Public participation site

Por Alexandra Dans

Del 27 al 29 de agosto de 2013, tuvo lugar la Reunión Preparatoria de Latinoamérica y el Caribe para el Foro de Gobernanza de Internet (LACIGF), un espacio de encuentro regional para el diálogo político multisectorial en el que actores de gobiernos, sector privado, comunidad técnica, academia y organizaciones de la sociedad civil presentan y discuten sus perspectivas.

Con el apoyo de APC, LACNIC, NIC.br, Internet Society, Google e ICANN, el anfitrión local Ageia Densi, parte de la estructura de ICANN como ALS (At Large Structure) en el LACRALO, estuvo a cargo de esta sexta edición que reunió autoridades y profesionales del sector para abordar 5 sesiones temáticas organizadas en torno a los temas identificados como prioritarios por la comunidad. Y es que vale la pena destacar que desde el año pasado, el comité del programa del LACIGF lanza un llamado para elaborar una agenda colaborativa en la que todos tienen una voz.

Algunos cuestionaron los resultados esperados del LACIGF señalando que al no ser un foro de decisión, su influencia es menor. No obstante, el hecho que los temas sean identificados por la propia comunidad legitimiza el ejercicio y ofrece concretamente la posibilidad de poner los temas en la agenda. La multiplicidad de actores que participaron en esta edición convirtió este encuentro en un lugar ideal para tratar cuestiones políticamente delicadas y complejas al tiempo que favoreció la formación de grupos de interés.

APC: Frank La Rue

Esta reunión es clave para ICANN que trabaja para asegurar que Internet sea segura y estable a la vez que promueve un sistema de gobernanza multisectorial, temas discutidos principalmente en el segundo día del LACIGF. Nuestro equipo regional tuvo una presencia importante con Albert Daniels como persona recurso para la sesión sobre “Cooperación reforzada” y Rodrigo de la Parra como moderador de la sesión sobre “Principios de participación multisectorial”. Justamente, en relación a los temas de Cooperación reforzada y Participación multisectorial, una de las inquietudes centrales fue el uso de una Definición compartida por todos. Rodrigo de la Parra destacó que el concepto de Multistakeholderism supone una participación sistémica y endémica de diversos actores y una toma de decisiones en consenso, y no únicamente consultas a la comunidad. Albert Daniels por su parte, subrayó que si el multisectorialismo funciona bien, resulta en una buena cooperación Reforzada.

Con temas como Derechos Humanos, libertad de expresión, seguridad, privacidad y frente a los últimos sucesos (casos PRISM/Snowden), no es de extrañar que esta edición fuera la más exitosa en términos de participación, con 200 personas en la sala provenientes de 26 países y más de 2000 personas conectadas remotamente en la primera jornada. Se destaca sobre estos temas, la participación de Frank La Rue, Relator especial sobre la promoción y protección del derecho a la libertad de opinión y expresión del Consejo de los Derechos Humanos de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU).

Lejos de generar un clima derrotista, los últimos sucesos hicieron que el Internet estuviera más vivo que nunca, sumando nuevos actores al debate y multiplicando los ojos que ahora miran con sumo interés las discusiones en torno a la Gobernanza de Internet.

La reunión preparatoria regional para el Foro de Gobernanza de Internet es un esfuerzo de varias organizaciones a las que ICANN suma su apoyo desde la primera edición en el año 2008.

Rodrigo de la Parra, VP de ICANN para América Latina y Caribe y Andrés Piazza, Public Affairs Officer de LACNIC, en entrevista con la televisión

Nuestro esfuerzos en términos de comunicaciones también se vieron recompensados por la participación continua de cerca de 10 periodistas locales a quienes les informamos que ICANN y la comunidad de Internet mundial, regresará a la Argentina en noviembre de este año, esta vez a Buenos-Aires, para organizar su reunión 48.

By Albert Daniels and Alexandra Dans

On August 12, 2013 in Port au Prince, we had the opportunity to participate in AYITIC, a capacity building project specifically designed for Haiti and geared to the country’s needs. LACNIC, the Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean, launched this activity that was sponsored by ICANN, among other supporters.

The smiles and the warmth with which we were received in Haiti contrasted the harsh reality of life in Port-au-Prince which is still facing serious challenges, three years after the earthquake that hit the capital with such force.

Foreground: Raul Echeberría, LACNIC CEO and Harry Lindor, Technical Advisor of the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications.
Background: Albert Daniels, ICANN and Shernon Osepa, Internet Society

Haiti, with a population of 10 million people whose life expectancy at birth is less than 65 years, is the poorest country in the Americas. ICANN’s commitment to this initiative whose aim is to train every year more than 100 young Haitians in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), falls into our organization’s social responsibility policy.

At the first dinner after our arrival in Port au Prince, we found that this involvement of ICANN made an impact far beyond the words spoken during the opening, the presentations of the Internet ecosystem or even the sponsorship of the activity, since two of the six instructors had a strong relationship with our organization. We are talking about Joe Abley, Director of DNS Operations for ICANN, and Alain Aina, Member of ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC). Symbolically, ICANN’s efforts to internationalize its operations resulted in those informal meetings, in which at the same time, a Canadian, a Saint Lucian, a Togolese and an Uruguayan conversed in three different languages.

Many will wonder what is the urgency of this type of activity considering the obvious and pressing basic needs of the people in that country. Jean-Marie Guillaume, Director of the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) gave the answer during the Opening Ceremony. According to him, these initiatives are essentials in a country where nearly half the population is under 14 years old. He stressed the urgency of establishing a plan so that Internet becomes much more than a search tool. He sees technology as a way of empowerment for young people who may someday become entrepreneurs, as well as a way of promoting local job creation.

