ICANN55 is right around the corner! The Global Domains Division (GDD) will be holding over 20 sessions to ensure that community stakeholders have the latest information on our work and an opportunity to give us feedback.
Monday, 7 March 2016, is a big day for our division. Shortly after the Welcome Ceremony, we'll be conducting a session on IANA Stewardship Transition Implementation during which we'll update participants on planning activities and timelines associated with the stewardship transition and accountability proposals. After lunch, Registrars and Law Enforcement will convene to discuss strategies for addressing crimes related to registration and use of domain names. Concurrently, there will be a session on Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Implementation. Our last session for the day will cover New gTLD Program Reviews and Related Activities. Reviews and activities, such as a root stability study and an economic study, are currently underway – come to this session to hear from both ICANN staff and the independent research teams that are performing the studies.
Other GDD sessions of general interest will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, 9-10 March. In addition to sessions geared toward registries and registrars, we'll hold a Trademark Clearinghouse Independent Review Workshop in which the vendor conducting the review will present its methodology and field questions from clearinghouse users. Also, members of the community-based steering group dedicated to promoting Universal Acceptance of All TLDs will share their progress. Together with Internationalized Domain Names, Universal Acceptance will enable the next billion users to come online.
I encourage you to participate in as many sessions as you can, whether on the ground in Marrakech or remotely. We look forward to seeing you at ICANN55. Safe travels!