We are near the end of our 57th Public Meeting here in Hyderabad, and are already hard at work on our next meeting, scheduled to take place in Copenhagen from 11–16 March 2017.
ICANN57 was our first post-transition meeting, with the increased accountability measures and the checks and balances that come with it. It has been a great meeting, and we look forward to Copenhagen.
In Copenhagen, we will discuss the Domain Name System, which has expanded significantly over the past two years. The vast majority of new generic top-level-domains (gTLDs) have now been delegated – nearly 1,200 as of today. Reviews of the program will once again be a major focus during ICANN58. These reviews are intended to assess if the program met its intended goals, including enhanced competition, consumer choice and consumer trust, increased market differentiation and innovation, additional geographic and service-provider diversity and increased protections. These discussions will also help us prepare for future rounds.
We expect a range of other activities to take place in Copenhagen – from further progress on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) to Security, Stability and Resiliency (SSR) reviews to continued activity on Work Stream 2, which is intended to disseminate the new accountability principles into several key parts of ICANN’s day-to-day operations, and to develop a culture of accountability across the ICANN Community, Organization, and Board.
Copenhagen provides a lively setting for the work to be done – with its vibrant nightlife, style and amazing food. Denmark also has a proud history and has been home to many scientists, great thinkers, artists and, apparently, mermaids. Denmark has among the fastest Internet access in the world and the largest national Internet Governance Forum in Europe. And, yes, it is also the home of Lego. How can we not be excited to visit?
I look forward to seeing you in March at ICANN58 in Copenhagen.