Hérissé Guirand, Board member of the University of the State Faculty of Science, considered for its part that this type of training is an essential tool that will allow the Haitian State to respond to the growing need for higher education. Currently, there are approximately 70,000 young people who abandoned secondary education.

Instructors: Joe Abley, Director of DNS Operations for ICANN, Carlos Armas, NSRC, Max Larson Henry, CEO Transversal

As we left, one of the participants told us that there was a proverb in Haiti that says it all: “until your head is not cut off, you have the hope of using the hat”. We will still have much more work to do on our return and we hope to continue working and supporting this initiative that is part of the “Action Plan for the National Recovery and Development of Haiti” promoted by the government with the collaboration of the international community.  That is what the beneficiaries of this training asked us to do, between congratulations and thanks which will not be easily forgotten.

We want to end by thanking LACNIC for giving us the opportunity to become part of this great experience.

Ayitic Participants making antennas

Por Albert Daniels y Alexandra Dans

El pasado 12 de agosto 2013 en Puerto Príncipe, tuvimos la oportunidad de participar del lanzamiento de AYITIC, un proyecto de fortalecimiento de capacidades digitales elaborado especialmente para Haití y orientado a sus necesidades. LACNIC, el Registro de Direcciones de Internet para América Latina y el Caribe, impulsó esta actividad que contó con el patrocinio de ICANN, entre otros apoyos.

Las sonrisas y la calidez con las que nos recibieron en Haití contrastaban con la dura realidad de la vida en Puerto-Príncipe que aún enfrenta serios desafíos, tres años después del terremoto que golpeara tan fuertemente la capital.

En primer plano: Raúl Echeberría, CEO LACNIC y Harry Lindor, Consejero Técnico del Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Transporte y Comunicaciones.
Segundo plano: Albert Daniels, ICANN y Shernon Osepa, Internet Society

Haití, que cuenta con una población de 10 millones de habitantes cuya esperanza de vida al nacer no supera los 65 años, es el país más pobre del continente Americano. El compromiso de ICANN con esta iniciativa que busca capacitar cada año a más de 100 jóvenes haitianos en las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TICs), se enmarca entonces en una política de responsabilidad social.

En la primera cena luego de nuestra llegada a Puerto Príncipe, constatamos que este involucramiento de ICANN fue mucho más allá de las palabras en la Apertura, las presentaciones del ecosistema de Internet o incluso del patrocinio de la actividad, ya que dos de los seis instructores tenían una fuerte vinculación con nuestra organización. Se trata de Joe Abley, Director de las Operaciones DNS para ICANN, y de Alain Aina, miembro de Comité de Seguridad y Estabilidad de ICANN (SSAC). Simbólicamente, los esfuerzos de ICANN por internacionalizar sus operaciones, se tradujeron en aquellos encuentros informales, en los que en un mismo instante dialogaban un Canadiense, un Santaluciano, un Tongolés y una Uruguaya en tres idiomas diferentes.

Muchos se preguntarán cuál es la urgencia de este tipo de actividad considerando las obvias e imperiosas necesidades básicas de los habitantes en ese país. Jean-Marie Guillaume, Director del Consejo Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CONATEL), nos dio la respuesta durante la Ceremonia de Apertura. Según él, es indispensable este tipo de iniciativas en un país donde casi la mitad de la población tiene menos de 14 años. Subrayó la urgencia de instaurar un plan para que Internet no sea únicamente una herramienta de búsqueda sino también un modo de empoderamiento para que esos jóvenes puedan algún día convertirse en emprendedores además de potenciar la creación de empleos locales.

Hérissé Guirand, miembro del Consejo de Dirección de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad del Estado, consideró por su parte que este tipo de entrenamientos son una herramienta fundamental que le permitirá al Estado Haitiano responder a la necesidad creciente de formación superior. Actualmente, son aproximadamente 70 mil los jóvenes que han abandonado la formación secundaria.

Instructores: Joe Abley, Director de las Operaciones DNS para ICANN; Carlos Armas, NSRC; Max Larson Henry, CEO Transversal

Al irnos, uno de los participantes nos dijo que existía un dicho en Haití que lo expresa todo: “mientras no te corten la cabeza, tienes la esperanza de ponerte el sombrero”. Quedará mucho trabajo por hacer a nuestro regreso y esperamos poder seguir colaborando con este tipo de iniciativa que se enmarca en el “Plan de Acción para la recuperación y el desarrollo de Haití” impulsado por el gobierno de ese país junto a la comunidad internacional. Así nos lo pidieron los beneficiaros de este entrenamiento, entre felicitaciones y agradecimientos que no serán fáciles de olvidar.

Queremos terminar dándole las gracias a LACNIC por darnos la oportunidad de hacer parte de esta gran experiencia.

Participantes de Ayitic elaborando antenas

La semana pasada se llevó a cabo en Montevideo, Uruguay la reunión regional preparatoria de las Américas para la Conferencia Mundial de Desarrollo de las Telecomunicaciones de la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT).

Hay mucho de positivo que contar de esta reunión, pero quizás valga la pena destacar la iniciativa de LACNIC de invitar a las autoridades de UIT y a los delegados de las diversas administraciones que participaron a la reunión a un coctel en la Casa de Internet de Latinoamérica y el Caribe.

Raúl Echeberría, Director Ejecutivo de LACNIC, dio la bienvenida a los invitados destacando tres particularidades de La Casa de Internet que son reflejo de las características propias del ecosistema en el que se desarrolla el Internet.

