ICANN | ICANN Policy Update: Volume 08, Issue 10

The ICANN Policy Update contains brief summaries of issues being addressed by the ICANN community’s bottom-up policy development structure, as well as information on related policy development activities. ICANN’s Policy Staff publishes these monthly updates to maximize transparency and encourage broad community participation in ICANN’s policy development activities.

Links to additional information are included and readers are encouraged to go beyond these brief summaries to learn more about the ICANN community’s work. As always, the Policy Staff welcomes comments and suggestions on how to improve its policy communications efforts. Please send these comments to policy-staff@icann.org.

ICANN Policy Update Available in Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Spanish, English

The ICANN Policy Update is available in all six official languages of the United Nations: English (EN), Spanish (ES), French (FR), Arabic (AR), Chinese (Simplified -- siZH), and Russian (RU). This has been done on a trial basis to determine utility. The Policy Update is posted on ICANN’s website and available via online subscription. If you would like us to send these updates directly to your inbox each month, simply go to the ICANN subscriptions page, enter your e-mail address, and select “Policy Update” to subscribe. This service is free of charge to subscribers. More information is available at:

ICANN Policy Updates: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/policy/
Subscribe to Policy Updates: http://www.icann.org/en/newsletter/
ICANN Policy Area: http://www.icann.org/en/policy/

What’s on the Calendar for today?

Keep up-to-date on what’s happening in ICANN policy development by visiting the online calendars of ICANN’s policy development bodies. Three of the most active calendars include:

At-Large Calendar at http://www.atlarge.icann.org/
Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Master Calendar, including links to agendas and MP3 recordings of meetings at http://ccnso.icann.org/calendar/
Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Master Calendar, including links to agendas and MP3 recordings of meetings, at http://gnso.icann.org/calendar/index.html

1. YOUR COMMENTS NEEDED ON POLICY-RELATED ISSUES

As of this writing, public comment periods are open on two issues of interest to the ICANN community. Act now for the opportunity to share your views on:

Proposed Bylaws Change – The ICANN Nominating Committee seeks public comment on a bylaws change that would include country of domicile, not just citizenship, as a consideration in bringing greater diversity to the make up of the ICANN Board of Directors.Comment period closes 17 December 2008.

Draft Implementation Plan for IDN ccTLDs – Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) would allow Internet users around the world to establish domain names in their native languages and scripts. The ICANN Board seeks public comment on a draft implementation plan for an IDN ccTLD fast track process. Comment period closes on 7 January 2009.

2. DISTANCE LEARNING…AUDIO POLICY BRIEFINGS ON MANY TOPICS NOW AVAILABLE

At a Glance

ICANN’s Policy Department offers a series of multilingual webcasts specifically designed as a fast, efficient introduction for stakeholders across the ICANN community to a range of important policy issues.

Recent Developments

ICANN Staff regularly organizes audio briefings on topical policy issues. These briefings focus on issues of interest to both the individual Internet user as well as the ICANN stakeholder communities. Each webcast features a briefing on the issue conducted via telephone and can be accessed on ICANN’s website by anyone interested in learning about the topic. Briefings generally feature simultaneous interpretation so users may participate in English, Spanish or French, and recordings are available in all three languages, along with any presentation materials from the briefings.

More Information

Information on briefings: http://www.atlarge.icann.org/en/audio-briefings
Available briefings:

Staff Contact

Matthias Langenegger, At-Large Secretariat

3. MULTILINGUAL MAILING LISTS AVAILABLE

At a Glance

A new mailing list translator will better enable people all over the world to take part in ICANN policy discussions.

Recent Developments

With the support of many ICANN community members, ICANN Staff has created an email list translation interface that is now in production use with At-Large regions. The interface can be used one of two ways:

One-way translation output to a mailing list archive from an English-only list, allowing non-English readers to follow ICANN organizations’ public discussions in several languages, or;
As a two-way interface, allowing non-English postings to be read as English, and vice-versa.

