ICANN

Next Round of New TLDs May Not Happen Until 2020, Says ICANN

Speaking at this week's World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking place in Geneva, head of ICANN's global domains division, Akram Atallah, has pointed to 2020 as the earliest realistic timeframe for the next round of new gTLD applications. more

Internet Politics: Developed vs Developing

It is not so convincing how the developed world looks at the rest of the hemisphere with the same attitude of equality and control. On one hand there are voices of equality where as in the other there is greed of power and control that lures them with an unending fight of power vs power in safeguarding their own survival. From the participation and development of policies to running the concept of any kind of technology platform, the sense of control and collaboration that catalyzes and leads the overall process. more

Latin American and Caribbean TLD Association Politely Smacks ICANN Over Meeting Relocation

Earlier this week the Latin American and Caribbean TLD Association (LACTLD) put out a statement about ICANN meetings. The statement, which is available in both Spanish and English, while very polite and diplomatic, expresses the organisation's concerns with ICANN moving meetings out of Latin America due to health concerns. So far this year the meeting scheduled for Panama (ICANN 56) has been relocated to Helsinki. more

Call for Participation - DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 56 in Helsinki, Finland on 27 June 2016

Do you have an idea for an innovative use of DNSSEC or DANE? Have you recently deployed DNSSEC or DANE and have some "lessons learned" that you could share? Did you develop a new tool or service that works with DNSSEC? Have you enabled DNSSEC by default in your products? (And why or why not?) Do you have ideas about how to accelerate usage of new encryption algorithms in DNSSEC? more

The Future of Domain Name Dispute Policies: The Journey Begins

A just-launched ICANN "working group" (of which I am a member) will - eventually - help to determine the future of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the 17-year-old domain name arbitration system that has been embraced by trademark owners and criticized by some domainers; as well as the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS), the new (and limited) arbitration process that applies to the new gTLDs. more

The Hill: FCC Response to Sen. Cruz Reveals Hidden ICANN Agenda in Net Neutrality Order

Fred Campbell reporting in The Hill writes: "It's no secret that controversy has plagued the Obama Administration's plan to surrender U.S. oversight of the Internet domain naming and numbering systems from the current U.S.-based ICANN to the 'global multistakeholder community.' But the reason the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declined to exercise its statutory jurisdiction over Internet numbering inside the United States was indeed secret until Senator Ted Cruz forced the FCC to explain itself." more

NTIA on IoT - ICANN 2? And Reconsidering IoT as Distributed Process Control

NTIA has published a Notice for Public comment that is titled "The Benefits, Challenges, and Potential Roles for the Government in Fostering the Advancement of the Internet of Things". This could become ICANN-2, bigger, longer, and uncut; and with a much greater impact on the future direction of the internet. However, my thoughts on this go well beyond the possibility of another ICANN. more

Cruz and Co Send ICANN Another Letter

Republican Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz (and others) has sent yet another letter to ICANN. This time round, the letter is addressed both to the Chairman of the ICANN Board, Dr Steve Crocker, as well as to former CEO Fadi Chehadé. The letter repeats some of the questions previously put to ICANN, though the wording is much blunter this time round. Cruz' office issued a press release with details of the letter under the title of "ICANN Is Stonewalling the U.S. Congress". more

An Open Response to “Stop Obama’s Internet Giveaway”

It seems necessary to publicly address the arguments posed in "Stop Obama's Internet Giveaway" by L. Gordon Crovitz of the Wall Street Journal. If, as Crovitz suggested, the President were truly "giving away the Internet," there would be mass outrage. After all, the Internet has become a primary driver of global commerce. Internet users, businesses, civil society members and Internet operators have come together to approve a set of proposals to make the Internet stronger and more open. more

ICANN 55, Marrakech: Witnessing a Historic Event, Community Empowered Work Continues

Earlier this month, MarkMonitor representatives were privileged to witness, at the first ICANN meeting of 2016 in Marrakech, Morroco, the historic presentation of the plan to transfer the stewardship of key internet functions (IANA) from the United States Government to a community and consensus-based model of governance through ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). more

What is the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC)?

As a longtime member of ICANN's Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), I'm impressed by the important work that this group does on behalf of trademark owners worldwide (as I've written before). While some die-hard IPC members spend countless (and, often, thankless) hours working virtually and in-person (at ICANN's global meetings) for the constituency, I find it very educational and worthwhile to participate on an ad-hoc basis. more

Charter Approved to Review All Rights Protections Mechanisms in All Generic TLDs

On March 9th, 2016, during its final open meeting at ICANN 55 in Marrakech, Morocco, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council approved a motion that I proposed to adopt the Charter of the Policy Development Process (PDP) to Review all Rights Protections Mechanisms (RPMs) in all Generic Top-Level Domains. I serve on the Council as one of the two representatives of ICANN's Business Constituency, and my fellow Councilors have designated me to serve as the GNSO's Liaison to the Working Group (WG), and as its Interim Chair. more

What If IANA Transition Was Only a Mirage?

The U.S. government has long had a far-reaching control over the internet's technical center. What will happen now when ICANN's Board puts together a proposal on how to transfer responsibility for certain key functions within the domain name system to the internet community? Last week, ICANN had its 55th conference in Marrakech. The most important result of the meeting is that all parts of the so-called internet community approved that ICANN's Board will send a proposal to the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) which suggests how to transfer responsibility for certain key functions within the domain name system to the internet community... more

Internet Society Applauds Plan to Transition Oversight of Key Internet Resources

The Internet Society (ISOC) Board of Trustees today passed a resolution to strongly support the plan developed by the global Internet community presented to the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration to transition oversight of key Internet resources. more

ICANN Submits Transition Plan to US Government

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board Chair Dr. Stephen D. Crocker today submitted to the U.S. Government a plan developed by the international Internet community that, if approved, will lead to global stewardship of some key technical Internet functions. The news was confirmed today at a press conference finalizing the ICANN 55 meetings in Morocco. more