ICANN Acronyms and Terms

A service provided by a third party that shields the identity of a customer by becoming the domain name’s holder of record. When the domain name is queried by a Registration Directory Service such as WHOIS, the identity and contact information for the proxy service is shown.

A pair of cryptographic keys used to encrypt, decrypt, or digitally sign messages exchanged over the Internet. The private key is known only to the owner of the key pair. The public key is distributed to those parties with whom the key’s owner wants to exchange encrypted or digitally signed messages.

The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) technology uses public-private cryptography to sign and validate query responses from authoritative name servers in the root zone. DNSSEC does not, however, encrypt the responses themselves.

A mechanism that gives the ICANN community and other stakeholders an opportunity to provide input and feedback. Public Comment is a key part of the policy development process, allowing for refinement of recommendations before further consideration and potential adoption. Public Comment is also used to guide implementation work, reviews, and operational activities of the ICANN organization.

A period of open discussion during an ICANN Public Meeting, where the ICANN community can speak directly with the ICANN Board of Directors. Public Forums are held during the Community Forum and the Annual General Meeting.

The department within the ICANN organization that provides the community with support and tools to carry out public-responsibility activities that support ICANN’s mission. ICANN Fellowship and NextGen@ICANN are examples of PRS programs.

A non-profit organization that performs the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions. PTI is responsible for the operational aspects of coordinating the Internet’s unique identifiers and maintaining the trust of the community to provide these services in an unbiased, responsible, and effective manner.

PTI is an affiliate of ICANN that was created in 2016 when stewardship of the IANA functions transitioned to the multistakeholder community.

The standard for transforming a Unicode string into an ASCII string as specified in Request for Comments (RFC) 3492.