Not every language is available – but more are regularly being added by SYSTRAN, the provider of the machine translation. The list of languages is as follows:

English <> Arabic	French <> Dutch
English <> Chinese	French <> German
English <> Dutch	French <> Italian
English <> French	French <> Portuguese
English <> German	French <> Spanish
English <> Italian	English <> Korean
English <> Japanese	English <> Portuguese
English <> Russian	English <> Spanish
English <> Greek

More Information

Contact Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large, if you are interested in enabling either style of multilingual interface.

4. GNSO IMPROVEMENTS IMPLEMENTATION EFFORTS KICKING IN TO GEAR

At a Glance

With most GNSO Improvements decisions now resolved by the ICANN Board, the GNSO community has shifted focus and is engaged in efforts to implement a series of organizational and structural changes designed to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accessibility of the organization. Interested community members are encouraged to offer their expertise and brainpower by volunteering to participate in the effort.

Recent Developments

Despite a tremendous community workload of substantive policy issues, significant progress is being made in overall implementation coordination, planning for transition to the newly structured GNSO Council, and constituency and stakeholder group formation efforts. Those efforts are described below:

A. General GNSO Improvements Implementation Efforts:

Both the new Operations Steering Committee (OSC) and the new Policy Process Steering Committee (PPSC) held face-to-face organizational and introductory meetings during the ICANN Cairo meeting in early November. Both committees have met twice since the Cairo meetings, have elected Chairs and have begun formalizing their own charters as well as developing the charters of the various work teams they intend to form. Community members will be asked to volunteer for many of those work team efforts.

The PPSC, slated to meet on a bi-weekly basis, oversees the work of two work teams: one focused on developing a new and improved Policy Development Process (PDP) and a second on a standardized working group model. The OSC initially plans to meet on a weekly basis and will oversee work teams’ efforts to implement Board directives regarding:

GNSO Council operations;
Stakeholder group and constituency processes and operations; and
Efforts to improve substantially the various communications functions in the GNSO community that will lead to broader and more effective community participation in all policy development activities.

Both committees are urging the widest possible community participation on their respective work teams to assure that all points of view are considered in creating new PDP approaches, working group models and community processes that improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the GNSO community. The work teams will be open to all forms of ICANN stakeholders, providing an opportunity for the broad sharing of insight and expertise. All legitimate points of view will receive fair, unbiased treatment and emphasis will be placed on identifying points of significant agreement and consensus in all teams.

The ICANN Policy Staff, in cooperation with the GNSO Council, is also currently engaged in a community survey effort. The survey seeks constituency member feedback on a number of recommendations that emerged from the 3 February 2008 Report of the Board Governance Committee Working Group on GNSO Improvements (BCG-WG) and which were approved by the Board in June. The Staff developed an online survey instrument prior to the ICANN Cairo Meeting that focuses on four specific areas of the BCG-WG report relating to constituencies:

Developing a standardized "Toolkit" of services;
Creating a centralized membership registry or database;
Knowledge/skill training for GNSO leaders and members; and
Recruitment/outreach programs associated with growth and expansion.

The collective results and tabulations of the survey effort will become input to various working teams chartered to develop approaches and solutions for GNSO improvements consistent with the BGC-WG recommendations. The survey effort will continue through the middle of December.

B. GNSO Council Restructuring Efforts

As directed by the ICANN Board, implementation of and the transition to a newly structured GNSO Council will follow its own specific timetable. The Board expects a new council to be seated at the June 2009 ICANN Asia Meeting in Sydney, Australia. The current GNSO Council began discussing specific implementation planning for the transition during the Cairo meetings. The Council prepared a report outlining the issues, timetables and possible approaches to an efficient transition to the newly structured GNSO Council, and it shared the latest version of that document with ICANN Board members prior to their 11 December meeting.

