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ICANN POLICY UPDATE | Volume 10, Issue 8 — August 2010

PDF Version [384 KB]

http://www.icann.org/en/topics/policy/

CONTENTS:

Across ICANN

  1. This Month’s Policy Podcast
  2. Issues Currently Open for Public Comment

ccNSO

  1. ccNSO Accepting Applications for Travel Funding to Cartagena Meeting
  2. Get All the ccNSO Headlines with One Click
  3. Other Issues Active in the ccNSO

GNSO

  1. Many Proposals, Little Consensus in Vertical Integration Initial Report
  2. WHOIS Inches Forward as Requirements Report Finalizes
  3. Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy WG Absorbs Comments on Initial Report
  4. GNSO Juggles Recommendations from the Registration Abuse Policies Final Report
  5. Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery WG Closes Public Comment Forum; Seeks Consensus
  6. GNSO Improvements: Council Approves New Operating Procedures for Council, Constituencies and Stakeholder Groups
  7. Other Issues Active in the GNSO

ASO

  1. Issues Active in the ASO

Joint Efforts

  1. Issues Open as Joint Efforts

At-Large

  1. Want to Represent At-Large on the ICANN Board? Deadline Nears
  2. At-Large Expands Globally to 125 Organizations

SSAC

  1. SSAC to Advise on Protecting Domain Names

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 website 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 of charge.

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. This Month’s Policy Podcast

What Are GNSO Improvements?

Who said the Generic Name Supporting Organization needed improving? What are these improvements? Have they happened yet? Rob Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director, explains. Host: Scott Pinzon. Exit music: Mikey O’Connor.

Watch for a new episode of ICANN Start on the first of each calendar month. Each audio episode focuses on one issue and, through interviews with an expert, provides answers to foundational questions. In a hurry? Read the transcript.

You’ll find the podcast on the ICANN web site, which also provides links related to each episode. Many of Apple’s global iTunes stores carry the show; to check for it, search in the podcast section of iTunes for "ICANN Start."


2. Issues Currently Open for Public Comment

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

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


ccNSO

3. ccNSO Accepting Applications for Travel Funding to Cartagena Meeting

At a Glance

The ccNSO Travel Funding Committee is now accepting applications to the ICANN meeting in Cartagena, to be held 5 - 10 December 2010.

Background

Travel funding is made available for ccNSO members who actively participate in the work of the organization and make a special contribution to its projects and meetings. However, you do not need to be a ccNSO member to receive funding. The funding covers an economy class ticket to the travel destination, the hotel costs for the time of the meeting and a per diem. All travel arrangements are made through specially dedicated ICANN staff.

Next Steps

If you think you may be eligible to receive funding for the Cartagena meeting, please send an email to ccnso-travelfunding@icann.org by 20 August 2010, at the latest. The email must contain the name and contact details of the applicant as well as a short description of how you think you can contribute to the work of the ccNSO. You are also very welcome to suggest items that should be covered on the ccNSO Cartagena meetings agenda.

More Information

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


4. Get All the ccNSO Headlines with One Click

At a Glance

Last month in Policy Update, we announced a new monthly summary of ccNSO activities. The July summary has been posted.

Recent Developments

The ccNSO July summary of activities, available both as an email and a webpage, is the quickest way to get an overview of what has happened in the ccNSO community during the last month. It includes all relevant links for gaining more in-depth knowledge. With one click, you can easily see what issues have opened for your comments; which comment periods have closed; Working Group reports; Meeting Notes, Minutes, and Transcripts; official Statements; Announcements; upcoming deadlines worth noting, and more.

Next Steps

An updated summary will be published at the end of each calendar month. If you monitor ccTLD activities, consider making the page one of your browser Favorites.

More Information

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


5. Other Issues Active in the ccNSO


GNSO

6. Many Proposals, Little Consensus in Vertical Integration Initial Report

Working Group develops Key Principles for the New gTLD Program

At a Glance

Public comment is sought regarding proposed restrictions on vertical integration and cross-ownership between Registrars and Registries.

Background

ICANN is currently finalizing the implementation details for the launch of new generic Top-Level Domains (new gTLDs). ICANN’s recently posted Draft Applicant Guidebook proposes strict restrictions on vertical integration and cross-ownership between registrars and registries in the New gTLD Program.

