the proper meaning and sprit of the intent of those creating the rules, but perhaps do reflect the zeal of the author of the rules to create the perfect set of rules by which to control the GNSO and its council members." 

"I also do not think it is appropriate for a staff member to become a rule 
enforcer.  It is not, in my estimation the task of a contracted staff member 
to become the rules police.  I ask you to remember that it is that Staff that 
serves the GNSO and not the other way around."
NOTE:  A new chart that encompasses one such set of rules may be found here.

Offer Accepted

In a letter written to the International Trademark Association, ICANN Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate-Thrush welcomes INTA support to inform a planned economic study.

Chairman Dengate-Thrush notes that the economists, Greg Rosston, Michael Katz and Theresa Sullivan will be reaching out to INTA Staff member Claudio DiGangi and that "the economists are working on the second phase of their work and plan to publish in the relevantly near future."

Policy Staff Overload

"On the other hand, I have received considerable anecdotal evidence of late that Staff’s workload has reached capacity and cannot be sustained at this level on a continuing basis." -- so writes David Olive, VP of ICANN Policy Development Support in a report on staff resource utilization to the GNSO Council.

David notes that "Policy Staff, as currently configured and assigned, is at least
nearing, if not already at, workload capacity", and "the total GNSO Policy Staff is working the equivalent of 362 Hours/Week".  A series of informative charts augment the written report.

This particular letter was drafted to provided some guidance with respect to the GNSO Project Prioritization effort (on the Agenda for the 28 October GNSO Council session). 

Free Speech Coalition writes to ICANN

A new letter from the adult entertainment trade association, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), has been posted to ICANN's correspondence pages.

FSC Executive Director, Diane Duke, puts forward the argument that "just as the Board has given deference to the decision of the IRP, so must it give deference to the GAC advice."  Ms. Duke reminds us of the statement:  "Nevertheless without prejudice to the above, several members of the GAC are emphatically opposed from a public policy perspective to the introduction of a .xxx sTLD."

Upcoming AfriNIC Event


The African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) in conjunction with the National Telecoms Corporation (NTC) of Sudan are organising a four day event that includes training and concludes with a one round table to discuss the issues, challenges and opportunities of growing Internet Technology in Sudan.

The event will start with workshops on IP Address management and IPv6 for network engineers on the 1st to 3rd of November and culminate in a mini round table on Internet governance and how various stakeholders in Sudan can better leverage Internet Technology for development.

The agenda for the event may be found here.

Outreach Mania

It seems like every time you turn around, some ICANN group is proposing yet another outreach initiative.  The latest proposal is entitled "Recommendations to Develop a Global Outreach Program to Broaden Participation in the GNSO".

The background section of the report reminds us that ICANN Staff has been tasked "To develop and implement a targeted outreach program to explore the formation of new constituency groups."  

As we still have neither a new Consumer Constituency nor a new Registrant Constituency, one has to wonder when Staff will actually start accomplishing their tasks...

New Reconsideration Request

Filed by former ICANN Board Director Michael Palage, this latest Reconsideration Request points to the fact that the ICANN Board took action on the High Security Zone (HSTLD) concept before the HSTLD Advisory Group had even completed its research or issued a final report.

Michael writes:  "The HSTLD Advisory Group has remained on track with the mutually agreed timeline established with ICANN staff. Therefore the ICANN Board’s unilateral action in connection with the HSTLD Resolution before we were even able to complete our work is truly disappointing."

Audited Financial Statements Posted

ICANN's FY10 Audited Financials are now posted.  In accordance with Article XVI of ICANN's by-laws, the statements are posted by the end of October and are available for review by the community. For the 11th straight year, ICANN has received an unqualified "clean" opinion from ICANN's independent auditors, Moss Adams LLP, the 11th largest accounting firm in the United States. The Community is invited to review ICANN's audited financials and to provide commentaries and/or questions.

ICANN Board Liaison October Report

Board Liaison Report – OCTOBER 2010 - Vanda Scartezini

During retreat dedicated to new gTLDs we have dealing with all issues related to new gTLDs and some decisions were made and published as Board decisions at ICANN page.
The retreat report we wrote is partially copied here in order to make it more easy to follow

a) GAC´s new points about Geographic names came just during our debate and we decide to give some time to work on it. Board will consider UNESCO list - ISO 3166-2 list – no translations will be added to this list.
The OCT 28th board meeting will debate the document and may reach a conclusion or, more probable will be sent to face to face retreat meeting , Nov 3-5 in San Francisco, CA.
There is no more relevant issue related to budget

b) Budget About - $300,000 was included in the budget for outreach, education and training. Financial support shall come from external sources – a list will be published. Direct financial support will demand the development of specific criteria, and for that the working group shall continue to work.

