ICANN

ICANN Auctioning New Top-Level Domains: Serving Public Interest or Its Own?

ICANN has recently published a number of updates to the implementation program for new gTLDs. One of these updates is a paper by ICANN's "auction design consultant PowerAuctions LLC". The document makes a case for an auction to be held for the "resolution of contention among competing new gTLD applicants for identical or similar strings." In other words, two (or more) applicants for ".bank", or applicants for ".bank" and ".banks."... more

Domain Name Registry and Registrar Separation Now Probably Going to Be a Policy Debate

Again on the subject of new Top-Level Domains (TLDs) ... One of the "issues" that concerned a number of people is the concept of "vertical separation". The basic idea is that domain name registries and registrars should be kept separate. While that is a wonderful Utopian ideal, the reality is that in the real world companies own other companies, people trade in stocks and shares etc., etc. So it's far from being a simple "cut and dried" situation. more

Eight-Year Legal Battle Recap: DCA Blocked From Being Heard on Its Merit

It has been a while, nearly eight years since we have been in touch. I thought I would post an update to the DCA vs ICANN case, to the interested party of the global internet, towards the eight-year legal battle DCA had with ICANN. I believe there would be useful lessons learned that would shed some light on ICANN's activities in the Internet community. For those not aware, the DCA vs. ICANN case involved many twists and turns, spanning nearly a decade of DCA's efforts to hold ICANN accountable for the harm it caused to DCA over the delegation rights of the .Africa new gTLD Registry. more

House Committees Taking Aim at IANA Transition Proposal

In an unanticipated move a third Committee of the US House of Representatives has weighed in with concerns regarding the NTIA's proposed transition of the US role as counterparty to ICANN's IANA functions contract to one with the "global multistakeholder community". On May 13th the House Armed Services Committee Report for HR 4435, the Defense Authorization bill, was released. more

Breaking the Internet’s Consensus Rule

The Internet, ultimately, is a fragile thing, as an entity. It depends upon the consensus of those responsible for its infrastructure to operate on a daily basis. Because of the inherent robustness as a technical architecture, there is no entity that can "break the Internet" in the sense of stopping the flow of traffic, but there are several entities that can create a variety of inconveniences, some minor and some serious, for the millions who use the Internet. more

Trademarks Tango in Cyber Ballrooms

The global trademark laws have served the business community well during the last century. But is it possible that with the advent of ICANN gTLD, a new layer of speed and protection would complement the trademark holders to further establish their name identity presence and visibility in the complex marketplace? Although the trademark laws have served the business community very well during the last century, now with the advent of ICANN gTLD platform, it appears that it will provide an additional layer of speedy protection and increase the name identity visibility resulting in market domination via name identity. more

A Modest Proposal for ICANN

When it comes to accountability, ICANN would rather be compared to other U.S. nonprofit companies than to the regulatory bodies it more closely resembles. If they truly wish to be treated like a nonprofit, rather than a regulator, there is a very simple solution: make all contributions strictly voluntary. more

U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Holding Full Hearing on New TLDs

On Thursday, December 8, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will host a full committee hearing on "ICANN's Expansion of Top-Level Domains." According to the Committee's website, the hearing will "examine the merits and implications of this new program and ICANN's continuing efforts to address concerns raised by the Internet community." more

Inquiring About the “Unthinkable”

There has been no shortage of speculation within the ICANN community regarding the continued show down between the ICANN Board and its Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) over new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) and the pending expiration of the IANA contract this September. Now one of the more interesting topics of discussion that I have had with multiple independent parties was the potential of ICANN making changes to the L root zone file... more

Responding to “The Case for Regulatory Capture of ICANN”

This past Monday, as ICANN65 was beginning in Marrakesh, the technical review blog Review Signal published a detailed expose, "The Case for Regulatory Capture of ICANN" authored by site founder and "geek-in-charge" Kevin Ohashi. The post was clearly the product of extensive investigative reporting – and what it reveals is deeply disturbing. more

In Defense Of Face To Face

I recently caused a stir in a small but passionate community. I was speaking about a topic I've discussed many times before: the need for more effective public input into the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the nonprofit corporation that controls the Internet's protocols, addresses and domain name system. "We want public input into ICANN," I had said at a conference at Oxford University. Then, I referred to ICANN's new At-Large Advisory Committee, set up to foster public input and on which I sit: "We've got a mechanism where (the public) can have a seat on the task forces, liaisons to working groups, be part of the policy making process -- I see that in many ways as more important than having a seat on the board." more

The Wall Between Registries and Registrars Comes Tumbling Down

The ICANN Board has just voted to get rid of all co-ownership restrictions between domain registries and registrars. This is major news, with far-reaching consequences... This is the only principled decision the ICANN Board could have come to, and they deserve a lot of credit for doing it. By "principled," I mean taking ICANN's stated institutional principles and following them to their logical conclusion... more

Selecting ICANN’s Next CEO: A Letter to the Chair of the Board

Since ICANN's CEO announced (on Twitter) that he would be leaving in July 2012, the Internet has been abuzz with details on what happened and why. Rod Beckstrom's tenure so far has earned praise and criticism, much of the latter dwelling on his management style, and on the rate of turnover in ICANN's staff since his appointment. As for the praise, it was implicit in the official announcement put out by ICANN on 16 September, with a link to a list of the outgoing CEO's achievements. Many in our community have a vivid recollection of the criticism leveled at Beckstrom, during a plenary session in an ICANN international meeting, by Maria Farrell, a former staff member. more

Call for Participation – ICANN DNSSEC and Security Workshop for ICANN76 Community Forum

Are you doing something interesting with DNS, DNSSEC, or routing security that you would like to share with the larger DNS community at the ICANN 76 meeting in March 2023? If so, please send a brief (1 -- 3 sentence) description of your proposed presentation to [email protected] by the close of business on Friday, 20 January 2023. Are you doing something interesting with DNS, DNSSEC, or routing security that you would like to share with the larger DNS community at the ICANN 76 meeting in March 2023? more

Are Domain Names Contract of Services or Property Rights?

There are several perspectives from which one can give various answers to the question of 'what are domain names?'. Originally the domain name system started and continues to be a human-friendly way of addressing to a set of machines or specific machine connected to the Internet. Hence, from the technical perspective, a domain name is simply an address consisting of a combination of alphanumeric and symbols to communicate with a machine which also happens to be hosting certain services in form of data and information on it. more