Primero, una casa sin rejas y de fácil acceso, símbolo de su apertura. Segundo, unas paredes y puertas de cristal, destacando la transparencia. Tercero, Raúl destacó que el inmueble se construyó con base en dos casas que ya existían, y aún cuando quizás desde el punto de vista arquitectónico hubiera tenido sentido derribarlas y construir una nueva, la obra se enfocó en construir sobre lo ya construido. Aquí se destaca el elemento de cooperación y de suma de esfuerzos.

Las risas entre los invitados se detonaron cuando Raúl, en tono de broma invitó a la UIT a unirse a la Casa.

Acto seguido, Houlin Zhao, Vicesecretario General de la UIT, agradeció la invitación de Raúl y aplaudió  la iniciativa respondiendo en tono también de broma -haciendo gala de su uso del español- “Tu Casa es Mi Casa”, ante el regocijo de todos los presentes.

Después de los discursos, el personal de LACNIC guío a los invitados por la Casa visitando las distintas oficinas de las organizaciones que tenemos presencia ahí. Desde luego, visitaron nuestro centro de relacionamiento y las representaciones de otras organizaciones hermanas como ISOC, LACTLD, AHCIET y la RED CLARA.

Los delegados, representantes de los gobiernos de América Latina y el Caribe, Miembros Sectoriales de la UIT, autoridades de UIT y los compañeros de la comunidad técnica de Internet compartimos una magnifica velada caracterizada por un ambiente festivo de cooperación, entendimiento y respeto.

Justamente estos elementos fueron los que marcaron la pauta en esta importante reunión preparatoria y deseablemente el ambiente que debe permear entre los actores que participamos de la gobernanza de Internet.

En la foto, de izquierda a derecha:

• Mark Urban, Gerente de Administración y Finanzas (RedCLARA)
• Sergio de Cola, Director Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (DINATEL, MIEM, Uruguay)
• Rodrigo de la Parra, Vicepresidente para América Latina y el Caribe (ICANN)
• Houhlin Zhao, Secretario General Adjunto (UIT)
• Raúl Echeberría, Director Ejecutivo (LACNIC)
• Brahima Sanou, Director de la Oficina de Desarrollo (UIT)
• Sebastián Bellagamba, Director Regional para América Latina y el Caribe (Internet Society)
• Bruno Ramos, Director de la Región Américas (UIT)

In two weeks, Central and East European registries and registrars will get together in Greece at their 6th annual meeting. We thought you might be interested in reading this article (in Russian) explaining what the regional meeting is all about, who participates and why. We republish this with the kind agreement of nic.ua.

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The future of the Internet in Africa is being shepherded by the pioneers and visionaries who grab opportunity and mold it into reality. It is crafted by those with the desire to shape the continent for the better and see their ideals come to life. It is these luminaries, some well-known and some not, that have allowed for the Internet to grow so vibrantly throughout Africa.

During the recent ICANN meeting in Durban, South Africa, the Africa Top Level Domain name Association (AFTLD), the Internet Society , the DNS community and ICANN came together to honor outstanding African registrars and registries during the first African DNS Industry Award ceremony. These organizations are exemplars of their class and leaders within their community. The Africa Domain Name Industry Award is part of the Africa strategy being rolled out by ICANN in Africa.

The winners of this year’s award went to Kheweul, a Senegal-based registrar, and .Zadna, registry for South Africa’s .za ccTLD. The two winners set the standard for what it means to be a model business within the DNS industry.

Kheweul and .Zadna both demonstrate how enterprises in this industry can provide excellent service and leadership, but they are not alone in doing so. The ten organizations nominated for this award are all examples of what it takes to excel. Aspiring community members can look to them for guidance and leadership as they strive to grow within the industry.

As the Internet continues to develop across the Continent, it is my hope that these nominees will continue to lead the way. It is their hard work and determination to conquer adversity that allows the Internet to not only expand, but prosper.

I extend my deepest congratulations to both the winners and nominees of this year’s Africa Domain Name Industry Award. I would also like to thank all of those who contributed to making this a possibility, including the Awards Committee, ISOC and my ICANN colleagues.

For more photos of the ceremony, please visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/icann/sets/72157634647588457/

ICANN invites interested individuals and experts from its stakeholder groups to volunteer for the Task Force on Arabic Script Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). An action item on the implementation plan of ICANN’s Middle East Strategy Working Group (MESWG), the Task Force will look into technical issues and explore solutions related to the secure deployment and use of Arabic script IDNs. Among the issues the Task Force will be considering are:

• Arabic Script Label Generation Ruleset (LGR) for the Root Zone
• Second level LGRs for the Arabic script
• Arabic script Internationalized Registration Data Protocol and Practice
• Universal acceptability of Arabic script IDNs and variants
• Technical challenges around registration of Arabic IDNs and variants
• Operational software for Arabic script IDN registry and registrar operations
• DNS security matters specifically related to Arabic IDNs and variants
• Technical training material around Arabic script IDNs

The Task Force is open to interested individuals and experts from all stakeholder groups, including but not limited to Registries, Registrars, technical community, academia, policy makers, and law enforcement. All the materials prepared through the Task Force will be openly available for use by the public.

Interested individuals are invited to join the Task Force on voluntary basis by emailing their CV and Statement of Interest (SOI) to tf-aidn-admin@meswg.org, which will be publicly archived for information purposes, and then signing up at http://lists.meswg.org/mailman/listinfo/tf-aidn.