 c) Vertical Integration - It was decided to ask to each one to state that will keep confidentiality regarding part of this debate. All in conflict of interest left the room during the debate. Board decided to publish a letter to the GNSO since it would be relevant to have some degree of certainty from the GNSO that consensus is not going to be reached on this issue in the near term. Board expected the feedback from the GNSO from its meeting on OCT 7th, which was done. The next move will be the board to decide independently probably during the retreat.
Since GNSO, as stated above, will not pursue consensus, board has to decide and due the complexity involved in this issues probably will be decided at retreat F2F meeting.

d) Morality and Public Order – the board received the WG document a couple days before the retreat, making it quite difficult to review deeply the report, but we worked on it, with high recognition that of the work of WG was a cross SO&AC , bottom-up and stakeholder model to be kept. Staff will frame the issues and make recommendations.
The same applies to this issue.

e) Similar strings – GNSO has asked to consider similar strings when they belong to the same owner. But additional policy work is required to establish the rules by which similar strings could be allocated.
Similar strings will certainly need more dedicates and constant effort. Probably this will demand case by case analysis.

f) Background materials – was agreed that before the Oct 28th meeting additional info and background material from the retreat will become available.
Publication of the rationale for each board decision was supposed to be done till Oct 27
th.

SSAC Retreat: Agenda Topics

ICANN's Security & Stabilty Advisory Committee recently completed its retreat at the Arlington Hyatt.  You can get an idea of topics that were under discussion from this agenda:

Security and Stability Advisory Committee Retreat / 20-22 October 2010 Program

Wednesday, 20 October
Hyatt Arlington, 1325 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia
6:00 to 7:00 pm Reception: Salon C Foyer, 2nd Floor
7:00 to 9:30 pm Dinner: The Gallery, 2nd Floor; Speaker: State of the SSAC – Steve Crocker

Thursday, 21 October
Hyatt Arlington, Senate Salon B & C, 2nd Floor
8:00 am Convene
8:05-8:30 am Review Agenda
8:30-11:00 am Systemic Weaknesses in DNS; Speakers: Rodney Joffe and Paul Vixie
Registrant Protection; Speaker: Rick Wilhelm
Law Enforcement/E-crime: Speakers: Jeff Bedser and Duncan Hart
11:00 to 11:30 am Morning Break
11:30 am to 12:15 pm Internationalized Registration Data; Speakers: Jim Galvin and Steve Sheng
Key Issues From a Security and Stability Perspective with Introduction of
IDNs; Speakers: Patrik Fältström, Sarmad Hussain, and Xiaodong Lee
12:15 pm to 1:00 pm High Security TLDs; Speakers: Duncan Hart and Dave Piscitello
1:00 to 2:00 pm Buffet Lunch
2:00 to 2:45 pm Compliance from the Perspective of Security and Stability
Speaker: Stacy Burnette, Director, Contractual Compliance, ICANN
2:45 to 3:30 pm TLD Registry Failover; Speakers: Jim Galvin and Dave Piscitello
3:30 to 4:15 pm Afternoon Break
4:15 to 6:00 pm SSAC Membership and Structure; SSAC Succession Planning
Speaker: Ray Plzak
6:00 to 7:00 pm Open Time
7:00 to 10:00 pm Dinner, Vantage Point, Holiday Inn Rosslyn, 1900 N Fort Myer Drive,
Arlington

Friday, 22 October
Hyatt Arlington, Senate Salon B & C, 2nd Floor
8:00 to 9:30am Routing Security with RPKI; Speaker: Danny McPherson
RIRs Status; Speakers: Alain Aina and Mark Kosters
9:30 to 10:00 am Morning Break
10:00 am to 1:00 pm Mapping SSAC's Future Work: Moderator: Ray Plzak
ICANN’s Security, Stability & Resiliency plan; Speaker: Patrick Jones, Senior Manager of Continuity & Risk Management [10:00-10:30 am] Who Should the SSAC Advise? [10:30-11:30 am] Balance Between Advice, Best Practices, and Binding Contracts Alignment of SSAC Program of Work to ICANN’s Strategic Plan; Speaker: Rod Beckstrom, CEO, ICANN [11:30 am-12:30 pm]

Creation of a new ICANN membership category?

One of the topics under discussion in the Accountability and Transparency Review Team is the notion of creating a new ICANN membership category:

Excerpts:
 
"I think that that was discussed in the context of a change to the model that would include some type of membership."
"It was in the context of discussing California law, the idea that there would be a creation of a membership category and then that membership - it would be more of a membership re-vote than a community re-vote."
"And I realize that we as a group may be - aren't prepared to make a recommendation, but personally I'd like to know more about community re-vote before we just dispense with it."

opening of the .fr TLD to Europe

From July 12th, to September 26th, 2010, AFNIC carried out a public consultation on opening the .fr Top Level Domain to European companies and individuals residing within the European Union.

