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On 30 September, the Joint Project Agreement that ICANN had with the United States Department of Commerce concluded and in its place I signed a new Affirmation of Commitments.

What does that mean? It means that after 11 years, we're now mature enough to move on to the next phase of our global development. So it's an exciting time for us all to enter a whole new level as an organization.

The JPA was a set of milestones that were established specifically around engaging different stakeholder communities: the addressing groups around the world, the ISPs, the registrars, the registries, and cultivating those communities and getting them engaged in self-governance for the Internet. That has succeeded, the JPA has now gone, and we now have the Affirmation of Commitments.

That Affirmation allows us to have a continued relationship with the United States government, and includes a new commitment to do periodic reviews of our accountability and transparency as an organization of our performance and security and resiliency and in other areas.

In the past, those reviews were simply submitted to the U.S. government. Under the new relationship, they will be developed by an international committee of parties chosen by the chairman of our Governmental Advisory Committee and the CEO of ICANN - myself - or in some cases the chairman of ICANN.

So what it really means is we're going global. All the reviews and all the work done will be submitted for public comment to the world. And the United States, just like every other country, will be a recipient of that information through the publication of the results.

By using the very skills and processes that ICANN has developed and matured, based on a philosophy of coordination and not control, we have an agreement that I believe puts ICANN in good stead for the next 11 years.

But if you think that's the end of the issue, you could not be more wrong. With the signing of the affirmation, ICANN is now accountable to the global internet community – and that means you.

If you want to ensure that the Internet continues to develop and evolve in a way that makes the most of its enormous potential, it is up to you to get involved and participate within ICANN.

I look forward to seeing you all in Seoul as we progress with all the issues currently under consideration by this extraordinary multi-stakeholder organization, and in particular the new gTLD process and Fast Track process.

To read the official announcement: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#announcement

Full Affirmation Text: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#affirmation

Read what others are saying about the affirmation: http://www.icann.org/en/affirmation/affirmation-reaction.htm

View a video with interactive script: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#video

Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)

ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has been part of the organization from the beginning, and has met in conjunction with every ICANN meeting since 1999. It is not a decision-making body nor is it an inter-governmental organisation. It is, however, the only group of government representatives which works closely and regularly with ICANN on public policy aspects of the domain name system.

In formal terms the GAC is an advisory committee established under the Bylaws and working under its own operating principles. It advises the Board on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues. The bylaws require ICANN to duly take into account GAC advice; or seek a mutually acceptable solution if there is disagreement; or give reasons if GAC advice is not followed.

The ways in which the GAC goes about its business are similar in some ways to other parts of ICANN, but in other ways are a little different. The key points are:

The GAC performs a two-way function by both providing advice to ICANN, and taking information back to national administrations from across ICANN;
The GAC advice on the pubic policy aspects of the DNS is prepared based on national and regional approaches;
Members generally need to consult widely with stakeholders and within their national administrations on issues being considered by the GAC. This sometimes means that the GAC is not in a position to deal with an issue in the same timeframe as other parts of the ICANN community although the GAC does sometimes offer advice at the beginning of the policy making process (as was true for new gTLDs).
The GAC works primarily on the basis of consensus (that is, no strong objections from members) to develop principles-based documents and advice;
The GAC also has the flexibility to generate advice as options rather than a single consensus position. There might also be circumstances where the GAC is unable to provide advice. National administrations can also provide input directly to ICANN. The bylaws also provide that the GAC " shall work to achieve consensus; however, where consensus is not possible, the Chair shall convey the full range of views expressed by Members to the ICANN Board."
As governments cannot delegate their sovereignty to others, GAC members should not be presumed to represent the views of other governments when they act in any liaison role they might play in other ICANN entities.

Some of the principles-based documents developed by the GAC include those on delegation and national administration of ccTLDs; introduction of new gTLDs; and gTLD WHOIS services.

The GAC issues a communiqué at each ICANN meeting, which puts on the public record the views of GAC members attending a particular meeting and which constitutes formal advice to the Board as foreseen in the bylaws. The GAC may also provide formal advice in other forms, such as letters sent inter-sessionally (between ICANN public meetings) to the Board from the GAC Chair when it is appropriate to do so for reasons of timing.

In addition to the GAC, governments participate in a variety of international bodies which may have a role in public policy aspects of the domain name system. These include the Internet Governance Forum; the International Telecommunication Union; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; the World Intellectual Property Organization; and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Many of these organisations participate in GAC meetings as observers to improve coordination and dialogue. For example, UNESCO has made significant input on linguistic issues associated with introduction of IDNs, and WIPO has made ongoing contributions to discussions relating to intellectual property issues within the domain name system, including most recently in connection with ICANN’s New gTLD Program.