Key dates in the context of the Task Force formation:

• 5 August 2013: Open Call for membership
• 20 August 2013: MESWG to announce Task Force of Arabic Script IDNs (TF-AIDN)
• 1 Sept 2013: Initiate work item(s)

The full text of the Open Call for Participation in the Task Force is available here [PDF, 78 KB].

The evolution of the New gTLD Program over the last several years has brought with it a unique and diverse set of ideas, proposals and challenges – all of them aimed at improving the program. While the ensuing community discussions may have slowed the development and launch of the New gTLD Program beyond what many of us anticipated, they have only served to make the program better.

Two examples of that are highlighted today with the release of two reports that should shape the New gTLD Program for years to come.

First, we announced the results of an independent report [PDF, 3.34 MB] prepared by the Interisle Consulting Group on the impact of “name collisions” within the Domain Name System space. Along with our colleagues in the technical community, specifically those from the Security and Stability Advisory Committee we recognize that many of the applied-for names in the program already were in some use in some private networks.

The possibility of confusion is real although low for about 80 percent of the applied-for names but high for two strings, .corp and .home. As for the other remaining 20 percent, further study must be done to assess their impact. We already are moving ahead with plans to mitigate [PDF, 166 KB] the risks but we want your input before we do.

We also announced the results of another independent study [PDF, 1.02 MB] by Carve Systems, this one concerning the proposed concept of “dotless domains” – domain names that wouldn’t require inclusion of a “dot.” This idea has triggered a healthy debate that has lasted nearly two years. Once again, SSAC and IAB weighed in and identified potential risks, and now Carve Systems has as well. The Board’s New gTLD Program Committee will consider steps to be taken to mitigate the risks of dotless domains later this month.

One consistency you will see in how we approached both of these issues – name collisions and dotless domains – as well as with all issues related to the New gTLD Program, is that the security and stability of the Domain Name System is our first priority. Be assured it will remain so.

The Middle East Strategy Working Group (MESWG) has been working hard since it presented a draft of the three-year engagement strategy at ICANN Beijing. After finalizing the strategy, the working group with 22 members from 11 countries has developed a one-year implementation plan to be carried out during ICANN’s FY14. Activities include capacity building around IPv6, DNSSEC and DNS operations, supporting the DNS sector, and driving Arabic script IDN related work forward.

Last week at Durban, members of MESWG presented the implementation plan and sought feedback from participants. MESWG also had a face-to-face meeting to discuss next steps. Summary of the meeting discussions along with previous meeting records are available on the ICANN community wiki. MESWG members agreed that they would continue as a group to support and oversee the implementation of the strategy, at least during the first year.

I personally am very pleased with the progress that MESWG has made over the past six months. It has been a wonderful journey and it is not over yet. I would like, on behalf of ICANN, to thank all MESWG members [PDF, 62 KB] for their contribution. I look forward to continuing to work with them on the implementation.

For any comments or feedback, you can write to MESWG at meswg@icann.org.

From left to right:

• Syed Iftikhar Shah, Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan
• Sofie Maddens, Internet Society
• Baher Esmat, ICANN
• Zahid Jamil, Jamil & Jamil
• Sarmad Hussain, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore

I love talking with newcomers at ICANN meetings, particularly when they are as fresh, excited and eager to learn as the South African students and lifelong learners invited to join us in Durban. They brought unique perspectives about the realities of Internet access and use on the continent. Instead of evangelizing about all of the benefits of the Internet, I was reminded that building its infrastructure has to happen first.

Mercy Moyo, James Njenga and Kudzani Tenga are three of the 16 local Internet users who attended their first ICANN meeting through the combined efforts of ICANN’s African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO), African civil society and AfriNIC, and with the financial support of Google. Fifteen were from South Africa and one was from Liberia.

Each has overcome language and access barriers, low bandwidth speeds and inflexible data caps to become regular Internet users, and this week they looked to find their place within the ICANN community. Their interests vary from increasing local content online to providing training and education in basic ICT skills.

“Internet has vast amounts of information in foreign languages,” said Kudzani Tenga, a student at the University of South Africa. “As Africans we need to create our own content reflecting our experiences and culture. Local subject matter experts…are not easily found on the Internet.”

James Njenga is a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape. “When evangelists come to preach to us about the good things about the
Internet – they give us these expectations that the Internet is a money
tree you plant outside your house, that once you have that one MBPS
[Megabits per second] or ten MBPS line, the following morning you get
outside your house and you start seeing dollars.”

James agrees that the Internet could evolve into this money tree over the long term, but more work needs to be done, more technologies and probably more financial help to get there.

Mercy Moyo, assistant program officer at Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa, said, “We go all over sub-Saharan Africa to train the end-users on best way to use the Internet and its resources. I notice a lack of basic ICT skills. We had a participant who didn’t know how to use the mouse and lifted it in the air.”

We sat down with each for a few moments to discuss their impressions of ICANN so far, and what drew them to attend ICANN 47 in Durban. I hope you enjoy getting to know Mercy, James and Kudzani as much as I did!

• Mercy Moyo’s Newcomer Experience
• James Njenga’s Newcomer Experience
• Kudzani Tenga’s Newcomer Experience

During today’s GAC Plenary session in Durban we announced that Everton Lucero our Stakeholder Engagement Manager based in Brazil will be leaving ICANN. Everton has accepted an offer to work for the Brazilian Government and long time colleague and former boss, Minister of External Relations, Antonio Patriota.

We will be sad to see Everton leave our team, but we are proud and excited for him as well. He has made a remarkable contribution to the ICANN community in a staff role and I know he will expand that still further in his new role. I also want to thank the Brazilian Government for working with us so constructively on this issue. I have no doubt that our partnershp will deepen and broaden with Everton in this new role.

