As we approach the new Financial Year in July 2020, the Asia Pacific (APAC) regional office is working to align its focus areas and activities to the ICANN FY21-25 Strategic Plan. We are currently seeking the APAC community's feedback and input on our draft APAC Regional...

The ICANN organization met with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA) on 14 February 2020 to continue the dialogue about a possible Unified Access Model (UAM) for gTLD registration data. The meeting followed publication of ICANN org’s “Exploring a Unified Access...

The ICANN Board and ICANN org have been closely monitoring COVID-19 since it was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The World Health Organization now considers COVID-19 a global health emergency. As we approach ICANN67 in Cancún, Mexico, we continue to...

The 40th Root Key Signing Key Ceremony, originally scheduled for 12 February 2020 in El Segundo, California, has been postponed. One of the security mechanisms that protects the contents of the secure safes was found to be malfunctioning. The safes contain critical...

ICANN Public Comment is a mechanism that gives the ICANN community and stakeholders an opportunity to provide input and feedback. Public Comment is used in the policy development process, and to guide implementation work, reviews, and operational activities of the ICANN...

From 24 to 26 January 2020, the ICANN Board held its first workshop of the calendar year at ICANN’s Los Angeles, California, office. Holding our workshop in an ICANN office is a great opportunity to strengthen the collaboration between the Board and the ICANN org, so the...

Since ICANN’s inception, Public Comment has been a vital part of our multistakeholder model. It provides a mechanism for stakeholders to have their opinions and recommendations formally and publicly documented. Public Comment is an opportunity for the ICANN community to...

As you are likely aware, there has been an outbreak of a new coronavirus, 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCOV), which was first identified in Wuhan, China. The virus has spread, with confirmed cases currently in 18 countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has...

Earlier this month, cryptographers Gaëtan Leurent and Thomas Peyrin published an attack on the security of the SHA-1 hash algorithm that is used throughout the Internet. SHA-1 has been superseded by better hash algorithms for almost 20 years, but it is still in widespread...

It’s amazing how quickly time flies! The new decade is finally upon us, and after a well-deserved break, we’re ready to pick up where we left off in 2019. As you have become accustomed, we share with you our plans for the workshop, and we look forward to sharing our...

We would like to invite interested members of the ICANN community to join the new Africa Strategy Working Group. ICANN's Africa Strategy is the cornerstone of all engagement efforts in the region. Prepared by the regional ICANN community, it serves as a road map for...

Over the years, ICANN’s multistakeholder model (MSM) has evolved, addressed important issues, and developed policies for the Internet’s domain name and numbering resources. During the development of ICANN’s Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-2025, the ICANN community...

On behalf of the Board, I want to thank you for your hard work and dedication in support of fulfilling ICANN’s mission to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s system of unique identifiers. 2019 has been a year of change, as are most years. Since the...

An important final step for all domain name applications is delegation. ICANN org is signing three Registry Agreements and Specification 13 Amendments from Amazon EU S.à r.l. (Amazon corporation) for top-level domains (TLDs) .AMAZON, .亚马逊, and .アマゾン. These signed...

Over the last several months, the ICANN organization and the gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) have been working together to make improvements to the Public Interest Commitments Dispute Resolution Procedure (PICDRP) that will improve transparency without materially...

The proposed acquisition of Public Interest Registry (PIR) by Ethos Capital was announced on 13 November 2019 by the parties and the Internet Society (ISOC). This announcement has raised many questions. In light of this, we want to be transparent about where we are in the...

During ICANN66 in Montréal, Canada, the Board adopted a resolution to include sustainability investment criteria in ICANN's Investment Policies. These sustainability criteria cover Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors. It helps further reduce risk, lead to...

With ICANN66 now behind us, I want to thank you for your participation, whether you attended in-person or joined us remotely. Our time in Montréal was very productive, and I continue to be impressed by the dedication and passion of both the ICANN community and the ICANN...

Community-driven work is at the core of ICANN's mission. Our community spends countless hours in working groups within ICANN's Supporting Organizations, Advisory Committees, and other groups, including the Customer Standing Committee, the Empowered Community...

As ICANN66 comes to an end, so does an era. Nearly a decade ago, the Nominating Committee appointed Cherine Chalaby to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors. Since that time, ICANN has changed tremendously, becoming a trusted partner in the Internet governance ecosystem...