A GNSO policy development process (PDP) is underway to evaluate policies on the topic of vertical integration (VI) between registrars and registries. The scope of the PDP affects both new gTLDs and existing gTLDs. The GNSO is conducting the PDP on an expedited basis, with the goal of possibly modifying the final version of the Applicant Guidebook for the launch of new gTLDs.

Recent Developments

The GNSO’s VI working group has published its Initial Report describing alternative proposals regarding vertical integration. The proposals could apply to the New GTLD Program. While no proposal has yet achieved consensus support within the VI Working Group, these proposals are to be further analyzed and debated as the VI Working Group strives to develop a consensus position to recommend to the GNSO Council.

The Initial Report was posted to the Public Comment Forum in July so that the community could react to any of the proposed vertical integration models and principles described. The comment period closed on 12 August 2010 and the Staff has prepared a summary of community comments.

Additional Information:

Staff Contact

Margie Milam, Senior Policy Counselor


7. WHOIS Inches Forward as Requirements Report Finalizes

Staff continues scoping study options; GNSO Council to discuss WHOIS Service Requirements Report

At a Glance

WHOIS is the data repository containing registered domain names, registrant contacts and other critical information. Because of the global scale and critical importance of WHOIS, adjustments to it must be handled with great care. Questions persist concerning the use and misuse of this important public resource. The GNSO Council continues its inquiries into the suitability of WHOIS as the Internet evolves, and is considering what studies could provide current, reliable information to inform community discussions about WHOIS.

Recent Developments

The first areas of possible WHOIS studies have been grouped into four broad categories:

WHOIS Misuse. Potential Misuse studies focus on discovering to what extent public WHOIS information is used for harmful purposes. ICANN issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) in September 2009, asking any qualified researchers to estimate the costs and feasibility of conducting these studies. The RFP drew three responses, and Staff has presented an analysis of them for GNSO Council and community consideration.

  • WHOIS Registrant Identification. This effort would examine the extent to which domain names registered by legal persons or for commercial purposes are not clearly represented in WHOIS data. An RFP has been issued, and vendors have responded. Staff also prepared an analysis of those responses for GNSO Council and community consideration.
  • WHOIS Proxy and Privacy Services “Abuse” Study. This study would focus on the extent to which domain names used to conduct illegal or harmful Internet activities are registered via privacy or proxy services to obscure the perpetrator’s identity. Seeking to engage independent research organizations to undertake this study, ICANN Staff posted an RFP for this study on 20 May 2010. Responses were due by 20 July 2010 and three were received. Staff is preparing an analysis, and the GNSO Council and Staff will consider next steps.
  • WHOIS Proxy and Privacy Services “Reveal” Study. This study would measure Proxy and Privacy service responsiveness to registrant identity reveal requests. Staff is scoping this study now and an RFP will be released later.

At its meeting on 21 April, the GNSO Council passed a resolution recommending $400,000 USD to fund WHOIS studies in ICANN’s fiscal 2011 budget. The 2011 Budget framework recently approved by the ICANN Board in Brussels includes this funding.

The GNSO Council will discuss further which studies to conduct.

Two more important categories of potential study are following behind the first four.

  • International display specifications. WHOIS data has been primarily in English and other Western languages, but with internationalized domain names in Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, and other scripts coming into greater use, more and more WHOIS entries will be entered in non-Roman character sets. Without standards, WHOIS could turn into an unreadable polyglot mess. In June 2009 at ICANN’s Sydney meeting, the ICANN Board passed a resolution asking the GNSO and the SSAC to form a joint Working Group to look at the feasibility of introducing display specifications so that the increasing prevalence of non-ASCII registration data does not compromise the accuracy of WHOIS. The Working Group is in the early stages of considering “What do we require from internationalized registration data?” The group will also address technical questions regarding how data elements might be “extensible” to accommodate users who would benefit from registration information displaying in familiar characters from local languages and scripts.
  • WHOIS service requirements report now complete. Another important study area, separately requested by the GNSO in May 2009, would compile a comprehensive list of WHOIS service requirements, based on current policies and previous policy discussions. (Note: the report is a compendium of potential technical requirements and makes no policy recommendations.) Some of the potential requirements included in this report are the following: a mechanism to find authoritative WHOIS servers; structured queries; a standardized set of query capabilities; a well-defined schema for replies; standardized error messages; improved quality of domain registration data; internationalization; security elements; thick vs. thin WHOIS; and a Registrar abuse point of contact. On 26 March, ICANN Staff released an initial report on this matter. Staff conducted two webinars to discuss this report with the community, one on 20 April and one on 4 May. Staff has since prepared a draft final report that reflects input from the SOs and ACs, and conducted a consultation on the report in Brussels. A Final Report was presented to the GNSO Council on 29 July.