C. Constituency and Stakeholder Formation Efforts:

At the direction of the Board, the ICANN Staff has prepared an extensive collection of materials and advice for existing GNSO constituencies, new GNSO constituencies and new GNSO Stakeholder Groups to consider and consult as they move forward with efforts to either re-confirm their existing charters or establish their new charters for Board review.

Constituency Developments

There are several different efforts underway to create notices of intent to form GNSO constituencies by various non-commercial interests:

Near the end of October, a group tentatively named the Cybersafety Constituency submitted a Notice of Intent To Form A New GNSO Constituency (NOIF) to the ICANN Staff. A copy of the NOIF was circulated to Board, GNSO Council and GNSO Constituency members during the ICANN Cairo Meeting. See http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/noi-cybersafety-constituency-redacted-20oct08-en.doc. To date the group has not yet filed a formal petition for Board recognition.
Members of the At-Large community are also discussing how to potentially create a constituency within the new Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) that would enable the voice of individual Internet users to be represented in a way that is not duplicative of the ALAC as an Advisory Committee.
ICANN Staff also has received word of other interested parties. All NOIF forms received will be posted on the GNSO Improvements Information Page.

Stakeholder Group Developments

Constituencies and potential constituencies have been discussing the formation of Stakeholder Groups and how to fulfill the Board’s expectation that they submit new Stakeholder Group charters/petitions to the Board for review in late February for consideration during March 2009.

D. Role Of Individual Internet Users in the GNSO

At the direction of the ICANN Board, the Staff opened a 30-day public consultation forum in late October asking interested community members to provide insights, comments and opinions on the appropriate role of individual Internet Users in the GNSO. Potential commenters were asked to consider addressing the inclusion of registrants and individual users in the GNSO in a manner that compliments the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and its supporting structures and ensures that registrants' and individual Internet users' gTLD interests are effectively represented within the GNSO. Staff published a report summarizing and analyzing the various comments submitted in the forum on 1 December. The Board passed a resolution on 1 October 2008 requesting a community recommendation on this matter.

Next Steps

Recruiting efforts to encourage participation in the GNSO implementation work teams will begin shortly.

The community survey effort requesting GNSO constituency member input will end this month with results due to be shared with the community by early January.

At its February 2009 meeting, the ICANN Board is expected to review the role of individual Internet users in the GNSO.

Background

Click here for more details.

More Information:

GNSO Improvements Information Web Page: http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/
Request for Community Input on Individual Internet Users’ in the GNSO (25 October 2008): http://www.icann.org/en/reviews/gnso/individual-users-role-25oct08-en.htm.
BGC WG GNSO Improvements Report (3 February 2008): http://www.icann.org/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-improvements-report-03feb08.pdf
Report To ICANN Board From Working Group on GNSO Council Restructuring (WG-GCR Report), 25 July 2008: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-council-restructuring-report-25jul08.pdf
Minutes of the Special Meeting of the ICANN Board of Directors, 28 August 2008: http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-28aug08.htm
Preliminary Report, Resolutions of Special Board Meeting, 1 October 2008: http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/prelim-report-01oct08.htm
Independent Reviews: http://www.icann.org/en/reviews/

Staff Contact

Robert Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director

5. ICANN BEGINS REVIEW OF GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS FRAMEWORK

At A Glance

The ICANN Board has authorized the formation of a community-wide working group to review the organization’s system of geographic regions to help ensure effective international diversity in ICANN’s structures. Interested ICANN Structures are in the process of naming their participants in the effort.

Recent Developments

The GNSO and ccNSO have appointed representatives to the Community-Wide WG on Geographical Regions: for the GNSO -- Olga Cavalli, Nominating Committee Appointee, GNSO Council, and Zahid Jamil, Commercial and Business Users Constituency (CBUC) Representative, GNSO Council; and for the ccNSO -- David Archbold, .ky, and Fahd Batayneh, .jo.