A preliminary draft of the changes to the rules for registration of the .fr TLD, based on recommendations by the AFNIC Legal working group, the Consultative Committees and the contributions received during the public consultation, will be submitted to the next Board of Directors, to be held on November 19th.
The opening of the .fr TLD to Europe is scheduled for late 2011.

At-Large: Tool of International Politics


A news article in the Azerbaijan Business Center website points to the recent ALAC approval of the Information Policy Analytical Center (IPAC) of Azerbaijan as an At-Large Strusture (ALS).  In describing the at-Large program, the writer states:

"One of main aims of program At-Large is also resolving the problem of controlling of Internet space directly by one state, in particular, the USA." 

26 October, 2010

...and now still another At-Large Election Complication

Just announced by Evan Leibovitch on the North American Regional At-Large Organization mailing list:

At-Large Board Selection Design Team needs member

"One of the two NARALO representatives on the above committee (abbreviated "ABSdt") has resigned to run for the At-Large Director position.  I would like to find out if anyone here is interested in helping to put the finishing touches on the process by which At-Large chooses its first directly-selected Director.  

The role is important but should not take significantly more time as most of the work is already done.  This is *not* the same as the committee that has received and is doing due diligence on those who have applied for the position."

NOTE:  As the other NARALO representative on the ABSdt is/was Alan Greenberg, we can likely assume that it is Alan who has opted to run for the At-Large Director position.  Alan, your secret's safe with us.

At-Large Director Election Mayhem Begins

ICANN's At-Large Advisory Committee today discussed concerns raised by the EURALO regarding timelines for the At-Large Director voting process.  Unfortunately, the decision regarding timelines is not within the ALAC's remit; that decision belongs to the At-Large Board Selection Design Team (ABSdt) which hasn't scheduled a time yet to discuss the issue.  

Complicating matters further is a purported decision of the Board Candidate Evaluation Committee (BCEC) to not release the full list of candidates before the preliminary BCEC-approved slate is released (which makes it almost impossible for the non-approved candidates to successfully petition three of the five RALOs for inclusion onto the ultimate slate within the scant amount time that has been set aside for campaigning purposes).

A Doodle poll has been started to find a suitable time at the end of this week or early next week for the ABSdt members to meet.

NCUC Election Zen

The Final Ballot for the 2010 NCUC Annual Election has been posted, and no seats are contested. The winners therefore will be:

 Executive Committee members: 
     Alex Gakuru -- Africa
     David Cake -- Asia
     Cedric Laurant -- Europe
     Brenden Kuerbis -- North America
     Carlos Affonso de Souza -- South America

Konstantinos Komaitis -  constituency chair

Dots in Cartagena

A review of the ICANN pre-registration list for Cartagena indicates that only a few prospective new gTLD operators have signaled their intent to be present.  Out of the 497 pre-registrations so far, we can point to planned attendance by representatives from dotGay, dotHamburg, dotCologne, dotBerlin, dotQuebec, dotMusic, dotPak, dotNYC and dotCanon (as indicated by the presence of GMO Registry on the list).

As ICANN's New gTLD Communications Plan isn't yet at full speed, presumably we'll see more new gTLD proponents at the following ICANN San Francisco session... my apologies if I have missed anyone on the list.

Reconsideration: Answers from Employ Media

Employ Media has provided answers to the thirteen questions put forward by ICANN's Board Governance Committee (which is handling the recent Reconsideration Request submitted by the .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition).

As expected, some answers don't fully reply to the questions posed.

ICANN Policy Staff poses NCSG Charter questions

ICANN Policy Staff have drafted a series of questions pertaining to the proposed NCSG Charter. 

They write:  "Staff has identified some questions for the NCSG and the SIC to consider when reviewing the proposed Charter that will provide input into the ultimate scope of Bylaws changes necessary to accompany the approval of the proposed Charter."

A lively discussion is sure to ensue.

ccNSO Call for Volunteers

The ccNSO is looking for volunteers for its Finance Working Group.

The objective of the Finance Working Group is:

a).  to discuss with ICANN the amounts attributed to ccTLDs and the underlying attribution method(s) to attempt to establish which of those amounts and method(s) are reasonable and may be acceptable to the ccTLD community

b). to discuss with ICANN a methodology for individual ccTLDs to use to calculate a fair and equitable voluntary financial contribution to ICANN and propose such a methodology to the ccTLD community.

       c). to coordinate, facilitate, and increase the participation of ccTLD managers in the financial aspects of ICANN's strategic and operational planning and budgetary processes.

Application deadline is 5 November 2010.

At-Large Director: Surprise Announcement

It was revealed at the monthly APRALO Meeting that the Board Candidate Evaluation Committee (BCEC) slate of candidates for the ICANN At-Large Director slot will be announced six days ahead of schedule on 28 October.  

