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ICANN POLICY UPDATE | Volume 13, Issue 5 – June 2013

PDF Version [134 KB]

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/policy/update

CONTENTS:

Across ICANN

  1. What Do You Think of Moving Policy Update to myICANN?
  2. Issues Currently Open for Public Comment

ccNSO

  1. First ccNSO Draft Agenda Posted for ICANN 47 in Durban
  2. ccNSO Welcomes .PY (Paraguay) as Newest Member

GNSO

  1. Call for Volunteers: Drafting Team to Develop Charter for a GNSO Working Group on Metrics, Reporting
  2. GNSO Council Initiates Policy Development Process on Translation and Transliteration of Contact Information

ASO

  1. ASO Continues Due Diligence for Board Member Selection

At-Large

  1. ALAC Submits Two Policy Advice Statements on IDNs, New gTLDs
  2. EURALO Holds General Assembly, Public Welcome Reception at EuroDIG in Lisbon
  3. AFRALO Holds First of Three AFRALO Capacity Building Webinars

GAC

  1. GAC Advice on New gTLDs Delivered in Beijing

RSSAC

  1. RSSAC Restructure Underway

SSAC

  1. SSAC Overview

Read in Your Preferred Language

ICANN Policy Update is available in all six official languages of the United Nations. Policy Update is posted on ICANN's web site and available via online subscription. To receive the Update in your Inbox each month, visit the ICANN subscriptions page, enter your e-mail address, and select "Policy Update" to subscribe. This service is free.

ICANN Policy Update Statement of Purpose

Send questions, comments and suggestions to: policy-staff@icann.org.

Policy Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees

Address Supporting Organization ASO
Country Code Names Supporting Organization ccNSO
Generic Names Supporting Organization GNSO
At-Large Advisory Committee ALAC
Governmental Advisory Committee GAC
Root Server System Advisory Committee RSSAC
Security and Stability Advisory Committee SSAC

Across ICANN

1. What Do You Think of Moving Policy Update to myICANN?

In an attempt to streamline our communication with you and ensure you get just the information you're looking for, we are considering migrating Policy Update to delivery through myICANN later this year.

We know you rely on Policy Update for the latest status of issues working their way through the bottom-up, consensus-based policy development process within ICANN. We are investigating ways to make that same great content available through myICANN rather than through a monthly online newsletter sent to you via email.

We'd like your thoughts on this potential change and ask you to share your thoughts with us at policy-staff@icann.org. Please put "Policy Update Delivery" in the subject line of your email.

In the meantime, if you have not yet done so, please sign up today for a myICANN.org account, to make sure that you continue receiving Policy Update's high-level explanations of a broad range of ICANN policy development activities, detailed updates on specific issues and links to more information. It's easy and it's free!


2. Issues Currently Open for Public Comment

Numerous public comment periods are currently open on issues of interest to the ICANN community. Act now to share your views on such topics as:

Proposed Modification of GNSO Operating Procedures Concerning the Deadline for the Submission of Reports and Motions. The GNSO Council recommends changes to clarify deadlines for reports and motions. Comment period ends 24 May; reply period ends 14 June.

FY14 Draft Operating Plan and Budget. How shall ICANN allocate resources for the coming year? Reply period closes 21 June.

Whois Information Status Policy. This draft proposal calls for accredited registrars to use standard, common language in the Whois database to describe a domain name status, such as whether a domain name is being transferred or is in a legal dispute. Reply period closes 24 June.

Proposed Renewal of .INFO gTLD Registry Agreement. The current .INFO Registry Agreement with Afilias Limited expires on 30 June. Comment period closes 24 June; reply period closes 24 July.

Proposed Renewal of .BIZ gTLD Registry Agreement. The current .BIZ Registry Agreement with Neustar, Inc. expires on 30 June. Comment period closes 24 June; reply period closes 15 July.

For the full list of issues open for public comment, plus recently closed and archived public comment forums, visit the Public Comment web page.

The staff also populates a web page to help preview potential "upcoming" public comment opportunities. The recently updated "Public Comments – Upcoming" page provides information about potential future public comment opportunities. The page is designed to be updated after every ICANN Public Meeting to help individuals and the community to set priorities and plan their future workloads.


ccNSO

3. First ccNSO Draft Agenda Posted for ICANN 47 Durban

ccNSO Logo

At a Glance

The first draft agenda for the ccNSO meetings during ICANN's 47th public meeting in Durban has been posted. Check back frequently for updates.

Background

The ccNSO Programme Working Group is aiming to publish Public Meeting agendas as early as possible. Much of the content is defined by the feedback received from previous meeting surveys.

More Information

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


4. ccNSO Welcomes .PY (Paraguay) as Newest Member

At a Glance

.PY (Paraguay) joined the ccNSO as the 137th member of the ccNSO.