During the GAC meeting I was very encouraged by the supportive nature of the comments made by Romulo Neves, interim Brazilian GAC representative, saying that Everton’s skills and expertise are critical to help the government to organize the debate internally not only around Internet Governance but also about Internet-related public policies in general. He made a particular point of emphasising that this appointment is evidence of Brazil’s commitment to ICANN and its multistakeholder model.

Everton will continue at ICANN till mid-August as he transitions to his new position, and working with us to identify a successor. We will miss him, but we are looking forward to working with him in his new role at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.

Congratulations Everton!

Participants in ICANN 47 Signing Ceremony.

Left to Right: Fadi Chehadé, ICANN; Frederic Guillemaut, Mail Club; Mouhamet Diop, Kheweul.com; Adrian Kinderis, ARI; Akram Atallah, ICANN; Ilya Bazlyankov, CORE; Paul Stahura, Donuts; Rob Hall, Momentous; James Bladel, GoDaddy; Matt Serlin, MarkMonitor.

The New generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program is clearly at the forefront of ICANN 47 in Durban, South Africa and during today’s Welcome Ceremony and President’s Opening Session, we witnessed a significant occasion with the signing of the recently approved 2013 Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreements.

Numerous registrars and registries were on hand to sign the new agreements, which have been a long time coming and which embody the collective work of and collaborative efforts by the ICANN community to make this milestone possible. The agreements reflect important and essential changes that were made in response to public comments and to address contractual needs of the New gTLD Program.

We have taken a notable step forward in ensuring far greater security protections for the entire DNS ecosystem and for stakeholders alike. What lies ahead holds immense potential for continued domain name industry expansion, innovation and market success. These new agreements put in place will not only have a lasting effect on the registration process but will serve as a cornerstone for enhanced services, systems and enterprises.

In coming together and by agreeing to new contractual frameworks, registrars and registries are helping to positively shape the next era of Internet development that awaits us. The New gTLD Program will surely create new white spaces for brands and organizations to build from, and with these improved contractual provisions being enacted trademark rights holders, registrants and account holders will benefit enormously.

Business is a broad category. The work of ICANN affects much of it. Every business that depends on a scalable, unified and stable Internet has a stake.

That makes engagement with business both daunting and inspiring. Whether you are running a mobile payments platform in Kenya, a globally branded consumer products company in Japan, an Internet start-up in Turkey, an IT consultancy in India, or an Internet service provider in Uruguay, ICANN is –quite literally– working for you. Yet ICANN remains, for many, “the most important organization you’ve never heard of”.

Over the last six months I have met with representatives in each category above, and many more. Once they learn of ICANN’s role and remit, they immediately understand how crucial it is to their bottom line. That’s the easy part. Also quite easy to convey is how ICANN’s work must serve the global public interest and address the interests of all stakeholders, not just business. More complex are conversations about the model that sustains ICANN’s work and how, together, we can strengthen and enhance it.

With help from leaders within the ICANN community as well as some diverse new voices, we’ve been working to address challenges surfaced in each conversation: How to follow ICANN’s work without needing to be an expert? How to selectively participate when a business’ specific interests are affected? How (and why) to invest limited resources in following broader Internet Governance issues?

One conclusion reached by members of our Global Stakeholder Engagement team is that we require a differentiated engagement approach, tailored for diverse categories, levels of interest, and bandwidth. And even though ICANN is reaching out for broader participation from parts of the globe newly connected by an expanding Internet, the pathway to participation begins with many small but important steps: awareness-raising, education and outreach among them. This is as true for business stakeholders as for every other group we serve.

Today I am pleased to announce one of these small steps — the launch of a LinkedIn group “ICANN for Business” and a related Twitter feed, @ICANN4Biz. The objective of these platforms is to provide both general interest content and a forum for discussion to a growing and diverse population of business stakeholders – stakeholders who may never attend an ICANN Public Meeting, but who nonetheless wish to engage in the discussion.

We plan for more diverse platforms to reach more geographies in due course, but are seeking to test the waters with these first. I hope you will join our group. Whether you become an active commenter and poster, or simply choose to follow, you’ll be helping to guide ICANN’s business engagement efforts.

A multi-lingual strategic planning portal was launched last month so individuals and organizations throughout the world can help create a new, overarching vision and five-year strategic plan for ICANN.

Building on previous discussions about how to help prepare ICANN for an increasingly complex world, we are requesting comments on eight key areas of consideration for the new strategic plan:

1. Role Clarity—What does a clear articulation of ICANN’s role in 2018 contain?
2. Community—Thinking ahead to 2018, what attributes and characteristics do ICANN’s evolved, successful community structures and processes have? What do they look like?
3. Users—How might ICANN engage this broad, end-user base over the next five years?
4. Internationalization & Regional Development—What must ICANN do by 2018 to be considered by the community a sufficiently international, multi-stakeholder organization?
5. Internet Governance—What does effective Internet Governance look like in 2018?  
6. Security & Stability—What must ICANN do to ensure a secure and stable system of unique identifiers for the Internet, with the complexity and reach anticipated in 2018?
7. Operational Excellence—What does an improved, efficient, adaptive, agile ICANN of 2018 look like?
8. Domain Name Industry Engagement—What should ICANN’s role be over the next five years for this industry?

In addition to sharing input online through August, you can join discussions on these key strategic planning areas at the ICANN meeting in Durban. On Monday, 15 July at 10:30 (SAST) in Hall 6, ICANN will host a professionally facilitated, interactive session for the community. Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in cross-community conversations and brainstorming sessions to help define ICANN’s long-term goals.

