The Government Engagement (GE) function at ICANN org is responsible for the development and implementation of a global strategy to engage with governments and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). The GE team, comprised of political issue-based subject-matter experts,...

In June, I shared several organizational changes intended to help us support our community by improving efficiencies, strengthening collaboration, and maximizing our resources. This evolution included giving Xavier Calvez, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial...

On behalf of the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Team on the Temporary Specification for generic top-level domain (gTLD) Registration Data, I am pleased to announce the publication of the Team's Phase 2 Final Report. The Final Report sets out the EPDP Team's...

Since late 2019, country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) have been able to voluntarily participate in the Domain Abuse Activity Reporting (DAAR) system designed by ICANN's Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). The DAAR system is used to study and report on domain...

As a follow-up to my previous blog seeking feedback, I am pleased to announce that the Asia Pacific (APAC) Regional Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2021-2025 is now finalized. I am grateful for the input provided by the APAC community over the last few months of consultations,...

The world around ICANN is changing, and ICANN needs to evolve with it. Each year, I work with the ICANN Board to develop my goals for the next fiscal year, and then work with the Executive team to build a plan to achieve them. We set goals to help the entire ICANN...

I am pleased to share with you ICANN's final Africa Regional Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2021-2025. The launch of the ICANN Strategic Plan for FY21-25 provided an opportunity to review and realign our engagement plan for Africa. Accordingly, the Global Stakeholder...

In May 2020, the Information Transparency Initiative (ITI) team released a preview of the improved ICANN.org, giving the ICANN community an opportunity to see and experiment with some of the content types they have been working on to improve accessibility and findability...

One way ICANN fulfills its mission of ensuring the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems is by monitoring and collecting Domain Name System (DNS) related data. For this purpose, ICANN has launched a number of data-collecting initiatives,...

In-person ICANN meetings and workshops may be on hold in light of COVID-19-related travel restrictions, but we are continuing to develop self-paced online learning opportunities hosted on ICANN Learn. Capacity development is a significant way to enhance engagement with...

The ICANN community’s commitment to its work during these difficult times is impressive. The COVID-19 pandemic has helped us realize that many of the tools we need are already in use, and it has pushed us to be creative with how we approach our work. As I outlined in a...

ICANN org has implemented nearly half of all recommendations in the year since publishing its first-ever internal Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA). The focus has been on improving relevant processes, practices, and policies that may impact human rights concerns...

I’m pleased to report that the Domain Name System Security Facilitation Initiative Technical Study Group (DSFI-TSG) held its first meeting on 16 June 2020. The DSFI-TSG will now begin its work to investigate the potential mechanisms to strengthen collaboration and...

I am pleased to share the final ICANN Middle East Regional Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-2025 [PDF, 447 KB] and the Action Plan for Fiscal Year 2021 [PDF, 423 KB]. In a previous blog, I referred to the draft regional plan document that was posted for public comments, and we...

We’ve all witnessed the protests taking place around the world calling for equal justice and the end to systemic racism. These are core principles and global issues that ICANN strongly supports and are part of our very ethos. We have zero tolerance for discrimination of...

On the first day of ICANN68, several sessions were subject to instances of disruption, or “Zoombombing.” This occurs when Internet trolls interrupt public Zoom meetings and use Zoom’s features to share offensive audio, images, and video. The individuals responsible for...

The 2020 Nominating Committee (NomCom) is over halfway through its recruiting timeline for open ICANN leadership positions. Ahead of ICANN68, we want to provide you with an update on how the search is progressing. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to meet our...

Over the past few months, ICANN org and the community have been working diligently to ensure that ICANN68, our second virtual ICANN Public Meeting and the first-ever Virtual Policy Forum, is capable of supporting the community’s ongoing policy and development work. The...

Following a number of updates to Zoom in the past weeks, we felt that this would be a good time to review both ICANN org’s and the ICANN community’s usage of the application. You may recall our message last month alerting you to some of the coming changes to Zoom,...

We are proud to announce that Abdalmonem Galila has been selected as the first-ever recipient of the Tarek Kamel Fellowship Recognition. Galila, who lives in Egypt, is among the fellows who were selected to attend ICANN68. The Tarek Kamel Fellowship Recognition is a...

In October 2018, ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby announced the decision to place the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions under my role as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Prior to this, my function - the Office of the CTO (OCTO) - was minimally...

Interpretation is an important feature of ICANN Public Meetings. To enable broader participation and facilitate the community’s work, ICANN org makes many events, meetings, and content accessible in the six United Nations languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French,...

Building capacity or providing training in Internet Governance (IG) is critical to enabling stakeholder groups to participate fully in all IG-related processes. Schools on Internet Governance (SIGs) were created specifically to support this objective. The first SIG...

One of the Board's high-priority topics for 2020 is to continue working on the Enhancing the Effectiveness of ICANN's Multistakeholder Model initiative, building on the work that the community has completed to date. These challenging times, brought on by the COVID-19...