Next Steps

The Board would like to approve the composition of the new working group at its earliest opportunity. Subsequently, the Board expects the working group, as its first order of business, to draft and seek community input on a proposed charter, and to submit the draft document for community review. The Board would like to consider and approve the group’s charter at the March 2009 Board meeting in Mexico City. In drafting the charter, the Board expects the working group to focus, but not limit, its work on the criteria for assigning countries, dependencies and recognized geopolitical entities to a Geographic Region.

Background

Click here for more details.

More Information

ccNSO Working Group Report and Recommendations: http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/ccnso-final-report-regions-wg-240907.pdf
2 November 2007 ICANN Board Resolution: http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-02nov07.htm
November 2008 Adopted Board Resolutions - Cairo http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-07nov08.htm

Staff Contact:

Robert Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director

6. GNSO COUNCIL SEATS REPRESENTATIVES AND PLANS FOR CHAIR ELECTIONS

At a Glance

The GNSO Council announces election results, adding four new members and welcoming back five others, and schedules the GNSO Council Chair vote to open 22 December 2008 .

Recent Developments

Following recent elections, the GNSO Council adds four new Councilors:

Terry Davis - Nominating Committee appointee
Mary Wong – Non Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC)
William Drake - Non Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC)
Stéphane van Gelder – Registrars Constituency

Councilors reelected were:

Chuck Gomes and Edmon Chung, gTLD Registries Constituency
Mike Rodenbaugh, Commercial and Business Users Constituency (CBUC)
Kristina Rosette and Cyril Chua, Intellectual Property Interests Constituency (IPC)

The Internet Service and Connectivity Providers Constituency remains the same: Tony Harris, Latin America/Carribean; Tony Holmes, Europe; and Greg Ruth, North America.

GNSO elections for a new GNSO Council Chair will begin later this month. The Council Chair nomination process began on 1 December and closes on 15 December, as this Policy Update goes to press, so nominee names are not available at this writing. Voting by secret electronic ballot starts on Monday, 22 December 2008 at 15:00 UTC and closes on Wednesday, 7 January 2009 at 15:00 UTC. The results will be published thereafter and the Council will confirm the vote at a scheduled Council meeting. The newly elected GNSO Council Chair will serve from 1 February 2008 until the newly structured GNSO Council is seated and a new chair is elected.

More Information:

Click here for more details.

Staff Contact:

Glen de Saint Gery, GNSO Secretariat

7. REGISTRATION ABUSE POLICIES EXAMINED BY GNSO

At a Glance

The GNSO Council to take a closer look at registration abuse policies and may decide if wider action is needed.

Recent Developments

At its recent meeting on 20 November, the GNSO Council reviewed and discussed the registration abuse policies issues report and decided to vote on whether to initiate a policy development process (PDP) at its next meeting.

Next Steps

The GNSO Council is expected to vote on the possible initiation of a PDP at its next meeting on 18 December 2008.

Background

On 25 September 2008, the GNSO Council adopted a motion requesting an issues report on registration abuse policies. The objective of the issues report is to identify existing provisions in registry-registrar agreements relating to abuse as well as to identify and describe potential options for further Council consideration.

More Information

Registration Abuse Policies Issues Report, 29 October 2008: http://gnso.icann.org/issues/registration-abuse/gnso-issues-report-registration-abuse-policies-29oct08.pdf

Translations of the Executive Summary of the Issues report: http://gnso.icann.org/policies/

Staff Contacts

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor, and Marika Konings, Policy Director

8. MAKING IT EASIER TO TRANSFER DOMAINS BETWEEN REGISTRARS

At a Glance

The Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) aims to provide a straightforward procedure for domain name holders to transfer their names from one ICANN-accredited registrar to another. The GNSO is reviewing and considering revisions to this policy.

Recent Developments

As part of a broader review of this policy, the first in a set of five PDPs is currently ongoing. This first PDP addresses so called ‘new IRTP issues’ dealing with questions relating to the exchange of registrant e-mail information, the potential for including new forms of electronic authentication and potential provisions for "partial bulk transfers."

