ICANN

First Insights from the GAC Early Warnings on New Top-Level Domains

Today, the national governments that constitute ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) for the first time publicly voiced their concerns over specific new Top-Level Domain (TLD) applications in the form of Early Warnings. More than 240 individual GAC Early Warnings were issued in relation to 200 new TLD applications which account for 162 unique strings. By far the most prolific government to issue GAC Early Warnings was the Australian government with 129. more

Why We Don’t “Stick to Our Knitting”: auDA’s Role in the Internet Governance Landscape

Last Friday, following three weeks of dazzling diplomacy, the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference came to a conclusion in Busan, South Korea. For those unfamiliar with the event, the "Plenipot" is the ITU's most significant gathering... At the Plenipot, ITU members elect new office-bearers, set general policies and determine the Union's strategic plans and activities for the next four years. It is this last part that is of most interest to stakeholders in the Internet community... more

ccTLDs Might Be Property

The long-running saga of victims who are pursuing 'state sponsors of terrorism' via ICANN has taken yet another turn. Some time back the Plaintiffs in Rubin & ors -v- Islamic Republic of Iran & ors managed to obtain Writs of Attachment in the Federal court district in Washington (D.C.) courts ordering that the ccTLDs of those respective countries be seized in part-payment of the damages they are owed. ICANN, fairly predictably, became involved at this point. more

Cruz’s Crusade Against IANA Transition Continues with Senate Hearing

Senator Cruz's against the IANA transition will continue next week with a senate hearing next week. The hearing is entitled: Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications of Ending U.S. Oversight of the Internet. While the hearing is being chaired by Cruz, no indication of who else will be speaking has been made public so far. In a press release from Cruz's offices earlier this evening, the Senator continued his almost hysterical and misleading narrative. more

IANA Transition Needs Clear Benchmarks and Safety Valves

The transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to the multi-stakeholder community is one step closer to becoming reality. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved the proposal submitted by the ICANN to privatize oversight of the internet domain name system's central root zone last week, crossing a critical hurdle for advocates of the transition. However, two recent Congressional hearings have put the IANA transition back in the crosshairs of many policymakers and political pundits, keeping the likelihood of the transition occurring before September up in the air once again. more

ICANN Senior Executive Resigns Over Undisclosed Conflict of Interest

Senior vice president Kurt Pritz has resigned his new job as ICANN's Chief Strategy Officer over an undisclosed conflict of interest, reports Kieren McCarthy in .Nxt. "In a note posted on the organization's website earlier today, new CEO Fadi Chehade noted that Pritz had resigned 'because of a recently identified conflict of interest'. ICANN has so far refused to identify what that conflict is." more

Call for Participation – ICANN DNSSEC and Security Workshop for ICANN74 Policy Forum

Do you have information about DNS security or routing security that you would like to share with the global community? Have you developed a new tool or system in this area? Do you have results from a research project that you want to share with a technical community? If so, please consider submitting a proposal to the DNSSEC and Security workshop to be held at ICANN 74 in June 2022. more

Reflections on EUI’s New Community Priority Evaluation Guidelines for New gTLDs

The new Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) guidelines prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and published by ICANN are now past their feedback period. We, at Radix, believe that ICANN has received feedback from approximately 10 stakeholders, and I for one, am looking forward to those being published. In light of the fact that none of the comments that ICANN received have been made public yet, I decided to blog about my multiple concerns with the new guidelines. Sparing a thought for the not-so-involved reader, I have limited my rant to some of the more important issues. more

Coalition for Digital Africa Announces IXP Initiative

This latest initiative announced by the Coalition for Digital Africa will focus on strengthening the Internet infrastructure across the continent by enhancing five existing Internet exchange points (IXPs). The initiative is supported by a grant from ICANN and will be implemented by the Internet Society (ISOC) and will involve identifying five IXPs based on their potential to make a high impact on the respective local and sub-regional markets. more

Selecting ICANN’s Next CEO - Letter 2

In November 2011, a group of "friends of ICANN" from various countries sent a letter to the Chair of ICANN's Board, expressing concern about the process used previously, and suggesting improvements. Towards the end of 2011, the ICANN Board set up a Search Committee, chaired by George Sadowsky, and some significant improvements have been integrated into the selection process... more

Addressing Recent Media Mischaracterizations of the .ORG Acquisition

Given the level of public interest in Ethos' acquisition of Public Interest Registry ("PIR") from the Internet Society, it is no surprise that this agreement continues to attract press attention. Ethos welcomes open discussion on this important investment, and we are of course following the media coverage closely. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to respond point-by-point to every article, so I would like to take this opportunity to address several mischaracterizations of the deal recently reported by Wired, Deutsche Welle, and others. more

ICANN Announces Results of New gTLD Universal Acceptance Analysis

ICANN, in conjunction with the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) announced this week the availability of a new report: An Analysis of New gTLD Universal Acceptance. The study focuses on the concept of removing all technical barriers that might hinder a user from accessing any name in any top-level domain (TLD) from any web browser, email client, or other Internet application on any computer or electronic device. more

ICANN Terminates EstDomains, Seeks Bulk Transfer of Customers

In follow up to reports on ICANN's termination of notorious domain name registrar, EstDomains due to fraudulent activities, the Internet oversight agency is now preparing to transfer domain names of its customers to other registrars... However the question asked by experts is whether any other registrar would have an interest in inheriting EstDomains questionable domain names. more

Initial Report on ICANN’s EPDP for gTLD Registration Data: Forward Progress Yet Much Work Remains

Here in the United States, we recently celebrated Thanksgiving and with that, we now enter the last weeks of 2018. I've spent much of this past year involved in ICANN's Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) for gTLD Registration Data and I'm happy to say our group has reached a historic milestone. Just last week, the group published its initial report for public comment. more

The Need for a Remedial gTLD Program for #newgtlds

I think the new gTLD program will have many successes. It is a failure, however, when it comes to serving developing and less developed economies, especially the communities in those economies. Actually it failed in serving communities anywhere, but it really failed when it came to serving the peoples of the world outside WEOG (the UN designations for the developed Western European nations and Other Groups; others including AU, CA US, and NZ). more