Recent Developments

NIC PY, the ccTLD operator of .PY (Paraguay), is the newest ccNSO member. Paraguay is in Central South America, northeast of Argentina and southwest of Brazil.

Background

The ccNSO is an organization within ICANN of country code top-level domain operators from around the world.

More Information

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


GNSO

5. Call for Volunteers: Drafting Team to Develop Charter for a GNSO Working Group on Metrics, Reporting

At a Glance

ICANN seeks volunteers to develop a charter for a future working group that will explore opportunities regarding reporting and metrics recommendations that could better assist the policy development process by enhancing fact-based decision-making, where applicable.

Recent Developments

The Drafting Team is expected to develop a Charter on the basis of the GNSO Working Group Guidelines [PDF, 350 KB] taking into account the Final Issue Report on Uniformity of Reporting [PDF, 1.5 MB]. The Report recommends that the Working Group:

  • Should review how the community can collaborate with contracted parties and other service providers to share complaint and abuse data that may help to further educate Registrants and Internet users when submitting complaints to relevant parties.
  • Could investigate more formal processes for requests of data, metrics and other reporting needs from the GNSO that in turn may aid GNSO policy development processes.

On 9 May, the GNSO Council approved the report's recommendations to await any further action from the ICANN Contractual Compliance Team regarding metrics and reporting until the conclusion of the team's three-year plan towards the end of 2013. In the meantime, the GNSO Council also adopted the recommendation to form a non-PDP Working Group tasked with exploring opportunities of reporting and metrics recommendations that might better inform policy development via fact-based decision making, where applicable. An availability review of both ICANN internal and external data sources is expected to be performed to help inform the deliberations of the WG.

Next Steps

The GNSO Council invites interested parties to provide names of volunteer participants who can be added to the drafting team mailing list. Anyone is welcome to join. Community members who wish to be invited to join the group should contact the GNSO Secretariat and will be expected to provide a Statement of Interest.

Background

In 2010, the Registration Abuse Policies Working Group (RAPWG) identified the "need for more uniformity in the mechanisms to initiate, track, and analyze policy-violation reports" and recommended "the GNSO and the larger ICANN community in general, create and support uniform reporting processes." The GNSO, in collaboration with the community and ICANN Contractual Compliance, deliberated the issues through due diligence analysis, a review of current state compliance reporting systems, and future state implementation plans within ICANN. Based on the information gathered, the GNSO Council recommended the creation of an Issue Report [PDF, 1.5 MB]. The report created by ICANN staff further outlined accomplishments regarding reporting and metrics for the Contractual Compliance function and it also reviewed other reporting sources that may be of relevance.

More Information

Staff Contact

Berry Cobb, ICANN


6. GNSO Council Initiates Policy Development Process on Translation and Transliteration of Contact Information

At a Glance

At its meeting on 13 June the GNSO Council approved a motion to initiate a Policy Development Process (PDP) on translation and transliteration of contact information. A group of volunteers will now be convened to draft the charter for the PDP Working Group, which is to be approved by the GNSO Council. Those interested to join this effort are encouraged to contact the GNSO Secretariat.

Recent Developments and Next Steps

ICANN staff submitted to the GNSO Council a Final Issue Report on Translation and Transliteration of Contact Information, following a public comment forum on a Preliminary Issue Report that ended on 1 March. The Report addressed the following issues and whether to initiate a PDP on them:

  1. Whether it is desirable to translate contact information to a single common language or transliterate contact information to a single common script.
  2. Who should decide who will bear the burden translating contact information to a single common language or transliterating contact information to a single common script.

At its meeting on 13 June the GNSO Council approved a motion to initiate a PDP on these two issues.In the motion the GNSO also requested staff to commission a study on the commercial feasibility of translation or transliteration systems for internationalized contact data. The study is expected to help inform the PDP Working Group in its deliberations.

The next steps in the process are for staff to commission the study described above, and to call for volunteers for a Drafting Team to develop a Charter for the PDP Working Group, which will be approved by the GNSO Council. The PDP Charter Drafting Team will address the two issues identified in the Final Issue Report and listed above.

If you wish to participate in the Drafting Team, please send an email to the GNSO Secretariat. You will be required to provide a Statement of Interest in order to participate.

Background

At the request of the GNSO Council on 17 October 2012, the Final Issue Report addressed the two issues listed above that are associated with the translation and transliteration of contact information, and whether to initiate a PDP on these issues. The two issues arise from recommendations in the Final Report provided by the Internationalized Registration Data Working Group (IRD-WG) in May 2012.

