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ICANN81 Policy and Advice Outcomes

11 December 2024
By
Mary Wong

Mary Wong

Vice President, Strategic Policy Management

Mary Wong joined ICANN as a Senior Policy Director in 2013 and currently serves the organization as Vice President for Strategic Community Operations, Planning and Engagement. As a member of the Policy Team, Mary's responsibilities also encompass managerial, advisory, analytical and research work related to global policy development at ICANN.

Prior to joining ICANN, Mary was a tenured professor of law at a top-ten ranked intellectual property law school in the United States, where she chaired its global partnerships program and was the founding director of its flagship applied research center. She has also been associated with the technology transactions practice group of a major international law firm, where she advised American, European and Asian clients on corporate, licensing and international transactions involving Internet, intellectual property and privacy laws and policies.

Mary is a past Chair of the International Copyright Treaties & Laws Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) and has served on the ABA's Copyright Reform Task Force as well as in a number of other public service roles in the United States and her native Singapore.

Mary has worked in Brussels, London, New York and Singapore, and holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Laws degree from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Singapore and is a frequent speaker at academic and industry conferences around the world.

Thank you for participating in ICANN81! We hope the Annual General Meeting fostered dynamic discussions and advanced priority work items. This blog captures the high-level policy and advice outcomes from the Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs), which organized over 150 sessions during the six-day program.

Address Supporting Organization (ASO)

  • The ASO Address Council conducted seven work sessions to advance its work and discuss the next steps in the Internet Coordination Policy-2 (ICP-2) review.
  • The ASO held joint sessions with the ICANN Board, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), and the Root Server System Advisory Committee. It also offered an information session to provide an overview of the ICP-2 review.

Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO)

  • The ccNSO working group on identifying potential gaps in Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) policies, practices, and procedures pertaining to country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) has made considerable progress. It introduced an overview of all applicable policies, procedures, and practices regarding the interaction among ccTLDs, ICANN, and IANA and shared their findings on whether and how potential gaps need to be addressed.
  • The ccNSO Internet Governance Liaison Committee organized a discussion on lessons to be learned from the participation of ccTLD managers in the Global Digital Compact process and how they can be applied in the World Summit on the Information Society 20-year review process.
  • The ccNSO Domain Name System (DNS) Abuse Standing Committee conducted its second ccTLD DNS Abuse survey and shared the results during a series of sessions.

Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO)

  • The GNSO Council adopted the Phase 2 Final Report of the Expedited Policy Development Process (PDP) on Internationalized Domain Names, which focused on second-level variant management.
  • The Transfer Policy Review PDP Working Group continued to review Public Comment submissions on its Initial Report and discussed amendments that may be necessary.
  • The GNSO Council voted to initiate a PDP on Latin script diacritics.

At-Large

  • At-Large held two plenary sessions: 1) "Cross-Community Collaboration to Deliver the New gTLD Program: Next Round That We All Want" and 2) "At-Large Community Priorities for Fiscal Years 2026–2030." Both sessions provided opportunities to explore and develop concrete steps in which At-Large may collaborate with other ICANN community groups.
  • The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) met with the Security and Stability Advisory Committee to discuss the Safer Cyber campaign, DNS Abuse mitigation, and security and stability concerns that may impact end users.
  • The ALAC and GAC discussed matters related to the next round of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs): string contention resolution and the Applicant Support Program.

Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)

  • The GAC ICANN81 Communiqué featured GAC statements regarding 11 different issues of importance to governments including topics related to the next round of new gTLDs, gTLD registration data, DNS Abuse, ICP-2, and the draft ICANN Community Participant Code of Conduct.
  • The GAC held joint sessions with every other SO and AC. The joint sessions are an important aspect of recent GAC efforts to establish a set of strategic priorities, which include expectations for outcomes in nine areas that can be achieved with greater outreach and collaboration on advice initiatives.

Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC)

  • The RSSAC conducted sessions for two RSSAC Caucus work parties developing advice on security incident reporting and on the procedures and guidelines for root server Internet Protocol address changes. The RSSAC Caucus also discussed the findings of its annual membership survey.
  • The RSSAC held joint sessions with the ASO and GAC. The RSSAC presented to the GAC about the operation of the Root Server System. The RSSAC also offered a "How It Works: Root Server Operations" session and engaged with newcomers during a "Get to Know the ICANN Community" session.

Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC)

  • During joint sessions with the ALAC, GAC, GNSO, and other ICANN community groups, the SSAC outlined five steady-state topics where it can serve as a technical authority and resource. These are DNS Abuse, new gTLDs, DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), alternative name spaces, and Internet governance for security, stability, and resilience issues.
  • The SSAC highlighted its recent publications, including SAC125 on registrar name server management and SAC126 on DNSSEC delegation server automation. The SSAC also advanced its work exploring open-source software in DNS infrastructure and DNS content blocking or filtering.

Please continue your engagement on these important issues by reviewing the session materials available on the ICANN81 website and consulting the linked SO and AC webpages for additional resources. The Policy Development Support function is proud to enable the efficient and effective participation of the ICANN multistakeholder community, and our teams are available to facilitate your sustained contributions.

Authors

Mary Wong

Mary Wong

Vice President, Strategic Policy Management
Mary Wong

Mary Wong

Vice President, Strategic Policy Management

Mary Wong joined ICANN as a Senior Policy Director in 2013 and currently serves the organization as Vice President for Strategic Community Operations, Planning and Engagement. As a member of the Policy Team, Mary's responsibilities also encompass managerial, advisory, analytical and research work related to global policy development at ICANN.

Prior to joining ICANN, Mary was a tenured professor of law at a top-ten ranked intellectual property law school in the United States, where she chaired its global partnerships program and was the founding director of its flagship applied research center. She has also been associated with the technology transactions practice group of a major international law firm, where she advised American, European and Asian clients on corporate, licensing and international transactions involving Internet, intellectual property and privacy laws and policies.

Mary is a past Chair of the International Copyright Treaties & Laws Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) and has served on the ABA's Copyright Reform Task Force as well as in a number of other public service roles in the United States and her native Singapore.

Mary has worked in Brussels, London, New York and Singapore, and holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Laws degree from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Singapore and is a frequent speaker at academic and industry conferences around the world.

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