Minutes | Meeting of the Technical Committee of the Board (BTC) | 11 January 2024

Board Member and Liaison Attendees: Christian Kaufmann (Chair), Harald Alvestrand, Alan Barrett, Chris Buckridge, Edmon Chung, James Galvin, Wes Hardaker, and Patricio Poblete

Board Members with Apologies: Nicolas Caballero

ICANN Organization Attendees: Adiel Akplogan (VP, Technical Engagement), Franco Carrasco (Board Operations Manager), Kim Davies (VP, IANA Services & President, PTI), Matt Larson (VP, Research) and Sarah Zagha (Counsel)

Invited Guests: Matt Thomas and Suzanne Woolf (Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) Working Party (WP) co-chairs) - only present for agenda item no. 1

The following is a summary of discussions, actions taken, and actions identified:

1. Update Session with the Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) Discussion Group (DG) Admin Co-Chairs – The Committee received an update on the NCAP work from Matt Thomas, the NCAP DG Admin co-chair. It was noted that the co-chairs received a letter from the Chair of the ICANN Board dated 21 November 2023, which stated that the ICANN Board must receive the NCAP Study 2 Final Report report by 01 May 2024 to avoid any negative impact on the timeline of the next round of new gTLDs, and particularly, the completion of the Applicant Guidebook in May 2025. It was also noted that the NCAP DG, SSAC, and ICANN staff have been working diligently to finalize the Study 2 Final Report for publication and public comment on 19 January 2024.
2. Administrative Items – The Chair asked the Committee for volunteers to chair the Committee in the event that the Chair is incapacitated, and Wes Hardaker volunteered (and was accepted by the Committee) for the role.
3. Approval of Pending Meeting Reports – There were no Preliminary Reports for the Committee to approve. The Preliminary Report for the 16 November 2023 Committee meeting had been previously approved by the Committee and the minutes were posted online.

4. Action Item Review – The Chair established the agenda for the meeting. Two action items were discussed and reviewed:

   • Action Item #1: The Chair to further discuss the Committee's role within the Technical Coordination space with the Chair of the ICANN Board is an open action item. The Chair will complete this action item and report back to the Committee.
   • Action Item #2: The Committee to further discuss the Phase 1 and Phase 2 recommendations from the IDN EPDP work (when available) during upcoming Committee meetings is an open action item. The Phase 1 recommendations will be sent to the Board shortly, and the Phase 2 recommendations will be out for public comment by February 2024.

5. OCTO Update on NCAP Study 2 – The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) of ICANN org noted that the Study 2 Final Report is scheduled to go out for public comment by 19 January 2024. OCTO also noted that in addition to the 21 November 2023 letter sent by the ICANN Board Chair to the NCAP DG Admin co-chairs, two subsequent letters were exchanged: (1) a letter dated 07 December 2023 to the ICANN Board Chair from the NCAP DG Admin co-chairs (acknowledging the ICANN Board's 01 May 2024 deadline for completion of the study, and requesting sufficient dedicated time from an ICANN appointed technical writer); and (2) a letter dated 02 January 2024 (stating ICANN org is committed to providing the necessary dedicated time from the recently assigned technical writer, and to facilitating a smooth transition).

   The Committee also discussed a data protection-related briefing (drafted by ICANN org Legal for internal use) on a technique proposed by the NCAP Study 2 (for name collision detection). The Committee was informed that there was some discussion about this briefing during an SO/AC workshop held in January 2024. It was noted that the SSAC leadership would like the briefing to be circulated to the NCAP Discussion Group. After some discussion by the Committee, it was also noted that ICANN org Legal will update the briefing, and it will be circulated to the Committee, SSAC, and the NCAP Discussion Group.

   • Action Item: ICANN org Legal to update the data protection-related briefing on a technique proposed by the NCAP Study 2 (for name collisions detection) and circulate it to the Committee, SSAC, and the NCAP Discussion Group.
6. SAC113 Implementation: String Selection Report – The Committee was given an update by IANA on the implementation of SAC113, which calls for the reservation of a top-level domain string for private-use and internal network applications. It was noted that IANA identified a set of 35 specific candidate strings for review, and the assessments of these 35 candidate strings were made against four factors identified by the SSAC (i.e. the string is a valid DNS label, is not already delegated in the root zone, is not confusingly similar to another TLD in existence, and is relatively short, memorable and meaningful). The candidate strings were also assessed in various languages. The candidate string selected is .INTERNAL. IANA is currently finalizing the Proposed Procedure for Selecting a TLD String for Private Use report. Once finalized, ICANN org will open a Public Comment proceeding. ICANN org will subsequently analyze the comments received and provide feedback to the ICANN Board of Directors on recommended next steps.

7. Updates from Technical Liaisons – The Committee received an update from the following Board Technical Liaisons:

   • SSAC (James Galvin): The Committee was provided with updates on the active work parties within the SSAC. SAC123: SSAC Report on the Evolution of Internet Name Resolution has been published and is closed. SAC122 - Rec 1: SSAC Report on Urgent Requests in the gTLD Registration Data Policy has been published, and ICANN is currently working to understand this advice within this report.
   • RSSAC (Wes Hardaker): The Committee was informed that the Security Incident Reporting Work Party continues its work to ensure that the RSS governance structure includes a provision for cyber incident oversight and disclosure obligations, and that security threat and vulnerability information sharing amongst RSOs and the [eventual governance structure] are codified.
   • IETF (Harald Alvestrand): The Committee was informed that the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) has completed its annual cycle of selecting new leadership.
8. Any Other Business – The Committee previously asked ICANN staff for clarification on whether non-voting Board Liaisons can move or second motions. ICANN staff confirmed that non-voting Board Liaisons can move or second motions.

The Chair called the meeting to a close.