As noted in the Final Issue Report, these issues focus on Domain Name Registration Data and Directory Services (such as Whois) in generic top-level domains (gTLDs). In the context of these issues, "contact information" is a subset of Domain Name Registration Data. It is the information that enables someone using a Domain Name Registration Data Directory Service (such as Whois) to contact the domain name registration holder. It includes the name, organization, and postal address of the registered name holder, technical contact, as well as administrative contact. Domain Name Registration Data is accessible to the public via a Directory Service (also known as the Whois service). The Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA 3.3.1) specifies the data elements that must be provided by registrars (via Port 43 and via web-based services) in response to a query, but it does not require that data elements, such as contact information, must be translated or transliterated.

On the first issue, whether it is desirable to translate contact information to a single common language or transliterate contact information to a single common script. The IRD-WG noted that:

[t]o balance the needs and capabilities of the local registrant with the need of the (potential) global user of this data, one of the key questions…is whether DNRD-DS [Domain Name Registration Data Directory Services] should support multiple representations of the same registration data in different languages or scripts.

In particular, the IRD-WG members discussed whether it is desirable to adopt a "must be present" representation of contact data, in conjunction with local script support for the convenience of local users. By "must be present" the IRD-WG meant that contact data must be made available in a common script.

In general, the IRD-WG recognized that:

…the internationalized contact data can be translated or transliterated into the "must be present" representation. In this context, Translation is the process of conveying the meaning of some passage of text in one language, so that it can be expressed equivalently in another language. Transliteration is the process of representing the characters of an alphabetical or syllabic system of writing by the characters of a conversion alphabet.

Based on this definition, and consistent with the current state of domain name registration data, the IRD-WG noted that if transliteration were desired, then the "must be present" script would be the Latin script. If translation were desired, then the "must be present" language would be English.

The second issue, who should decide who should bear the burden translating contact information to a single common language or transliterating contact information to a single common script, relates to the concern expressed by the IRD-WG in its report that there are costs associated with providing translation and transliteration of contact information. For example, if a PDP determined that the registrar must translate or transliterate contact information, this policy would place a cost burden on the registrar.

More Information

Staff Contact

Julie Hedlund, Policy Director


ASO

7. ASO Continues Due Diligence for Board Member Selection

ASO Logo

ICANN's Address Supporting Organization (ASO) held its annual in-person meeting at the ICANN 46 Public Meeting in Beijing.

The ASO will announce the Board member for seat 10 before the ICANN 47 Public Meeting in Durban.

There are no global number resource policies under consideration at this time.

Staff Contact

Barbara Roseman, Policy Director and Technical Analyst


At-Large

8. ALAC Submits Policy Advice on IDNs, New gTLDs

At a Glance

The ALAC continues its high rate of preparing statements in response to ICANN public comments periods as well as comments and communications. Between late April and mid-May, the ALAC submitted two statements. The ALAC is currently developing several additional policy advice statements.

Recent Developments

The two ALAC policy advice statements and communications submitted between late April and mid-May are summarized below.

Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) and Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Variants

  • Call for a more open and flexible TMCH model that is "variants-friendly" and supports a community-based, bottom-up solution for TMCH implementation.
  • Ensure the IDN variant issue is addressed before the TMCH begins providing services to the new gTLD registries.
  • Request from the ICANN CEO an interim mechanism that can yield appropriate solutions efficiently and on an urgent basis that may involve the following:
    • ICANN (staff) providing relevant expertise to the community to develop interim services in order to authenticate and verify that trademarks are compatible with variants. Such services should be interoperable with the TMCH so as to enable the timely launch of the IDN TLDs
    • A consideration for expediting the Label Generation Rules process for the Han script
    • Longer-term recommendation: A review of the IDN Tables and IDN Registration Rules and Policies submitted by new gTLD applicants offering IDN registrations as a basis for developing a more comprehensive, longer-term solution

ALAC Statement to the Board Regarding Security and Stability Implications of New gTLDs

  • The ALAC notes that concerns have been raised by PayPal on 15 March in a letter to the CEO and by Verisign on 28 March in a letter to the Chairman and CEO.
  • The ALAC recognizes the achievements of the ICANN Security Team working in conjunction with the Certification Authority Browser (CAB) Forum  to limit the period of vulnerability of internal networks holding certificates which conflict with new gTLDs.
  • The ALAC urges the Board to closely monitor the work being done by the ICANN Security Team with the CAB Forum and ensure the Board's decisions are informed by the progress of this work to reduce risk.
  • The ALAC urges the Board to take full consideration of relevant SSAC advice and recommendations to ensure that residual risk is minimized and specifically that residual risk is not transferred to third parties such as current registry operators, new gTLD applicants, registrants, consumers and individual end users.