New IRTP Issues -- Set A

The Working Group is reviewing the first draft of the Initial Report, which was prepared by ICANN staff.

Next Steps

New IRTP Issues -- Set A

Following the review of the draft Initial Report by the Working Group, it will be submitted for public comment and a second round of Constituency input.

Background

Click here for more details.

More Information

Draft Advisory:

http://gnso.icann.org/issues/transfers/gnso-draft-transfer-advisory-14nov07.pdf

PDP Recommendations:

http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/transfer-wg-recommendations-pdp-groupings-19mar08.pdf

Issues Report, Set A:

http://gnso.icann.org/issues/transfers/transfer-issues-report-set-a-23may08.pdf

Charter Inter Registrar Transfer Policy -- Part A PDP Working Group: https://st.icann.org/gnso-council/index.cgi?irtp_pdp_a_wg_charter

Staff Contact

Marika Konings, Policy Director

9. CONSTITUENCIES SHARE VIEWS ON NEED FOR WHOIS STUDIES

At a Glance

WHOIS is the data repository containing registered domain names, registrant contacts and other critical information. Questions persist concerning the use and misuse of this important resource. The GNSO Council must decide whether studies of this matter are warranted and, if so, which topics need to be addressed.\

Recent Developments

The GNSO Council conducted a special meeting on 10 December for constituencies to share points of view on the need for WHOIS studies. A second meeting is planned before the end of the month. Meanwhile, three constituencies submitted their views and the Council adopted a method for continuing to move this process forward. Major elements of the Council process include:

Categorizing, combining and assessing proposals in terms of whether they can be pursued with existing data or whether professional help is required;
Examining whether certain hypotheses can be tested with a single study;
Determining whether there is sufficient evidence to substantiate or refute (and thereby eliminate) certain hypotheses;
Rating each study’s value in affecting future policy;
Adjusting all for balance; and
Requesting that the ICANN staff obtain cost estimates as needed.

On the recent call Council members recognized the need for expeditious decision-making and emphasized their desire to work through this process quickly, hopefully within another call or two.

Next Steps

At the conclusion of this process, the Council will decide which studies should be conducted.

Background

Click here for more details.

More Information

GNSO WHOIS policy development page http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/
The suggestions for further studies of WHOIS offered by the Government Advisory Committee on 16 April 2008 can be found at: http://www.icann.org/correspondence/karlins-to-thrush-16apr08.pdf
WHOIS Study Hypothesis Report, 26 August 2008 http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-study-hypothesis-group-report-to-council-26aug08.pdf

Staff Contact

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counsellor

10. HOW DO WE DEAL WITH FAST FLUXING CYBERCRIMINALS?

At a Glance

Fast flux hosting refers to techniques used by cybercriminals to evade detection by rapidly modifying IP addresses and/or name servers. The GNSO is exploring appropriate action.

Recent Developments

The GNSO’s Fast Flux Working Group has been discussing a draft Initial Report prepared by Staff and will be finalizing it over the next few weeks.

Next Steps

Following publication of the Initial Report, public comments and a second round of constituency statements will be solicited. These comments will be considered in the development of a Final Report.

The Working Group's Final Report will discuss a series of questions about fast fluxing (see background information) and the range of possible answers developed by its members. The Report also will outline potential next steps for Council deliberation. These next steps may include further work items for the Working Group or policy recommendation for constituency and community review and comment, and for Council deliberation.

Background

Click here for more details.

More Information

SSAC Report 025 on Fast Flux Hosting, January 2008:
- English: http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025.pdf
- French: http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025-fr.pdf
- Spanish: http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025-es.pdf
Issues Report on Fast Flux Hosting, corrected 31 March 2008: http://gnso.icann.org/issues/fast-flux-hosting/gnso-issues-report-fast-flux-25mar08.pdf
Limited translations of the Issues Report on Fast Flux Hosting available at: http://gnso.icann.org/issues/ (under "Fast Flux")
25 June GNSO Council resolution on Fast Flux Hosting http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/

Staff Contacts

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor and Marika Konings, Policy Director

11. ALAC REQUESTS ISSUES REPORT ON EXPIRED DOMAIN NAME RECOVERY

At a Glance

To what extent should registrants be able to reclaim their domain names after they expire? The At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) has asked the GNSO for an Issues Report to explore this matter further.

