Today, the ICANN organization published the schedule for the ICANN68 Virtual Policy Forum to be held from 22-25 June 2020. The ICANN community took the lead in organizing the four-day program. The schedule features plenary sessions exploring Domain Name System (DNS) abuse...

Today, the ICANN organization Registrant Program published the third edition of its ongoing reporting series on Issues and Challenges Impacting Domain Name Registrants [PDF, 263 KB] containing updated data (from the reporting period of September 2019 – February 2020) from...

When I joined ICANN org, many of you told me that it was difficult to find information on our websites. I heard this not only from our community stakeholders, but from ICANN beginners who wanted to participate in our unique multistakeholder model. I knew then that fixing...

With everything going on at the current moment, the Board has not forgotten its longer-term priorities. It's important that we continue to learn from our experiences and invest in efforts to move forward in healthy ways. We are committed to continuous improvement. One of...

Following the conclusion of the work of the Cross-Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability, Working Stream 2 (WS2), the ICANN Board passed a resolution in November 2019 to adopt the consensus recommendations contained in the WS2 Final Report [PDF, 9.2...

In December 2019, the draft Five-Year Operating and Financial Plan and draft Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Budget were submitted to the ICANN community for Public Comment. Both plans were the subject of broad participation and engagement from the ICANN community, and we want to...

The 2020 Nominating Committee (NomCom) continues its work to find the most qualified candidates for open ICANN leadership positions. While the COVID-19 pandemic has posed unique challenges, it is important that you know our efforts are proceeding. We are working closely...

ICANN’s Government and Intergovernmental Organizations Engagement team (GE) has facilitated discussions at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York and Geneva since 2014. We do this, because it is critical that ICANN have participation, representation, and...

Attacks on the Domain Name System (DNS) rarely impact only one actor in the Internet ecosystem. With significant recent attacks such as the Sea Turtle hijacking and the DNSpionage, we see an urgent need to come together and respond. The solution, or solutions, that would...

In an effort to ensure the security of our online meetings, ICANN is making several changes to our Zoom configuration. The majority of these changes are behind the scenes and will not greatly impact a typical user’s experience in Zoom. However, there are a few important...

Introduction Any significant event attracts a number of interested parties. Both offline and online, some parties will have good intentions and, unfortunately, others will not. During newsworthy events in particular, domain registrations containing terms related to those...

Today, the ICANN Board made the decision to reject the proposed change of control and entity conversion request that Public Interest Registry (PIR) submitted to ICANN. After completing extensive due diligence, the ICANN Board finds that withholding consent of the transfer...

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...