More Information

Staff Contact

Matt Ashtiani, Policy Specialist


9. EURALO Holds General Assembly, Public Welcome Reception at EuroDIG in Lisbon

At a Glance

Members of the European Regional At-Large Organization (EURALO) will be holding their annual General Assembly on 19 June on the sidelines of the 2013 European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) that will take place 20-21 June in Lisbon, Portugal. The representatives of over 80 percent of the EURALO At-Large Structures (ALSes) will be participating in this important annual event. The agenda includes guest speakers Sébastien Bachollet, ICANN Board Member, Nigel Hickson, Regional Vice President for Europe, and Olivier Crépin-Leblond, ALAC Chair. Following the GA between 19:30-21:00, EURALO will be hosting an Outreach Reception that will feature Fadi Chehadé, ICANN CEO and President as guest speaker.

Recent Developments

The EURALO GA agenda includes procedural issues, including approval of the 2012-2013 Board Report and EURALO Officer Selections. There will also be significant discussion on substantive issues including:

  • How to improve EURALO's in-reach and member involvement? (By what means, steps and tools?)
  • Definition of thematic priorities (Where EURALO can provide special expertise and may assure follow-up)
  • How to encourage more participation at ALAC – ICANN (including regular Working Groups, etc.)
  • Briefing on the EuroDIG 2013 and suggested EURALO ALS Activities

More Information

Staff Contact

At-Large Staff


10. AFRALO Holds First of Three AFRALO Capacity Building Webinars

At a Glance

AFRALO held the first of three AFRALO Capacity Building Webinars on 11 June on the topic of "ICANN Mission, Structure and Constituencies." The agenda included a presentation on ICANN's Mission, Structure and Constituencies with a focus on Africa by Pierre Dandjinou, ICANN Vice President for Stakeholder Engagement, Africa. Olivier Crépin-Leblond, ALAC Chair, presented on the topic of the Role of the ALAC and the At-Large Community.

This webinar is part of a series of three AFRALO Capacity Building activities that resulted from various face-to-face capacity building activities carried out by AFRALO during the ICANN Meeting in Dakar in September 2011.

Recent Developments

The AFRALO Capacity Building Webinars will be on the following topics:

  • Webinar 1 – Topic: ICANN Mission, Structure and Constituencies
  • Webinar 2 – Topics: ICANN's role in the infrastructure of the Internet and ICANN Public Participation and Communication. This webinar is to be scheduled to occur during the 19-21 June time period.
  • Webinar 3 – Topic: How you can help shape the future on the Internet? This webinar is to be scheduled the week of 1 July.

More Information

Staff Contact

At-Large Staff


GAC

11. GAC Advice on New gTLDs Delivered in Beijing

At a Glance

The GAC last met during sessions at ICANN's public meeting in Beijing, where they focused on delivering GAC advice to the ICANN Board on categories of strings and specific applications. This advice is detailed in the Beijing GAC Communiqué [PDF, 159 KB].

Background

ICANN receives input from governments through the GAC. The GAC's key role is to provide advice to ICANN on issues of public policy, and especially where there may be an interaction between ICANN's activities or policies and national laws or international agreements. The GAC usually meets three times a year in conjunction with ICANN meetings, where it discusses issues with the ICANN Board and other ICANN Supporting Organizations, Advisory Committees and other groups. The GAC may also discuss issues between times with the Board either through face-to-face meetings or by teleconference.

More Information

Staff Contact

Jeannie Ellers, ICANN staff


RSSAC

12. RSSAC Restructure Underway

ICANN's Root Server System Advisory Committee is implementing their transition plan and preparing procedures for their operational processes.

The RSSAC is also defining metrics for assessing the health of the root server system and creating a baseline of data to be used when the new gTLDs begin entering the root zone. This will allow the root server operators to assess changes, if any, that accompany an expanded root zone.

More Information

Staff Contact

Barbara Roseman, Policy Director and Technical Analyst


SSAC

13. SSAC Overview

Background

The Security and Stability Advisory Committee advises the ICANN community and Board on matters relating to the security and integrity of the Internet's naming and address allocation systems. This includes operational matters (e.g., matters pertaining to the correct and reliable operation of the root name system), administrative matters (e.g., matters pertaining to address allocation and Internet number assignment), and registration matters (e.g., matters pertaining to registry and registrar services such as Whois). SSAC engages in ongoing threat assessment and risk analysis of the Internet naming and address allocation services to assess where the principal threats to stability and security lie, and advises the ICANN community accordingly.

The SSAC produces Reports, Advisories, and Comments on a range of topics. Reports are longer, substantive documents, which usually take a few or several months to develop. Advisories are shorter documents produced more quickly to provide timely advice to the community. Comments are responses to reports or other documents prepared by others, i.e. ICANN staff, SOs, other ACs, or, perhaps, by other groups outside of ICANN. The SSAC considers matters pertaining to the correct and reliable operation of the root name system, to address allocation and Internet number assignment, and to registry and registrar services such as Whois. The SSAC also tracks and assesses threats and risks to the Internet naming and address allocation services.

More Information

Staff Contact

Julie Hedlund, Policy Director

update-jun13-en.pdf  [134 KB]

Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."