Recent Developments

During the ICANN meeting in Cairo meetings, the ALAC voted to request an Issues Report on the subject of registrants being able to recover domain names after their formal expiration date. The ALAC request was submitted to the GNSO Council on 20 November 2008. ICANN Staff prepared the Issues Report on post-expiration domain name recovery and submitted it to the GNSO Council on 5 December, 2008.

Next Steps

The GNSO Council is expected to discuss the issues report at its next meeting.

More Information

ALAC motion: https://st.icann.org/alac/index.cgi?recovery_of_expired_domain_names
ALAC request: http://www.atlarge.icann.org/en/correspondence/correspondence-20nov08-en.htm
GNSO Issues Report on Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery http://gnso.icann.org/issues/post-expiration-recovery/report-05dec08.pdf

Staff Contact

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor and Marika Konings, Policy Director

12. AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE FINALIZING ADVISORIES

At a Glance

The ALAC is finalizing policy statements on several subjects. These will be transmitted to the Board in December.

Recent Developments

Following-up on work conducted by the At-Large community during the Cairo ICANN meeting and throughout November, the ALAC is completing policy advisories this month on:

The draft Implementation Plan for IDN ccTLDs, currently under public consultation until 9 January;
The ALAC Review Mid-Point Consultation Report, which concluded its public consultation on 12 December; and
A Letter to the Board on Issues with Public Participation and other aspects of ICANN Meetings.

At-Large community members, spearheaded by Beau Brendler, ALAC Chair Cheryl Langdon-Orr and others, are working on a draft statement on the New GTLD Draft Applicant Guidebook and related materials. Finalized comments are expected in early January, during the consultation window for non-English submissions.

The community is also continuing to discuss the RAA Amendments process. ICANN Staff has been asked to prepare briefings so that the next steps in further amending the RAA can be better understood. The At-Large community is discussing the need for further amendments beyond those currently proposed.

Next Steps

Final comments from the community on the statements will be incorporated, and the ALAC will vote on the results. The ALAC is voting this month on whether or not to recommend the current RAA Amendments package for GNSO approval.

More Information

Draft Statement on the Implementation Plan for IDN ccTLDs: https://st.icann.org/idn-policy/index.cgi?draft_comments_on_idn_cctld_fast_track_draft_implementation_plan_v_0_2_4_november_2008
Draft Statement on the ALAC Review Mid-Point Consultation Report: https://st.icann.org/alac-docs/index.cgi?alac_statement_on_the_bgc_alac_review_mid_term_report_al_alac_st_1008_2
Letter from the ALAC to the Board Chair on ICANN meeting issues: https://st.icann.org/alac/index.cgi?letter_to_the_board_on_public_participation

Staff Contact

Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large

13. AT-LARGE APPOINTS LIAISONS FOR 2008/2009 YEAR

At a Glance

The At-Large Advisory Committee appoints liaisons to several bodies and processes each year. Some positions are mandated by the ICANN Bylaws, and some are based upon At-Large community interests.

Recent Developments

The ALAC appointed the following liaisons for the period from the 2008 ICANN Annual General Meeting (AGM) to the 2009 AGM by vote immediately following close of the Cairo ICANN meeting:

ICANN Board of Directors: Wendy Seltzer (USA)
GNSO Liaison: Alan Greenberg (Canada)
ccNSO Liaison: Rudy Vansnick (Belgium)
IDN Policy: Sivasubramanian Muthusamy (India)
NCUC: Beau Brendler (USA)
SSAC: Robert Guerra (Canada)
.MOBI Policy Advisory Board: Andres Piazza (Argentina)

Staff Contact

Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large

14. PREPARATIONS FOR AT-LARGE SUMMIT IN MEXICO CITY CONTINUE

At A Glance

The ICANN Board of Directors during its Paris meeting approved a proposal for an At-Large Summit, and the At-Large Community and staff have been working since that time on the organization of the event.