A joint Board-GAC working group is being established to review the GAC's role within ICANN, and the Board has asked this group to also engage the ICANN community in a fully consultative process.

The GAC comprises representatives of 86 governments and a dozen intergovernmental organisations. The GAC recently welcomed representatives from the governments of Georgia, Iraq and the Philippines to its membership and would welcome enquiries from representatives of national governments, distinct economies as recognised in international fora, multinational governmental organisations and treaty organisations interested in participating in the work of the GAC. Enquiries can be sent to the GAC Secretariat via email gacsec@gac.icann.org

More information is available at the GAC website, including a complete list of communiqués, key documents and details of current GAC members.

ICANN Meetings

The October 2009 36th International Public meeting will be held in Seoul, Korea and is quickly approaching. The hosting organization is the Korean Internet & Security Agency (KISA). Previously called NIDA, KISA and NIDA merged together this past July.

To date 830 people are currently registered to attend the Seoul Meeting from a wide range of different countries.

Online registration ended 9 October 2009, but there will be onsite registration if you plan on attending.

For more information about the Seoul meeting, please visit: http://sel.icann.org/

Future ICANN Meetings will be held in Nairobi - March 2010; Brussels—June 2010; and the Latin American — December 2010 location has yet to be determined.

The dates and geographic rotation for 2011 through 2013 have been approved by the ICANN board.

Aside from our main, big three international meetings, another conferences recently supported was the Registry/Registrar event in Toronto, 20-21 August.

For the first time, this conference had online registration and remote participation available.

65 participants attended in person while another 10 participated remotely.

NomCom 2009 Appointees

The Nominating Committee recently announced its selections for the various ICANN community seats, including three Board members, three ALAC members; two GNSO Councilors and one ccNSO councilor. They are:

Board

Rajasekar Ramaraj, India (2nd term)
Gonzalo Navarro, Chile
George Sadowsky, United States

ALAC

James Seng, Malaysian citizen residing in China
Carlton Samuels, Jamaica
Dave Kissoondoyal, Mauritius

GNSO Council

Olga Cavalli, Argentina (2nd term)
Andrey Kolesnikov, Russian Federation

ccNSO Council

J. Beckwith Burr (Becky), United States (2nd term)

We spoke to a number of the appointees about their selection.

New Board member George Sadowskycommented: "I very gratified to have been chosen for a Board position with ICANN. I feel that what ICANN is doing is important and useful. There are a number of major policy decisions coming up, and I am looking forward to understanding them better and helping ICANN chart a rational course in meeting its responsibilities to the public interest."

Dave Kissoondoyaltold the magazine: "I am deeply honored to be nominated to serve on the At-Large Advisory Council. I am very grateful for the confidence that the Nominating Committee has shown in me. My actions have always geared towards working for the best interests of the Internet Community and my nomination to the ICANN ALAC will supplement the work I am currently doing. Being nominated for the African region, I will always strive for an open and stable internet for ALL in Africa and the rest of the World."

And fellow ALAC appointee Carlton Samuelssaid: "My home region, the Caribbean, has come to see the Internet as our last best tool and helpmate for economic and social development in this information age when knowledge products define prosperity. My engagement with this subject and the ICANN remit is the continuation of a humble attempt to play our role in the global space and to present views that in combination with others, could influence outcomes in our interest. I am grateful to the NomCom for my selection."

Andrey Kolesnikovsaid of his appointment: "I am privileged to have been selected as a member of the GNSO Council. Given my long-standing interest in the array of issues that fall under the Organization's mandate, I believe the new assignment will enrich my expertise and let me benefit from interaction with the prominent experts in the area. In return, I hope to put my utmost efforts into the GNSO's operations and help it expand and solidify its standing throughout Internet communities."

And new ccNSO Council member Becky Burr told us: "I appreciate the NomCom's confidence, and particularly hope to contribute to the ccNSO in connection with IDN policy development."

Olga Cavalli, who is serving a second term on the GNSO Council told us, "I am very happy for being reappointed to serve one more term in the GNSO Council. The GNSO is an extremely challenging and intensive learning experience, especially now as it is going through a restructuring process that is intended to broaden participation and inclusion among all community members and stakeholder groups. I am looking forward to active participation in the new council that will be seated after the Seoul meeting and also in all the ICANN activities in the light of the Affirmation of Commitments."

