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...

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...

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...

In this day and age, all organizations experience change; whether planned or unplanned, change is inevitable. This requires us to be responsive and adaptable. As stewards of ICANN org, my Executive team and I take this responsibility seriously. Whenever changes occur, it...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The ICANN organization met with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA) on 14 February 2020 to continue the dialogue about a possible Unified Access Model (UAM) for gTLD registration data. The meeting followed publication of ICANN org’s “Exploring a Unified Access...

The ICANN Board and ICANN org have been closely monitoring COVID-19 since it was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The World Health Organization now considers COVID-19 a global health emergency. As we approach ICANN67 in Cancún, Mexico, we continue to...

ICANN Public Comment is a mechanism that gives the ICANN community and stakeholders an opportunity to provide input and feedback. Public Comment is used in the policy development process, and to guide implementation work, reviews, and operational activities of the ICANN...

An important final step for all domain name applications is delegation. ICANN org is signing three Registry Agreements and Specification 13 Amendments from Amazon EU S.à r.l. (Amazon corporation) for top-level domains (TLDs) .AMAZON, .亚马逊, and .アマゾン. These signed...

The proposed acquisition of Public Interest Registry (PIR) by Ethos Capital was announced on 13 November 2019 by the parties and the Internet Society (ISOC). This announcement has raised many questions. In light of this, we want to be transparent about where we are in the...

As ICANN66 comes to an end, so does an era. Nearly a decade ago, the Nominating Committee appointed Cherine Chalaby to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors. Since that time, ICANN has changed tremendously, becoming a trusted partner in the Internet governance ecosystem...

Bonjour! Welcome to ICANN’s 66th Public Meeting, which is being held in Montréal, Canada. ICANN’s last Public Meeting held in Canada, ICANN45 in Toronto, was back in 2012. Quite a lot has changed since then. ICANN Public Meetings are a vital part of the multistakeholder...

Today, the ICANN org sent to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) a paper, "Exploring a Unified Access Model for gTLD Registration Data," which outlines a proposed Unified Access Model (UAM) based on the Technical Study Group's technical model. The model described in...

Each year, I seek to focus the ICANN organization on strategic opportunities for improvement. A key element of this process is working with the ICANN Board to set my goals for the next fiscal year. As part of our commitment to accountability and transparency, I am sharing...

As you may have seen in the Operating Initiatives document put out for Public Comment earlier this year, one of the initiatives ICANN org will undertake in support of the ICANN Strategic Plan for FY 2021-2025 includes an evaluation of the long-term effectiveness,...

It’s my pleasure to welcome you back to Marrakech, Morocco, for ICANN65. I am pleased to return to the site of my first ICANN Public Meeting (ICANN55), especially considering how much has changed since that time. This will be an opportunity to reflect on the progress we’...