All input will be carefully considered, and a proposed strategic vision and plan will be shared for public comment in October.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Internet has become an engine for economic growth and is rapidly changing the way businesses and entrepreneurs engage with consumers. This is particularly true in Africa. As the Internet spreads across the continent, it is opening new worlds of opportunity. This growth is creating new markets and revolutionizing old ones.

I invite you to join me during ICANN’s upcoming meeting in Durban, South Africa, to explore how these new technologies are changing the business landscape in Africa. In a series titled “Africa Untethered: The Era of Digital Africa,” I will host two panels of knowledgeable business and technology experts from across the continent to discuss the expansion of the Internet in Africa.

The first panel, “The Rise of the African Internet Entrepreneur”, will explore how the Internet is enabling growth in Africa’s digital economy. The second, “New Behaviors: Africa’s lessons for the world”, examines the effects Internet enabled devices are having on cultures, societies, and economies.

I also encourage you to attend a panel titled “What the Journalists Think,” which will explore the viewpoints of prominent African IT journalists and their perception of ICANN policies, ranging from new gTLDs to Internet governance.

I urge you to attend and I look forward to your participation.

For more information on Africa Untethered: The Era of Digital Africa, please visit: http://durban47.icann.org/node/39769

For more information on What the Journalists Think, please visit: http://durban47.icann.org/node/39781

Registry and registrar CEOs have been at work on a number of fronts since we gathered at a DNS Summit in New York in April. So far, the most fruitful effort has been on a series of three infographic “maps” of the domain name sector, compiled by the task forces. Clearly they stumbled onto an important, unmet need – for simple, explainable diagrams of how the domain name business functions. Feedback continues on the three maps, now available for online review.

Map 1 – The Domain Name Industry Ecosystem
Map 2 – The Domain Name Industry Value Chain
Map 3 – The Domain Name System Responsibilities

I’m pleased to report that CEO task forces have also been building plans for a “Seal of Approval”-style good conduct program, an annual Expo for the domain name industry, as well as philanthropic activities to align participants’ corporate citizenship goals. Each of these projects is designed to raise awareness and to strengthen the reputation of our growing industry.

Separately, a group of leaders has formed the Domain Name Association (DNA), an independent, membership-based organization designed to convey domain name industry interests to policy makers, the media, and the broader public. Because the issues affect so many diverse stakeholder groups across the ICANN community, we will be offering both the CEO task forces and the DNA an opportunity to present their work, answer questions and seek input at a session for ICANN47 in Durban.

I look forward to joining in the review of infographic maps, CEO task forces and the DNA proposals.

Security is at the core of what we do at ICANN to facilitate the global technical coordination of the Internet’s unique identifier systems. This post attempts to provide some clarity and context to the Security terms we use at ICANN. This baseline understanding will help the community improve discussions with ICANN’s counterparts and stakeholders in the greater Internet ecosystem.

In May, Markus Kummer wrote on the Internet Society blog about the history of the term “multistakeholder.” 1 Reading his paper triggered an idea that an article reflecting on the historical context for security terms at ICANN may help provide a basic understanding for how we use these terms and how these uses may differ from others in the ecosystem. If you are interested in the historical perspective, see the inset at the end of the article [click here].

This post focuses on the terms:

• Security – providing the capacity to protect Internet unique identifiers and prevent misuse
• Stability – the capacity to ensure that the system operates as expected, and that users of the unique identifiers have confidence that the system operates as expected.
• Resiliency – the capacity of the unique identifier system to effectively withstand/tolerate/survive malicious attacks and other disruptive events without disruption or cessation of service.

At ICANN “providing capacity” is a particularly important function of the Security Team: we provide expertise and contribute resources to assist, educate, train others in the Internet ecosystem to protect unique identifiers and share practices for preventing their misuse. This is done through Security’s technical engagement function.

A key part of ICANN’s Security role is focused on operational integrity and the mitigation of threats. ICANN has responsibilities for maintaining the security (“safe operation”) of L-root, the DNSSEC key signing functions, IANA functions, new gTLD operations, Time Zone Database Management, and organizational functions such as Finance, Personnel, Facilities and Meetings. This role is proactive toward minimizing risk to these operational functions, including detection and mitigation of threats across these and other areas where identifiers are put at risk.

A related element to Security is the concept of affording grounds for confidence. This element has been incorporated into our definition for stability. Stability relates to consistency, from a technical standpoint with name servers and data, between delegations and the appropriate zone in the name space. Maintaining stability was and remains an important part of ICANN’s mission.

The definitions of resiliency and resilience in the ICANN context relate to the original design objectives of the Internet protocols, i.e., to be adaptive to change and resilient to failure.

Resiliency relates to the overall ecosystem and its “ability to maintain its structure and function over time in the face of external stress.” This is a concept adapted from the discipline of ecological economics. The Stockholm Resilience Centre has a good overview of the concept of resilience 2. A resilient DNS and unique identifier system is one that will help support a healthy and sustainable Internet ecosystem.

Examples of programs to support resilience of the unique identifier system are registrar data escrow and emergency backend registry operators. Resiliency includes continuity and contingency testing and exercises.

ICANN is a signatory to the World Economic Forum’s Principles for Cyber Resilience 3 (pdf). The WEF Principles acknowledge that cyber resilience requires trusted dialogue and collaboration between parties in the Internet ecosystem.

