ICANN

Openness and Transparency: ICANN Takes an Important Step in the Right Direction

Over the years I have been critical of ICANN's inability on several occasions to match its words on openness, transparency and accountability with its actions. Therefore, it was a very pleasant surprise to see ICANN post the Board briefing documents in connection with two of its last three Board meetings. more

Call for Participation - DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 59 in Johannesburg

Do you have ideas about DNSSEC or DANE that you would like to share with the wider community? Have you created a new tool or service? Have you found a way to use DNSSEC to secure some other service? Do you have new statistics about the growth or usage of DNSSEC, DANE or other related technology? If so, and if you will be in Johannesburg, South Africa, for ICANN 59 in June 2017 (or can get there), please consider submitting a proposal to speak at the ICANN 59 DNSSEC Workshop! more

ICANN’s Accountability and Transparency – a Retrospective on the IANA Transition

As we passed five years since the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition took place, my co-authors and I paused to look back on this pivotal moment; to take stock of what we've learned and to re-examine some of the key events leading up to the transition and how careful planning ensured a successful transfer of IANA responsibilities from the United States Government to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. more

Domain Slammers Go Phishing

ICANN introduced a requirement for domain name registrars to send out annual notices to all their customers (registrants) to check the Whois on their domain names to ensure the information is correct. While this seemed fairly reasonable (if cumbersome), the fact is it confuses the heck out of people -- and creates a whole lot of confusion for registrants. But that was a problem we could deal with. Fast-forward to October, 2008... more

Public Interest Registry, ICANN Agree to Extend Deadline on Review of Proposed Acquisition of .ORG

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Public Interest Registry (PIR) today announced that they have mutually agreed to extend ICANN's time to review PIR's submissions to April 20th. more

U.S. Court Overrules Attempt to Seize Iran’s, Syria’s and North Korea’s Domains

In a landmark ruling, a U.S. federal court has agreed with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that the country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) are not property subject to attachment and thus overruled an attempt to seize Iran's, Syria's and North Korea's domains as part of a lawsuit against those countries' governments. more

ICANN Issues Notice of Breach of Registry Agreement to .Pharmacy TLD Operator

The National Association of Board of Pharmacy ("NABP"), the operator of the .Pharmacy top-level domain is in breach of its Registry Agreement with the ICANN according to a letter issued by the agency today. more

Horse’s Head in a Trademark Owner’s Bed

Recently, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) unveiled its Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), a tool it proposes will help fight trademark infringement relating to another of its new programs - generic top level domain (gTLD). As Lafeber describes, criticism of ICANN's gTLD program and subsequent TMCH database is mounting. Skeptics have noted that given the significant cost of registering a gTLD - the application fee is $185,000 and subsequent annual fees are $25,000 - the program appears to be solely a cash cow, without adding much value to Internet users. more

A Sigh of Relief for Brand Owners ...Not So .Fast

All indications from the ICANN meetings in Seoul are that significant delays for the release of new gTLDs (Generic Top Level Domains) are expected. According to Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's CEO, new gTLDs will be made available when, "we've adequately addressed the important issues that are on the table." These important issues include efforts to address malicious conduct, root scaling, economic analysis, trademark protections, and vertical separation as related to the new gTLDs. more

Stumbling Forward Means Promoting IDNs

A couple of weeks ago during the 40th ICANN meeting in San Francisco I got up to talk at the microphone. I spoke about the needs of developing markets on the web, about the importance of focusing on the 56% of the world that doesn't use Latin character scripts and about the struggles they still face as they go about their everyday lives - chatting, shopping or when pushed, promoting regime change - all using the internet... more

ICANN’s ePDP - An Insider’s Perspective

Amazingly enough, summer is rapidly ending as kids head back to school, the temperatures in the mornings are just slightly cooler, and soon enough jeans and sweatshirts will be upon us. It also means that the important work on ICANN's temporary specification regarding WHOIS relative to GDPR has already aged a few months. The ICANN Board adopted the temporary specification in May 2018 and it became effective on the 25th of the month. 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

Integrating the GAC More Effectively

We all may have breathed a sigh of relief when the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and the Board concluded their eleventh-hour negotiations on new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) with some measure of success, but we can all agree that panicked policymaking is, at best, less than optimal. ICANN needs to integrate GAC input more effectively. The Final Report recently issued by the Joint Working Group (JWG) of the ICANN Board and the GAC contains several thoughtful and productive recommendations. more

Trump’s Commerce Department Pick Assured Republicans Reversal of U.S. Internet Oversight

"The Commerce nominee made the assurance to GOP senators who opposed Barack Obama's decision to give up U.S. oversight," according to documents obtained by POLITICO. more

Electronic Frontier Foundation Tells ICANN to Delete URS from .Travel

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has just told ICANN to drop the notion of applying the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) dispute resolution system to .Travel and other legacy gTLDs without undertaking a full Policy Development Process (PDP). In a June 12 letter, EFF stated: ICANN should not apply URS to the .travel domain, or to any additional domains, by the unaccountable means of staff inserting new conditions into the renewal of the registry operator's contract. Rather, the public policy implications of such a move demand that a full PDP be undertaken first.  more