ICANN

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

DK Hostmaster Wins Award for Transparency and Trust Online

The nonprofit Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP Global) presented its annual Internet Pharmacy Safety E-Commerce Leadership Award to .DK Hostmaster at the 2018 ICANN63 today in Barcelona, Spain. The domain name administrator for Denmark, DK Hostmaster, was selected for the award based on their commitment to ensuring citizen safety by maintaining transparent WHOIS data, proactively enforcing identity accuracy policies to increase consumer trust and safety online. more

The Favoured New TLD Registrar Payment Model

This week, Thomas Barrett - the President of US based registrar EnCirca - published a timely article about how the registrar cash flow model could collapse with the imminent release of hundreds of new Top-Level Domains (TLD). I would like to thank Thomas for raising this important issue and for encouraging all new TLD applicants to discuss this topic with their back-end registry provider. more

Fadi’s .ORG Fracasso

The stakeholder community needs to get with the program and assert itself now – if it still can. The recent attempts by the Internet Society (ISOC) to wrap itself in the halo of Jon Postel's "original intent" for .org is specious and laughable. As I've previously published, Postel also didn't like how big the top-level domains were getting and suggested, in 1993, that top-level domains should be capped at 10,000 names and that further zone growth should happen at the second- and third-levels (similar to how the UK has .uk and then .com.uk, for example). more

U.S. Pharmaceutical Sector Extending an Outmoded, Dysfunctional Pricing System to Cyberspace

We recently wrote in response to how LegitScript is painting inaccuracies about the Canadian International Pharmacy Association ("CIPA"). With our members' 100% perfect safety record selling life-saving medications to millions of Americans for over 15 years, we are proud to participate in a regulated industry. We are also confident in the affordable solution we provide for consumers struggling with outrageous medication prices in the U.S. more

Attacking DNS Abuse: The Next Amendments Needed

Abusive behavior that leverages the domain name system (DNS) continues to be a problem, with a reach that has been widely and credibly documented. There is little doubt that bad actors continue to use the DNS for nefarious and costly purposes. While the amendments made in 2024 to ICANN's Registry Agreement (RA) and Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) were a step in the right direction, more advanced tools are needed to bring abuse rates down. more

Announcing the 2024 ICANN Contracted Parties Summit Statement!

As Chairs of ICANN's Registries and Registrar Stakeholder Groups, we are proud to announce that we have initiated a new practice for the Contracted Parties Summits: the publication of our Contracted Parties Summit Statement. As you may (or may not) know, Contracted Parties get together periodically to interact and work together on issues that we care about, and which impact our businesses as registries and registrars. more

Businesses Angry with ICANN’s New gTLD Structure, Says CADNA

In a conference hosted by the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) on Tuesday, discussions were held concerning ICANN's upcoming new gTLD Program. CADNA President Josh Bourne said: "ICANN has an image problem. Businesses are outright angry with ICANN because of the way that this program has been structured. We are not trying to derail the rollout of new gTLDs altogether, but rather, we are proposing an opportunity for ICANN to make this Program much less detrimental to brands and businesses..." more

Senate Appropriators Add IANA Language As House Requests GAO Study and Civil Society Opposes Shimkus

The Senate Appropriations Committee just reported out on June 5th its version of the Commerce-Justice-State Departments Appropriations bill for FY 15. In the course of its deliberations it added a consensus amendment on the IANA transition offered by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE)... Parsing the amendment's language, the requirement that NTIA conduct a thorough review and analysis of any proposed IANA transition plan amounts to telling it to do its job properly; implicit in this requirement is that the analysis be shared with Congress. more

DCA’s Submission to Congressional Hearing on “Stakeholder Perspectives on the IANA Transition”

This is the advance submission that DotConnectAfrica Trust sent to the Chairman of the House Sub-Committee hearing on Communications and Technology, Energy and Commerce Committee, United States House of Representatives, 114th United States Congress in advance of the Congressional Hearing on "Stakeholder Perspectives on the IANA Transition", on May 13, 2015. more

ICANN, RIPE, and ISP War Crime Complicity Exposure

The recent horrific actions undertaken by Vladimir V. Putin and complicit Russian actors against the sovereign nation of Ukraine and its people are widely regarded as war crimes on a profound scale not seen in Europe since World War II. The costs in lives and property are enormous. It has recently resulted in a condemning UN Resolution. At some point, there will be reckoning for Putin and those who aided and abetted his actions through our domestic and international legal systems. more

Diplomatic Process in Geneva Could Give UN Unprecedented Powers Over the Internet

McDowell, commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal writes: "On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year's end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish "international control over the Internet" through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices." more

Return to Singapore: From Chili Crabs to Names, Numbers and Protocol Parameters

Almost a year ago, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced its intent to transition key Internet domain name functions to the global multistakeholder community. The process was officially kicked off at the ICANN 49 meeting. That was March 2014. And the place? Singapore. Fast-forward a year later and we are again on our way to Singapore for an ICANN meeting. more

NTAG Chair Blog: What Is the Next GAC Advice?

Last week, New gTLD Applicant Group (NTAG) members - who account for over half of the applications submitted to ICANN in this round - issued a unanimous letter to ICANN's New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) urging decisive action on Government Advisory Committee (GAC) Category 1 Advice at their upcoming February 5th meeting. The NGPC has been committing to address outstanding items of the GAC Advice in a manner that allows the largest possible number of applicants to proceed since last September. more

ICANN Proceeds With Batching… For Now

Yesterday, ICANN released a statement to confirm its intention to evaluate new Top-Level Domain applicants in batches using the proposed timestamp system (digital archery) to determine the batches. Whilst this is not the result I was hoping for, I was not surprised by this move. more