The notification posted by ALAC Chair Cheryl Langdon-Orr also indicates that the campaigning segment will be coupled with a Community Call to be arranged for the week of November 8th.

Incentives for .travel

Faced with rapidly declining registration numbers -- they've dropped from 214,719 to 47,438 during the last five quarters -- the Directors of the Travel Partnership Corporation have approved several policy changes.

The Board of TTPC has approved a change to the name use policy of the .travel top level domain permitting the Registry to put in place incentives for name use, at its discretion.  The incentive policies and programs will be announced by the Registry from time to time.

NARALO Unaffiliated Member Representative


The NARALO is in the process of electing an individual to represent its unaffiliated members.

Requirements to be nominated:

  •  be subscribed to the NA-Discuss list
  • be a permanent resident of one of the countries/territories in the North American region as defined by ICANN
  • not be a member of a certified ALS
  • not be employed or contracted by, or have substantive financial interest in, an ICANN contracted registry or accredited registrar
Nominations may be sent to the NA-Discuss list until Thursday, 4 November 2010. 

LACRALO Showcase

The Latin American and Caribbean Regional At-Large Organisation (LACRALO) will organize a showcase event during the ICANN meeting in Cartagena in December 2010.  The "IT Showcase" will highlight the activities of the At-Large Structures in LACRALO in the region and will serve as a outreach event.

A LACRALO Showcase Working Group Call has been scheduled for Wednesday, 27 October at 1600 UTC. 

NCSG Charter Issues, again

Found on the NCSG Executive Committee mailing list:  

 "While I don't know the details yet because I was sent a corrupted document, I found out why, after having reached agreement with the Board, our charter has not been brought to a vote yet.  It seems there are a set of questions from the ICANN Staff that have to be answered.  I am waiting to see these questions, and hope they are mere formalities and qualifications as opposed to another effort for them to force our charter into the shape the Staff wants.  History does not make me confident.  Will keep you informed."


25 October, 2010

Australian Minister writes to ICANN opposing .xxx

Stephen Conroy, the Australian Minister of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, has written to ICANN regarding the .xxx TLD.  

The Honorable Minister writes:

 "I would like to express my strong opposition to the introduction of a .XXX top level domain by ICANN, because of the lack of identified public benefit... I urge the Board to seek GAC advice on the Revised Proposed Registry Agreement with ICM."

Transparency & ICANN Lobbying Strategies

While reviewing the Documentary Information Disclosure Policy pages, I came across this Staff statement in response to a GoDaddy request:

"In addition, the potential harm in adopting a practice of disclosing ICANN’s lobbying strategies greatly outweighs the public’s interest in reviewing ICANN’s lobbying efforts. Allowing public disclosure beyond that which is required under ICANN’s obligations to the Internal Revenue Service will inhibit and impair ICANN’s ability to undertake actions it deems necessary in fulfilling its mission and servicing the global Internet community. This harm/benefit analysis is also a sufficient justification for nondisclosure under the DIDP."

I would hazard a guess that not many in the community will agree with this position...

Disappearing Consumer Interest?

Neither the proposed ICANN Consumer Constituency nor the NCSG Consumer Interest Group currently appear to be functioning entities.  So, is the consumer interest factor dead at ICANN? 

Perhaps not.  The latest update to the At-Large Cartagena Schedule points to an 8 December discussion on "How ICANN groups can build a consumer agenda for ICANN" (moderated by end-user advocate Rosemary Sinclair).

GNSO Council Election Procedures

The draft GNSO Council Election Procedures (October/November 2010) have been posted.  This Thursday, at the upcoming Council meeting, is the final opportunity for councilors to revise these draft procedures.

Summary of .xxx comments now available

ICANN's Public Comment period on the "Revised Proposed Registry Agreement for .XXX sTLD and Due Diligence Documentation" has been awaiting a Staff Summary; that summary has now been posted.  

The summary highlights sixteen individual comments that have been flagged as particularly noteworthy; it also does a good job of analyzing the form or campaign submissions.  Missing, however, is the staff recommendation to the Board as to whether the proposed registry agreement for the .XXX sTLD is consistent with GAC advice which was required per ICANN Board Resolution 2010.08.05.22.

Compliance Newsletter Posted

ICANN's October 2010 Contractual Compliance Newsletter has been postedHighlights:

Of 119 transfer transactions reviewed, 27 were deemed non-compliant with the IRTP.

Throughout the latter part of 2009 and continuing through July 2010, ICANN observed fewer complaints concerning registrars failing to implement UDRP decisions.

William McKelligott, Senior Auditor, resigned from his position in May 2010. Senior Director David Giza also left the company in July 2010.

NOTE:  No news yet as to whether the Compliance Department will audit registrar public and primary contact information (Section 3.16 of the RAA requires registrars to provide on their web sites accurate contact details, including a valid email and mailing address).