ICANN serves a global community. Face-to-face engagement and remote participation are integral to our work, and act as the primary forms of interaction for our stakeholders and community. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging this notion. Today, we find ourselves...

Earlier this year, Supporting Organization (SO) and Advisory Committee (AC) leaders met to outline their priorities for 2020. This exercise provided a starting point for current discussions about prioritizing ICANN community work in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. ICANN...

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt our daily lives, more and more people are turning to the Internet to connect with friends and families, conduct business, and stay up-to-date with the latest information. ICANN, as the coordinator of the Internet’s system of...

As many of you are aware, ICANN org adopted its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-2025 (FY21-25) and is now completing its Operating Plan for the same period as part of the ICANN Planning Process. With all of the planning work happening across the ICANN ecosystem,...

Four times a year, ICANN brings together experts from around the world to perform a "key signing ceremony" — a critical operational event that is fundamental to how we secure the Domain Name System (DNS). In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and related stay-at-home orders...

While the March report from ICANN’s Domain Abuse Activity Reporting system show a general reduction in second-level gTLD domain names identified as being used in phishing, malware distribution, and botnet command and control, it has been widely reported that criminals are...

ICANN is extending its Community Childcare Grants Pilot Program to Fiscal Year 2021. The extension was made due to the remote participation-only nature of the ICANN67 and ICANN68 Public Meetings, as well as the cancelation of the 2020 GDD Industry Summit and ICANN DNS...

The ICANN community develops and refines policies that ensure the security, stability, and resiliency of the global Internet. The ICANN organization is proud to facilitate this work and to support the core, consensus-driven policy and advice development work of the...

When ICANN67 became ICANN’s first-ever virtual Public Meeting, little did we realize the interest it would stir. It was only after the Los Angeles Times reported on our preparation in its online and print editions that the importance of this ‘innovation’ started to sink...

Every day, the ICANN org, Board, and community use a number of different software platforms and applications to create and collaborate on ICANN’s work. This is especially the case right now, with so many of us working from home. Each one of these programs serves a...

The Office of the Ombudsman remains fully operational despite the ongoing disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. My ICANN Ombuds team member, Barbara Curwin, and I would like to update you on recent work. We are pleased to announce the ICANN Office of the Ombudsman...

Recently, ICANN’s video conferencing platform, Zoom, has been in the news quite a bit. With shelter-in-place and work-from-home becoming more familiar, not only for the ICANN community but the world at large, Zoom has become a vital tool for many businesses. With this...

Since Public Interest Registry (PIR) formally notified ICANN of the proposed change of control transaction on 14 November 2019, the ICANN org and Board have worked together to thoughtfully and thoroughly evaluate the proposed acquisition to ensure that the .ORG registry...

We have received several inquiries from our contracted parties about steps that ICANN org could take to help mitigate issues in the domain name industry ecosystem in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include concerns about the ability of registrants to renew their...

The Internet’s value in bringing people together has never been more apparent than it is now. While most of us are under some form of “stay at home” order in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the Internet provides us with a lifeline. It brings us...

When there is a change in the executive leadership of the ICANN organization, it is important that we inform the community in a timely manner. Today, I would like to share with you that Cyrus Namazi, Senior Vice President of Global Domains Division (GDD), has decided to...

Learn Best Practices to Increase Internet Inclusivity and Diversity Through UA The Domain Name System (DNS) is more inclusive and diverse than ever before with top-level domain (TLD) names in different languages and scripts, such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Russian, as...

With more than 145 million domains in the .COM registry, the .COM Registry Agreement (RA) is one of the most important contracts under ICANN's responsibility. Amendments to this Registry Agreement are carefully assessed and only approved after thorough analysis. This is...

I am pleased to announce that the Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Team (EPDP Team) published the Addendum to its Phase 2 Initial Report on 24 March 2020 and is seeking public comment. This Public Comment...

On Wednesday, 11 March 2020, ICANN officially launched version 1.0 of the Open Data Platform. During the Open Data session at ICANN67, the ICANN organization provided an informational overview of the platform, its features, and registration benefits. Now we want to hear...

From 2-7 March 2020, the ICANN Board gathered online for its workshop to further its business and prepare to engage with the community during ICANN’s 67th Public Meeting and first ever Virtual Community Forum. To adapt to this remote format, we stretched our meeting...

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve, the health and safety of the ICANN organization staff and the community remain our top priority. In situations like this, I believe it is important to communicate internal developments and ICANN org-related decisions to the...

Due to concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus, ICANN’s 67th Public Meeting will now be a fully virtual experience. While we will still be providing remote participation for all sessions on the schedule, it will be modified for the current circumstances, including...

I would like to explain the changes to our scheduled "Middle East Regional Strategy Session" for ICANN67. We have decided to cancel the "Middle East Regional Strategy Session" at ICANN67, and instead hold a webinar to seek input from the community on the draft Middle East...

With so many things on our plate, the ICANN community, organization, and Board are all confronted with a sudden need to find new ways of getting things done. The Board’s recent decision to change ICANN67 from a face-to-face meeting in Cancún, Mexico, into a fully remote...