More Information

Staff Contact

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor


8. Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy WG Absorbs Comments on Initial Report

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 Council is reviewing and considering revisions to this policy and has established Working Groups to conduct these efforts.

Recent Developments and Next Steps

The Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy Part B PDP Working Group published its Initial Report on 29 May. The Initial Report presents a number of preliminary conclusions and recommendations for community input, including a proposed Expedited Transfer Reverse Policy. The WG organized an information and consultation session at the ICANN Meeting in Brussels. Following that, a 20-day public comment forum opened on 5 July, which was subsequently extended to 8 August. The WG will now review and analyze the comments received as part of its deliberations to develop a Final Report for submission to the GNSO Council.

For further information, please consult the IRTP Part B Working Group Workspace.

Background

The IRTP Part B Policy Development Process (PDP) is the second in a series of five PDPs that are slated to address areas for improvements in the existing Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy. The Part B Working Group was tasked to address five issues focusing on issues related to domain hijacking, the urgent return of an inappropriately transferred name, and “lock status.” For further details, refer to the group's Charter.

More Information

Staff Contact

Marika Konings, Policy Director 


9. GNSO Juggles Recommendations from the Registration Abuse Policies Final Report

At a Glance

Registries and registrars seem to lack uniform approaches for dealing with domain name registration abuse, and questions persist about what actions "registration abuse" refers to. The GNSO Council has launched a Registration Abuse Policies (RAP) Working Group to examine registration abuse policies.

Recent Developments

The Registration Abuse Policies (RAP) Working Group published its Final Report on 29 May. The Report includes concrete recommendations to address domain name registration abuse in gTLDs, for consideration by the GNSO Council. It includes recommendations addressing fake renewal notices, domain kiting, and deceptive or offensive domain names. The Report also addresses a wide-ranging list of online abuses and problems, such as:

  • Cybersquatting
  • WHOIS access problems
  • Malicious use of domain names
  • Fake renewal notices
  • Cross-TLD registration scams
  • Uniformity of contracts

The RAP WG presented its report [PDF, 1.7 MB] and recommendations to the GNSO Council at the ICANN meeting in Brussels. In considering the recommendations, the GNSO Council decided to form a group of volunteers to draft a proposed approach to the recommendations contained in the report. The proposed approach could include the timing of forming groups to consider some of the recommendations in the final report, as well as how to deal with those recommendations that did not achieve unanimous consensus (click for further information). The group of volunteers is expected to convene shortly.

Background

A short history of the RAP Working Group is available on ICANN’s website.

More Information

Staff Contacts

Marika Konings, Policy Director, and Margie Milam, Senior Policy Counselor 


10. Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery WG Closes Public Comment; Seeks Consensus

At a Glance

To what extent should registrants be able to reclaim their domain names after they expire? At issue is whether the current policies of registrars on the renewal, transfer and deletion of expired domain names are adequate.

Recent Developments

The GNSO Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group published its Initial Report on 31 May. To kick off a period of community input on the report, the PEDNR WG organized a public information and consultation session at the ICANN meeting in Brussels. On 12 July, a public comment forum opened regarding the report, which was extended to run until 15 August.

Next Steps

Following the Public Comment period, the WG will review and analyze the comments received as part of the second phase of the PDP, during which the WG hopes to reach consensus on a proposed way forward for each of the charter questions.

Background

For a history of the ICANN community’s policy development activities related to Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery, please refer to the PEDNR Background page.

More Information

Staff Contact

Marika Konings, Policy Director


11. GNSO Improvements: Council Approves New Operating Procedures for Council, Constituencies and Stakeholder Groups

At a Glance

Members of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) community are working to implement a comprehensive series of organizational changes designed to improve the effectiveness and accessibility of the organization. The GNSO Improvements fall into five main areas;

  • Restructuring the GNSO Council;
  • Revising the GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP);
  • Adopting a New Working Group Model for Policy Development;
  • Enhancing Constituencies; and
  • Improving Communication and Coordination with ICANN structures.

