Minutes | Meeting of the Technical Committee of the Board (BTC) | 28 September 2023

Board Member and Liaison Attendees: Avri Doria (Chair), Harald Alvestrand, Alan Barrett, Edmon Chung, James Galvin, Wes Hardaker, Christian Kaufmann, and Patricio Poblete

Board Members with Apologies: Nicolas Caballero

ICANN Organization Attendees: Adiel Akplogan (VP, Technical Engagement), Franco Carrasco (Board Operations Manager), Jennifer Bryce (Project Manager), Wendy Profit (Board Operations Senior Manager) and Sarah Zagha (Counsel)

Invited Guests: Suzanne Woolf (Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) Working Party (WP) co-chair) - only present for agenda item no. 1

The following is a summary of discussions, actions taken, and actions identified:

1. BTC Update Session with the Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) DG Admin – The Committee received an update on the NCAP work from Suzanne Woolf, the NCAP Discussion Group Admin co-chair. It was noted that Study 2 continues to progress well. An NCAP workshop will be held at the beginning of October 2023.

2. Approval of Pending Meeting Reports – The Preliminary Report for the 31 August 2023 meeting was approved during this Committee meeting.

3. Action Item Review – The Chair established the agenda for the meeting. Four action items were discussed and reviewed:

   • Action Item #1: ICANN org to inform the Committee of any timing considerations or dependency date for the New gTLD program's next round considering NCAP's work is an open action item.

   • Action Item #2: Board Ops to circulate the BGC's feedback on the Committee's proposed revised Charter once available is an open action item.

   • Action Item #3: The Chair to draft a note to the Board Governance Committee (BGC) on the pertinence of having a Board Caucus on the Root Server System Governance Evolution separated from the Committee Is an action item that is now closed.

   • Action Item #4: ICANN org (OCTO) to offer additional facts, structure and insight to issues relating to alternative naming systems discussed by the Committee going forward is an ongoing action item.

4. Status of BTC Charter Review – The Chair reminded the Committee that its proposed revisions to its Charter were sent to the BGC. The Committee will be notified once the BGC reverts back with feedback on the Committee's proposed Charter revisions for Committee discussion and approval.

5. Alternative Naming Systems – The Chair re-opened the discussion on alternative names, how they relate to new gTLDs, and what issues, if any, need to be discussed by the Committee before, and considering, the Next Round for new gTLDs. The Committee discussed the importance of technical issues relating to alternative naming systems, such as name collisions, name squatting at the TLD level, and the practical impacts of .ALT. The Chair noted that discussions on this topic will be ongoing. It was also noted that the topic of Alternative Naming Systems will be a standing item on the Committee's meetings' agenda going forward.

6. Priority Project Updates – The Committee received an update on the following projects:

   • SAC113 Implementation Update: ICANN org informed the Committee that the SAC113 Board Paper was presented to the Board and that resolution passed.

   • Domain Name System Security Facilitation Initiative Technical Study Group (DSFI-TSG) Report - Feasibility Assessment: ICANN org noted that a draft decision paper on the DSFI-TSG Report had been circulated to the Committee for its review. A clarifying question as to the Committee's precise role in advancing this Report was raised by the Committee.

     • Action item: ICANN org to clarify the Committee's role with respect to the feasibility study and revert back to the Committee.

   • Root Server System Governance Working Group (RSS GWG) 037/038 Implementation: ICANN org reported that the GWG has finalized its review of the principles of root server governance, which will be shared with the GWG members' appointing groups. It was also noted that the RSS GWG have sessions scheduled during the ICANN78 meeting, and that the next phase of the Working Group's work will be discussed during said sessions.

7. Updates from Technical Liaisons – The Committee received an update from the following Board Technical Liaisons:

   • SSAC (James Galvin): The Committee was notified that the annual SSAC workshop, hosted by ICANN, took place earlier this month, and that it was successful. Overall strategic planning, recruitment strategy, expansion of the leadership team, SSAC's role in and engagement with the community, focal points for the SSAC, SSAC's operation, as well as the future of the SSAC were discussed during the workshop. DNSSEC (and whether it continues to be a priority activity for the SSAC) was also discussed during the workshop. Furthermore, it was noted that the SSAC had a number of work party meetings, including those related to DS management and evolution of DNS resolution. The Committee was also informed that SSAC has revisited older SSAC recommendations in order to create a life cycle of said recommendations and determine their status (and whether they can be closed).

   • RSSAC (Wes Hardaker): The Committee was notified that the RSSAC is revising its procedures document. It was also noted that the RSSAC is holding a tutorial on how the Root Server System works during iCANN78.

   • IETF (Harald Alvestrand): No significant updates to report.

8. Any Other Business – The Committee expressed their gratitude to the Chair for her efforts and work chairing the Committee.

The Chair called the meeting to a close.