Recent Developments:

The At-Large Community, composed of more than 100 At-Large Structures, proposed the At-Large Summit in Mexico City as a chance for its representatives to meet and develop the community’s capacity for engagement with ICANN, to highlight the successes of the community in recent years, and to build upon its activity to ensure that the interest of the world’s more than 1 billion individual Internet users are well represented in the development of Internet name and number policy.

The community has been working actively on organization and programming of the event and will continue to do so. The Summit, scheduled 28 February to 6 March, will feature:

General Sessions at the open and close;
Convening of five policy working groups and the production of statements for ratification by the whole Summit at the closing General Session;
Annual General Assemblies by each Regional At-Large Organization;
An exhibition of materials – both printed and audiovisual – allowing the whole ICANN community to see what the diverse groups representing individual Internet users are about and what they are doing throughout the world.

Next Steps

The At-Large Summit working group is finalizing a survey that will allow the subjects for the five working groups to be chosen by the At-Large community members, from amongst a list of the subjects that are currently under discussion in the ICANN community.

More Information

The At-Large Summit Working Group working wiki: https://st.icann.org/summit-wg/index.cgi?at_large_summit_working_group

Staff Contact

Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large

15. GLOBAL IPV4 POLICY ADOPTED IN ALL REGIONS

At a Glance

Regional Internet Registries have adopted a policy to allocate the remaining IPv4 address blocks.

Recent Developments

All five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) have approved a proposed policy to allocate the remaining IPv4 address blocks. ARIN, LACNIC, AfriNIC and RIPE had all previously adopted the measure. Final adoption in APNIC took place on 20 November 2008.

Next Steps

T he proposal will be reviewed by the Number Resource Organization Executive Committee and the Address Supporting Organization Address Council and forwarded to the ICANN Board for ratification.

Background

Click here for more details.

More Information

Background Report IPV4, updated 8 September 2008 http://www.icann.org/announcements/proposal-ipv4-report-29nov07.htm

Staff Contact

Olof Nordling, Director Services Relations

16. SSAC KEEPS SHARP FOCUS ON DOMAIN HIJACKING AND PHISHING PREVENTION MEASURES

At a Glance

Activity continues across a number of fronts to address domain name registration security, Whois, and phishing issues.

Recent Developments

SSAC continues its study of measures registrars and resellers should consider to provide better protection against hijacking and phishing of domain administration accounts. While the initial report will focus specifically on registrar and reseller measures, SSAC is also considering whether a broader set of security measures, implemented by all parties involved in the registration process, might better protect business critical domain name portfolios.

Also of interest:

SSAC continues to evaluate the state of DNSSEC "readiness." The most recent focus is on implementation experience with RFC 5011, Automated Updates of DNS Security (DNSSEC) Trust Anchors.
Dave Piscitello collaborated with a member of the APWG to write an advisory on phishing attacks using subdomain (third level) labels that can be registered via free web hosting providers. This advisory was published by the APWG as a companion piece to its 1H2008 Global Phishing Survey.
SSAC evaluations of WHOIS services and phishing attacks continue. SSAC met with the GNSO to discuss collaborative efforts to assess whether directory services might serve the community better in the future than existing WHOIS services.
SSAC is studying "internationalized" registration contact information to determine appropriate ways to collect, store and display registration information to provide users and registrants with the ability to use local languages when registering and examining domain registration records.