The following update relates only the most recent developments regarding implementation of the GNSO Improvements. To understand the GNSO's new structure and organization, please see the discussion and diagrams on the GNSO Improvements Information webpage.For the reasons and history motivating the improvements, see the Background page.

Recent Developments

Since the ICANN meeting in Brussels, the GNSO Council has approved the recommendations of several cross-constituency Work Teams, to implement important aspects of the GNSO Improvements effort. Community efforts continue in a number of important areas.

1. Restructuring the GNSO Council. At its 5 August meeting the GNSO Council approved modifications to the Council’s new operational rules and procedures (including matters regarding voting abstentions and Councilor Statements of Interest). For further detail, see the new operating procedures [PDF, 428 KB].

2. Revising the PDP . On 31 May, the Policy Development Process (PDP) Work Team (WT) presented its Initial Report [PDF, 2.36 MB] for community input. The report includes 45 draft recommendations and a flow chart intended to serve as the basis for the new Annex A of the ICANN By-laws.

The PDP-WT hosted a public information and consultation session at the ICANN meeting in Brussels. At the same time, a public comment forum was opened, for which the deadline was extended to 1 August. With the public comment period now closed, the PDP-WT will analyze the comments received, seek to finalize the report, then submit it to the GNSO’s Policy Process Steering Committee for review. Ultimately, WT recommendations will go to the GNSO Council for approval.

3. Adopting a New Working Group Model. The Working Group Work Team (WG WT) document, entitled “ GNSO Working Group Guidelines” [PDF, 681 KB], was submitted at the end of May 2010 to the Policy Process Steering Committee (PPSC) for its review. The PPSC met on 20 June for a first exchange of views on the proposed GNSO Working Group Guidelines, which eventually will be submitted to the GNSO Council for approval.

4. Improving Communications and Coordination with ICANN Structures. During the Brussels meeting, the GNSO Council approved the recommendations of the Communications Work Team that had been posted for public comment. The Council requested minor changes to reflect comments received from the ALAC. A summary and analysis of the comments is available on line.

5. Enhancing Constituencies. At its 5 August meeting the GNSO Council approved a report from the Constituencies and Stakeholder Group Work Team on consistent operational guidelines and best practices for GNSO Constituencies and Stakeholder Groups. The recommendations will be incorporated into the GNSO operating procedures [PDF, 428 KB]. The Work Team also is drafting recommendations on a global outreach program to encourage participation in GNSO Constituencies and Stakeholder Groups. It hopes to have those recommendations ready for review by the GNSO’s Operations Steering Committee at the end of August 2010.

New Participation Rules Approved. At its 5 August meeting the GNSO Council approved a report [PDF, 456 KB] that creates a framework for participation in any ICANN Constituency or Stakeholder Group and for creating a database of all Constituency and Stakeholder group members. The Report is organized into two sections as follows:

  • Sections 2.1 & 2.2: “Recommended Common Operating Principles and Participation Guidelines for GNSO Stakeholder Groups and Constituencies,” which Staff has incorporated into a new Chapter 7.0 in the above-referenced GNSO Operating Procedures.
  • Section 2.3: Recommendations on a GNSO Database of Community Members.

The CSGO-WT is also actively discussing recommendations for development of a global outreach program for the GNSO.

Permanent Stakeholder Group Charter Efforts. The GNSO’s non-contract party communities continue their development of permanent Stakeholder Group charters. Current community activities and discussions indicate that those efforts are on track to conclude by the end of 2010.

Next Steps

The GNSO’s various implementation Work Teams will continue to develop recommendations for implementing the GNSO restructuring goals approved by the Board. Public comments will be reviewed and summarized by the ICANN Staff. The ICANN Board is also due to consider a review of the permanent Stakeholder Group charters it approved in July 2009.

More Information

Staff Contact

Robert Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director


12. Other Issues Active in the GNSO


ASO

13. Issues Active in the ASO


Joint Efforts

14. Issues Open as Joint Efforts


At-Large

15. Want to Represent At-Large on the ICANN Board? Deadline Nears

At a Glance

The ALAC/At-Large community within ICANN will appoint one voting member of the ICANN Board. To be considered as a candidate for the position, turn in a Statement of Interest (SOI) by 6 September.