ICANN’s coordination and collaboration functions are foundational and relate to ensuring interoperability and preserving the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet’s unique identifier system. ICANN performs a coordinating role for Internet stakeholders, inclusive of governments and private industry, but with an independent governance structure. This function is non-regulatory, providing a distinction from those functions appropriately handled by governments and law enforcement.

Coordination is the heart of allocation processes for the Internet’s unique identifiers, technical engagement and policy making associated with the Internet’s unique identifiers. Coordination among and between different parties and different community functions helps to ensure that decisions related to technical functions are made in the public interest in a clear, fair, accountable and transparent manner.

An example is the coordinated disclosure guidelines published in March 2013. The guidelines define the role ICANN will perform in circumstances where vulnerabilities are reported and explain how a party should disclose information on a vulnerability discovered in a system or network operated by ICANN.

Collaboration is related to coordination but a separate concept. It is often defined as one who works in conjunction with another or others; especially in literary, artistic or scientific work 4. The original Memorandum of Understanding with the US Department of Commerce used “collaborate” to refer to ICANN and the Department of Commerce working together to ensure the functions and procedures for transition of the coordination functions for the Internet’s unique identifiers to ICANN. In the past 15 years, this coordination function has grown to include the broad range of stakeholders in the Internet ecosystem.

Collaboration relates to the activities and ways that ICANN participates as peers with others in the Internet ecosystem as well. For example, ICANN Security team members regularly participate in events such as the Internet Governance Forum and regional IGFs, the annual IISI security forum in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, at the Interpol Underground Economy Conference, Forum of Incident Response Security Teams, and other events. This also relates to ICANN’s involvement in response to Conficker 5 and other malicious attacks against the DNS.

We hope this provides a common understanding for how these terms are used in ICANN security, and we look forward to continuing dialogue with the Internet community in support of these functions.

Historical Uses

The Security terms in this blog post predate the formation of ICANN, and have been associated with the early days of computing to the advent of networking. Computer and information security was identified as a concern with the creation of the ARPANET. As early as the late 1960s, security was viewed in terms of protecting information in resource-sharing systems among a number of simultaneous users 6.

The need for coordination relates to uniqueness of the assignment of identifiers (see the development of the concept of Domain Names 7 and updated through subsequent RFCs).

Evolving from the ARPANET and academic network to the set of functions coordinated by Jon Postel as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the early Internet technical community recognized the need for an organization with the responsibility for gathering and registering information about networks to which identifiers have been assigned and for the Internet to become available for global use 8.

The terms stability and coordination were key principles in the 1998 US Department of Commerce Statement of Policy on the Management of Internet Names and Addresses, (commonly referred to as the White Paper), which recognized that global commercial importance of the Internet necessitated “operation of the DNS and operation of the authoritative root server system should be secure, stable and robust”. 9

The White Paper also describes Coordination as the set of functions to be performed to ensure that the Internet runs smoothly. Coordination was viewed as a mechanism for preserving the stability of the Internet, and also as a process that would be flexible to meet the changing needs of the Internet and global Internet users.

The stability principle was described in connection with private sector coordination “without disruption to the functioning of the DNS” 10.

Security, stability and coordination are reflected in the Bylaws of ICANN as part of the Mission and Core Values, and were adopted into the Affirmation of Commitments.

RFC 1591 published by Jon Postel in March 1994 to describe the Domain Name System’s structure and the delegation for top-level domains, uses the term resilience in describing the duties of a TLD manager. These include “responding to requests in a timely manner, and operating the database with accuracy, robustness and resilience.” 11

There are limited references to resilience between 1999-2008. In November 2001, Bruce Schneier delivered a keynote at the ICANN Meeting devoted to security and stability of the Internet Naming and Address Allocation Systems focused on “Resilient Security”. In 2003, resiliency appeared in the 8th status report to the US Department of Commerce related to an SSAC study of “an evaluation of the redundancy and resiliency of the major domain name servers to withstand distributed denial of service attacks.” 12.

In 2008, ICANN’s Security team was formed, and resiliency became a key term for ICANN in association with security and stability. For more information, ICANN Security team documents can be found in the Security document archive 13.

1 http://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2013/05/multistakeholder-cooperation-reflections-emergence-new-phraseology-international

2 http://www.stockholmresilience.org/21/research/what-is-resilience.html

3 World Economic Forum’s Principles for Cyber Resilience, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IT_PathwaysToGlobalCyberResilience_Report_2012.pdf [PDF, 2.09 MB]

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration

5 http://www.icann.org/en/about/staff/security/conficker-summary-review-07may10-en.pdf [PDF, 386 KB]

6 Security Controls for Computer Systems, RAND Report R-609, 1970, http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R609-1/index2.html

7 RFC 1034, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1034.txt, as implemented in RFC 1035, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1035.txt

8 RFC 1174, http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1174

9 1998 US Department of Commerce Statement of Policy on the Management of Internet Names and Addresses, 63 Fed. Reg. 31741 (commonly referred to as the White Paper, see http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/white-paper)

10 Memorandum of Understanding with the US Department of Commerce, http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/mou-jpa/icann-mou-25nov98-en.htm)

11 RFC 1591, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1591.txt

12 http://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/mou-jpa/status-report-01aug03-en.htm

13 http://www.icann.org/en/about/staff/security/archive

I am delighted to report that we have achieved yet another major milestone in empowering the New gTLD program. The NGPC has now approved the New Registry Agreement [PDF, 2.15 MB] following on the heels of the adoption of the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) a few days ago. We now have the infrastructural tools and the means to start the contracting process, and continue the march toward delegation of New gTLDs. You can view the redline version of the Agreement here [PDF, 1.62 MB].