More Information:

Global Phishing Survey: Domain Name Use and Trends in 1H2008
http://www.antiphishing.org/reports/APWG_GlobalPhishingSurvey1H2008.pdf
Making Waves in the Phisher’ Safest Harbors: Exposing the Dark Side of Subdomain Registries (Piscitello & Rasmussen)
http://www.antiphishing.org/reports/APWG_Advisory_on_Subdomain_Registries.pdf

Staff Contact

Dave Piscitello

17. EUROPEAN REGISTRY/REGISTRAR REGIONAL GATHERING

At a Glance

European Registries/Registrars to gather in Rome.

Recent Developments

The European Registry/Registrar Regional Gathering will take place in Rome on 21-23 January, 2008. ICANN hosts regular gatherings in different regions to broaden participation in the ICANN process for gTLD registries and ICANN-accredited registrars. ICANN’s Policy Staff will have a representative at the meeting and provide a briefing on 23 January concerning the communities’ latest key policy activities.

Staff Contact:

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor

18. CCNSO NOMINATES SILBER FOR ICANN BOARD, ELECTS YOUNG-EUM LEE TO CCNSO COUNCIL

At a Glance

Michael Silber was nominated to take the ccNSO seat on the ICANN Board of Directors. A run-off election filled the Asia-Pacific seat on the ccNSO Council with Young-Eum Lee.

Recent Developments

Michael Silber, .za, has been nominated to fill the ccNSO seat on the ICANN Board. Silber was the only candidate put forward during the nomination process, which opened on 17 November and closed on 8 December, 2008. The ccNSO Council must confirm the nomination. If confirmed, Silber will replace Demi Getschko, ccNSO’s current representative on the ICANN board. Getschko’s term expires in May 2009.

Current Councilor Young-Eum Lee (.kr) has won a run-off election and will continue to represent the Asia-Pacific region on the ccNSO Council. The election ended on the 10th December 2008. Lee will serve another three-year term, beginning in March 2009.

Other recently-elected ccNSO Council members include: Africa - Vika Mpisane, .za; Europe - Juhani Juselius, .fi ; Latin America & Caribbean - Patricio Poblete, .cl ; and North America - Byron Holland, .ca.

More Information

ccNSO Nominations: http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/nominations.htm
ccNSO Elections: http://ccnso.icann.org/about/elections/election-report-12dec08.pdf

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat

19. CCNSO CREATES GROUPS ON STRATEGIC & OPERATIONAL INTERACTIONS, GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

At a Glance

The ccNSO appoints seven representatives to its Strategic and Operational Plan Committee, and creates an Ad-Hoc Working Group on Geographic Names.

Recent Developments

The ccNSO Council has established a committee to provide annual input into ICANN's Strategic and Operational Plan. A Council call for volunteers produced several candidates, indicating the community's keen interest in the topic.

The ccNSO Council appointed following people to the committee: Fahd Batayneh, .jo; Lesley Cowley, .uk; Byron Holland, .ca; Erick Iriarte, LACTLD; Paulos Nyirenda, .mw; Oscar Robles-Garay, .mx; and Peter Van Roste, CENTR.

The ccNSO also established an Ad-hoc Working Group on Geographic Names. The WG, which will focus on the non-use of territory names, is developing a possible implementation under the new gTLD process. The WG’s report will be submitted as a comment to the Draft Application Guidebook. The draft Guidebook provides information for those interested in applying for new generic top-level domains.

More Information

ccNSO Working Groups: http://www.ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/sopiwg.htm
ccNSO: http://www.ccnso.icann.org

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat

20. IDN FAST TRACK IMPLEMENTATION

Recent Developments

ICANN has extended the comment period on the first draft of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track implementation plan until 9 January 2009. ICANN updated the implementation plan shortly after the ICANN meeting in Cairo. The update is an addition to module 7 on potential issues involving variants.

More Information

Public Forum: http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#plan-idn-cctlds
IDN ccTLD Fast Track Announcement: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-26nov08-en.htm

Staff Contact

Bart Boswinkel, ccNSO policy Advisor