This year, the 25th anniversary of the creation of ICANN was celebrated. The date carries a commemorative meaning, highlighting the trajectory of this institution that has been fundamental in the coordination and administration of Internet resources. However, this milestone also highlights the growing challenges facing Internet Governance in the current global landscape. more
ICANN has spent years trying to figure out what to do with domain name variants, strings that look different but mean the same thing, for some definition of "the same." They've been trying to deal with them in second level domains for a decade, and are now working on rules to allow variant top-level domains. Unfortunately, variants don't work. The problem isn't putting them in the DNS; it's that once they're in the DNS, they don't work anywhere else. more
Mary Iqbal writes to report that ICANN has released the fourth round of Initial Evaluation results, bringing the total number of applications that have passed the Initial Evaluation phase to 131. ICANN is targeting completing Initial Evaluation for all applicants by August 2013. more
Joly MacFie writes: The Internet Society's New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) will be holding a public forum at NYU on Oct 8 2009 to discuss, in the post JPA world, civic representation in ICANN. Specific concerns are the current restructuring of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council, and the replacement of the At-Large Liaison to the ICANN Board by a seated member. Will the creation of new constituencies serve to balkanize the Noncommercial users and dilute their influence? Will an At-large board member be less answerable to the rank and file? These questions and more will be discussed. The public are welcome to attend and the event will be webcast live. more
John Crain has been named ICANN's new Chief Security, Stability and Resiliency Officer. In this newly created position Crain will assume the responsibilities of Jeff Moss, who announced he is stepping down from his position as Chief Security Officer at the end of the year. more
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, was officially incorporated on 30 September 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation. Headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California, United States, ICANN was assigned to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks originally performed directly on behalf of the U.S. government by other organizations, such as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Back in 1998, there was only one domain name registrar; now there are over 900 ICANN-accredited registrars in the world and over 168 million domain names registered. more
CircleID in collaboration with the team from Dyn Inc. and ICANNWiki, brings you the following video interviews conducted by Susan Chalmers at ICANNWiki during the ICANN 52 meetings in Singapore (8- 2 February 2015). more
The headlines out of ICANN's meeting in Beijing may be all about new domains, but it is the quiet, systemic evolution of ICANN itself that holds the greatest promise for Internet users globally. ICANN President Fadi Chehadé opened the meeting by announcing that it was ICANN's "season to evolve," and setting forth a series of programs, restructuring efforts and policy initiatives intended to make ICANN more responsive to the needs of its stakeholders, and by extension, to the needs of all Internet users, everywhere in the world. more
ICANN is looking to set up two new hubs in Singapore and Istanbul to serve the Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets. "Asia has not been well-embraced by ICANN in the past. We owe Asia a big apology," Fadi Chehade, CEO of the organization responsible for administrating the world's Web traffic, said in an interview with ZDNet. more
ICANN's Board will meet soon, perhaps even tomorrow, to discuss the dot-org domain sale. It is a pivotal inflection point in the history of Internet governance. When Internet Society (ISOC) was awarded the dot-org domain over ten other bids in 2002, evaluators voiced concerns about their ability to steward it. The report explains: Some on the Committee expressed concern, however, that ISOC's associations extend only to the networking/connectivity community and not to a broader base... more
ICANN announced today that after over seven years of planning, the organization has initiated the process for accepting applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). "We believe this program will do what it's designed to do, which is open up the Internet domain-name system to further innovation," said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN chairman, during an event at the National Press Club in Washington today. More information on the Applicant Support program can be found on the ICANN New gTLD page. more
Like many foreigners, I follow U.S. politics closely. What happens in Washington, D.C. on trade, economics, foreign policy, and security matters can often have ripple effects across the world. This is also true with respect to internet policy, and like many who work in the internet industry, I am getting increasingly concerned by some of the news coming out of Washington. more
In today's rapidly evolving internet landscape, staying up-to-date with the latest developments and trends is crucial for businesses looking to strengthen their online presence. One highly anticipated development that organizations have eagerly awaited is the next round of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). more
The Internet Society - New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) has for some years been following the .nyc and ICANN process on behalf of the NYC community and will, on May 8 2010, host a symposium "dot nyc - How are we doing?" at NYU. At 1pm NYC Council Member Gale Brewer will deliver keynote remarks, then Vendor Eric Brunner-Williams of CORE Internet Council of Registrars will reveal details of their proposal to the City, and Antony Van Couvering of Minds + Machines earlier comments to the City Council concerning their proposal will be shown in video. ...there will be a discussion "What's it for?" about possible applications - civic, community, commercial, and "outside the box" - for a local top level domain. more
ICANN is seeking a global background screening service provider in order to conduct a "thorough and timely" background check on all new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) applicants. The Request for Proposal recently issued by ICANN aims at background screening focused on general business diligence, criminal history, and cybersquatting behavior. more