These recent accomplishments are very significant on their own, and additionally for a variety of other reasons. As the ICANN community prepares for ICANN 47 in Durban, I sense an added level of energy and a tinge of jubilation in our community. It’s as though the summit is finally coming into view, after a long and at times exhausting voyage.

As we assemble all the moving parts that are required for the proverbial lift off, I reflect on how far we have come together and how much ground we have covered. My sincere congratulations to all the stakeholders of our community for this achievement, and gratitude for all their contributions and constructive input.

• RyA Adopted by the NGPC [PDF, 1.46 MB]
• Redline Comparing Revised Version of RyA to 29 April 2013 Version [PDF, 1.62 MB]
• Summary of Changes to the RyA [PDF, 898 KB]
• Report of Public Comments on the 29 April 2013 RyA [PDF, 338 KB]

Jon Nevett, Donuts, Inc.

“This agreement, which requires consumer protections not present in the current namespace, reflects the hard work of ICANN, applicants, and the community, and is another step toward new gTLD delegation. Donuts looks forward to resolving — prior to the Durban meeting — the enforcement issue related to the GAC safeguards and beginning the contracting process forthwith so that we can fulfill our and ICANN’s mission to bring variety, choice and competition to the namespace.”

Jeff Neuman Neustar, Inc.

“Neustar is pleased that ICANN continues to move forward to make new gTLDs a reality. There is still a lot of work to do, and we look forward to working in good faith with ICANN staff in Durban to identify PIC enforcement mechanisms that give responsible gTLD operators the chance to compete and succeed. We think it is also critical to identify a clear path forward that avoids unreasonable delay on the applications that have been deferred.”

Many believed it couldn’t be done- achieve consensus on a solution to the WHOIS issue, after nearly a decade of debate in the ICANN community. In fact, that is what the Expert Working Group (EWG) has done in a remarkably short amount of time.

When the Board embarked on this effort to produce the next generation of data directory services to replace the current WHOIS system, it did so by bringing together a widely divergent group of industry experts, as well as some seasoned executives from outside the ICANN community. Together they have produced an Initial Report [PDF, 1.7 MB] that provides a solid foundation for replacing WHOIS by identifying the permissible purposes for registration data, and recommending the design features and principles to keep in mind when developing a next generation registration directory service.  The EWG also proposed a radically new model for the ICANN community to consider, referred to as the Aggregated Registration Data Service (ARDS), that demonstrates how such a new system might be deployed.

The EWG is very interested in your views on its Initial Report [PDF, 1.7 MB], to be considered as it finalizes its recommendations after the Durban Meeting. To help you understand their current thinking, members of the EWG have recorded a video, or you can attend the EWG’s Webinar on July 8th, or public session at the Durban Meeting on July 15th. You can also answer the discussion questions posed by the EWG to solicit community input on open areas.

Did the EWG get it right? Is the ARDS the best replacement for WHOIS? Make sure to share your views on this important development.

We are finally there. After a long and extensive period of discussions, negotiations and revisions, the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement [PDF, 913 KB] is finally a reality. Here is a summary of the changes [PDF, 158 KB] made since the RAA was posted for public comment on April 22.

This accomplishment marks yet another significant milestone in the process of empowering New gTLDs and provides a robust mechanism for continued improvements for the entire DNS ecosystem. I dare say that for the first time we have an agreement that incorporates many significant provisions that our stakeholders have been asking for.

Yet, much work still lies ahead. This new agreement requires many new services and systems to be put in place by the industry. ICANN is fully committed to facilitate trainings and webinars to help the global Registrar community better understand these new requirements. To that end, we are planning onsite trainings in China to be conducted in Chinese, as well as in Los Angeles, sometime in August. We plan to do similar trainings in other regions as necessary.

Once again, I salute the Registrar Negotiating Team for all of its contributions to this process and for being true partners in accomplishing this monumental task. These dedicated individuals delivered on their commitment to help raise the industry’s standards for the benefit of the community. In short, a job well done!

James Bladel, GoDaddy

“The new 2013 RAA represents a milestone achievement for our industry, thanks to almost two years of work on the part of Registrar Negotiators and ICANN Staff. But finalizing the language of the agreement was actually the easy part, and now the real work of implementing the new RAA can begin. Registrants and customers should see these changes in the coming months.”

Volker Greimann, Key-Systems GmbH

“The approval of the 2013 RAA by the ICANN board clears one of the final obstacles for the long-awaited launch of the new gTLDs. The changes contained in the new agreement will have a lasting and noticeable effect on the domain name industry and the registration process in general for all registrations in the existing and the new generic top level domains. Registrars and ICANN have worked hard to create this document in response to the problems put before us and we appreciate the willingness of ICANN to work with registrars in addressing and implementing them in a realistic and workable manner. Going forward, we will continue to work together to fine-tune and expand upon the existing agreement as the new RAA is intended and designed to be a living document.”

Rob Hall, Momentous

“The new registrar agreement clears that way for market success in the launching of new Internet domain names. By committing to a single set of requirements, businesses — registrars and registries alike — can now more decisively make investment and business decisions with winners and losers determined by those actions, not by rule or regulation.”

Jeff Eckhaus, Demand Media

“The 2013 RAA is the product of a great deal of work by both Registrars and ICANN, but the direction of the changes were driven directly from the ICANN Community. With input from the GAC, Law Enforcement, GNSO and the public comment system, this negotiation had the feeling of everyone in the room and their voices heard, but above all we always worried about the most important person, the registrants of domain names.”