Recent Developments

The At-Large Board Candidate Committee (BCEC) is responsible for selecting the candidates who will comprise the election slate for the post of ICANN Board Director. On 21 July 2010, the BCEC called for Statements of Interest (SOIs) for candidates for the post of Director. This “call” for SOIs (part of the new process through which the ALAC/At-Large user community within ICANN will appoint one voting member of the ICANN Board) remains open through 6 September 2010.

In seeking to fill this post, ICANN's At-Large Community is looking for an individual with a broad international perspective and a background in Internet users' interests, consumer policy and/or civil society worldwide.

While acting in a personal capacity as a member of the ICANN Board, this member must be able to reflect the users' point of view and interests in the debate and decision-making undertaken within the ICANN framework.

The BCEC is comprised of two At-Large Structure (ALS) representatives from each of the five At-Large regions, plus an independent Chair from the ALAC, who select candidates from applications they receive.

How to apply for consideration

To apply, please complete and submit the Statement of Interest (SOI) available online. The form can be submitted online or printed and either:

  • Posted to:
    At-Large Director Applications
    ICANN, c/o Heidi Ullrich
    4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 320
    Marina del Rey, California 90292, USA

    or
  • Faxed to:
    +1 310 823 8649

To be considered, all SOIs must be completed and submitted in English, and received by September 6, 2010, at 23:59 UTC.

More Information

Staff Contact

Heidi Ullrich, Director for At-Large


16. At-Large Expands Globally to 125 Organizations

At a Glance

With the addition of three new organizations, the number of accredited At-Large Structures (ALSes) within the At-Large community has increased to 125.

Recent Developments

The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) recently certified three organizations as At-Large Structures: Fundación Incluirme; Association of Information Technology Law; and ISOC Colorado. These three new At-Large Structures expand the regional diversity of the At-Large community, which represents thousands of individual users worldwide. Through a bottom-up, consensus-based policy development process that relies on the input of ALSes and Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs), the ALAC works to ensure that ICANN policies reflect the interests of individual Internet end users.

Additional information on the new At-Large Structures:

Fundación Incluirme, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, promotes the use and application of Internet Communication Technology (ICT) in the areas of education, capacity building and the facilitation of business within Latin America. Its members include professionals working in the areas of ICT, journalism, and academia as well as university students. This organization will be an ALS within the Latin American and Caribbean Island Regional At-Large Organization (LACRALO).

Association of Information Technology Law (APADIT), located in Asunción, Paraguay, has approximately 55 active members in addition to many founding, beneficiary, and honorary members. APADIT members consist of lawyers, systems analysts, Latin notaries, engineers, and students who work to promote the development of Legal Studies in its relationship with new technologies. This organization will also be an ALS in LACRALO.

Colorado ISOC (CO ISOC), based in Castle Rock, Colorado, USA, currently has a membership consisting of approximately 144 individual Internet professionals and Internet enthusiasts. The organization seeks to promote the open evolution of the Internet for the advancement of human knowledge and communication both in Colorado and throughout the world. Issues of particular interest to CO ISOC include DNSSEC, Internationalized Domain Names, and the new gTLDs. This organization will be an ALS within the North American Regional At-Large Organization (NARALO).

Background

Groups throughout the world that deal with individual Internet users' interests are encouraged to register and participate in ICANN by submitting a simple application form. Groups that meet the minimum requirements are certified as At-Large Structures, or ALSes.

The ALSes located in each of the five geographic regions of the world have federated into Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs), which provide a way for them to work together on issues that affect their region.

Examples of ALSes include Nurses Across the Borders, Wikimedia Switzerland, the Greater Toronto Area Linux User Group, and Internet Society Pakistan Chapter.

More Information

Staff Contact

Matthias Langenegger, At-Large Secretariat


SSAC

17. SSAC to Advise on Protecting Domain Names

The Security and Stability Advisory Committee is preparing a report to assist registrants in protecting their domain names and domain registration accounts against misuse. The report will complement SAC040 [PDF, 276 KB], which described measures registrars could consider to reduce the risk of registration account compromise and domain registration abuse. The forthcoming report will identify measures that registrants can implement themselves, and will also provide guidelines for registrants to assist them in making informed decisions when they choose a registrar to manage their domain names.

For reports on other activities for 2010, refer to the SSAC Work Plan.

Staff Contact

Julie Hedlund, Director, SSAC Support

update-aug10-en.pdf  [384 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."