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Quick Look at Strategy Panel Recommendations - Provide Your Comments Today

25 February 2014

In addition to the U.N. six languages, this content is also available in

More than 40 diverse practitioners, subject matter experts and thought leaders have been working together since October 2013 as members of the ICANN Strategy Panels to support development of ICANN's strategic and operational future.

Strategy Panels are advisory in nature and report to the ICANN President and CEO. Their quintessential objective is to inform and support ICANN's planning process. As highlighted at the opening ceremony at ICANN's public meeting Durban (July 2013), the Strategy Panels' work and output is designed to be informative and will not go straight to implementation.

Each of the four panels has now published its draft recommendations, which are being translated into the five additional UN languages and are open for public comment. The recommendations are varied and wide-reaching, from partnering in a study to define an architectural vision for DNS in 2020 to organizing participants by topic rather than constituency groups to adapting ICANN's cultural to a multi-lingual and multi-cultural one. Highlights of recommendations by each panel are included below. For more information, please refer to each panel's draft report.

Identifier Technology Innovation Recommendations [PDF, 1.76 MB]
Email: itipanel@icann.org

  • DNS use in the infrastructure will continue to grow; DNS use in the User Interface (UI) is challenged by search-based alternatives, mobile interfaces, etc.
  • ICANN should publish more DNSSEC signed data for reserved labels, etc.
  • In cooperation with IETF et al, do a study to define an architectural vision for DNS in 2020.
  • Design & prototype open root publication.
  • Design a shared zone control system for the root.
  • Perform collision exercises to test the ease of implementing [ICANN 2013].

ICANN Multistakeholder Innovation Recommendations [PDF, 424 KB]
Email: msipanel@icann.org

  • ICANN should adopt an evolutionary approach that embraces experimentation and empirical evidence. The 16 proposals identified include the following:
    • Making all of ICANN's data freely available and downloadable in machine-readable formats.
    • Moving from stakeholder engagement to global engagement.
    • Using expert networks to provide oversight to ICANN officials.

Public Responsibility Framework Recommendations [PDF, 811 KB]
Email: prfpanel@icann.org

  • Streamlining of current ICANN public responsibility activities under a Public Responsibility Department (PRD).
  • Strengthening ICANN Regional Engagement Strategies.
  • Commissioning research to enhance understanding of links between Internet Governance and Development.
  • Exploring the establishment of an external foundation to operate in the philanthropic space.

ICANN's Role in the Internet Governance Ecosystem Recommendations [PDF, 1.78 MB]
Email: ioepanel@icann.org

  • Consolidation and simplification of root zone management.
  • Globalize, not internationalize, the structure of ICANN and its associated or related institutions.
  • ICANN develop tailored AOC documents to be used to establish bilateral or multilateral, documented relationships between and among ICANN and ecosystem partners that wish to participate.
  • Globalize the process for accountability within Internet ecosystem.

Share your thoughts today! We encourage you to review each draft report and provide your perspective by sending your comments to the email address for each panel's mailing list. Input will be welcome through 30 April 2014; all input sent to the mailing lists is publicly archived:

Each panel will consider feedback received before finalizing their reports, so make your voice heard.

To support community consideration and input, an interactive webinar will be held in early March 2014. A public session also will be conducted at the upcoming ICANN 49 meeting in Singapore (March 2014). Details will be shared in due course. Public comments and output will help inform ICANN's strategic and operational plans.