For more information, including biographies and photos of those chosen, please visit: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-28aug09-en.htm

Policy Update

For an in-depth look at the following Policy topics, go to the September Policy Update at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/policy/update-sep09-en.htm#1

Policy and Related Issues Currently Open for Comment

Numerous public comment periods are open on issues of interest to the ICANN community. Act now for the opportunity to share your views on such items as:

Proposed Bylaw Changes to Improve Accountability

The latest step in the Improving Institutional Confidence process. Comment period closes 25 September 2009.

At-Large Review Implementation Outline

After an independent review of the At-Large Advisory Committee, the Board approved several recommendations for improvement. This plan for how to turn the recommendations into reality is open for comments until 30 September.

Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) Part B

The Inter-Registrar Transfer (IRTP) Part B PDP Working Group wants public comments on issues surrounding modifying registration information and transferring domain names between registers. Specifically, comments on establishing a new urgent return procedure for challenging potentially fraudulent domain name transfers or alterations, potential measures to undo inappropriate transfers, and the use of Registrar Lock Status are requested from the broader community. Note: Comments can be submitted in English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French and Russian. Comment period closes 5 October 2009.

Document Publication Operational Policy

A Board Committee has posted a proposed “operational policy” for use by all Supporting Organizations, Advisory Committees, the Board and Staff at ICANN’s international public meetings. It includes, among other things, a mandatory 15 day deadline for posting all documents, including agendas. Comments are requested by 8 October 2009.

ccNSO

Council Prepares to Tame Wildcarding

Operators of country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) have encountered problems with domain name wildcarding and synthesized DNS responses. The country code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Council is arranging briefings on the subject so that the ccNSO can try to reduce the practice of wildcarding at the top level of a ccTLD.

Strategic and Operational Planning WG Expands

The ccNSO’s Strategic and Operational Planning Working Group (SOP WG) added four members and is planning a survey to collect input on ICANN’s long-term strategic plan.

Incident Response Working Group Swells Its Ranks

Sixteen volunteers joined the ccNSO’s Incident Response Planning Working Group (IRP WG).

ccNSO Council Calls for Nominees

Because of term limits, some members of the ccNSO Council will soon step down. The Council is working to replace them.

DNSSEC Survey Closes

DNSSEC could make a major difference to the security and stability of the Internet. But does the Internet community understand and embrace what DNSSEC offers? To answer this question, the ccNSO Council updated and re-launched a ccNSO DNSSEC Survey first conducted in 2007.

GNSO

Revised Bylaws Pave the Way for a New Council in Seoul

The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) community is working to implement a comprehensive series of structural changes designed to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accessibility of the organization. This month’s efforts included updating ICANN’s Bylaws to reflect the changes; developing transition plans; and continued consideration of possible new constituencies.

Inter-Registrar Transfer Policies WG Digs Into Definitions, Opinions

The Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) aims to provide a straightforward procedure for domain name holders to transfer their names from one ICANN-accredited registrar to another. The GNSO is reviewing and considering revisions to this policy.

Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery Working Group May Survey Registrars

To what extent should registrants be able to reclaim their domain names after they expire? At issue is whether the current policies of registrars on the renewal, transfer and deletion of expired domain names are adequate.

Fast Flux Working Group Finishes; Issues Live On

Fast flux attacks refer to techniques that cybercriminals use to evade detection by rapidly modifying IP addresses and/or name servers. Though fast flux is notorious as a technique used maliciously, it also has legitimate uses. The GNSO is exploring appropriate action.

ASO

RIRs Update Global Policy Proposal for Recovered IPv4 Addresses

Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are currently discussing a proposed global policy for handling IPv4 address space returned from the RIRs to IANA. According to the proposal, IANA should act as a repository of returned address space and allocate such space to the RIRs in smaller blocks than it currently does, once the free pool of IANA IPv4 address space has been depleted.

RIRs Might Postpone Autonomous System Numbers 32-Bit Transition

Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are currently discussing a proposed global policy for Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs). The proposal would change the date for a full transition from 16-bit to 32-bit ASNs from the beginning of 2010 to the beginning of 2011, in order to allow more time for necessary upgrades of the systems involved.

Joint Efforts

Joint ccNSO/GNSO IDN Working Group Launches

The ccNSO Council adopted the Charter of the Joint ccNSO/GNSO Internationalized Domain Name Working Group (JIG WG) and will appoint members to the group…later.

Joint GNSO / ALAC RAA Working Group Calls for Volunteers

In order to be accredited by ICANN, registrars sign a Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) that commits them to certain performance standards. ICANN community groups are drafting a charter identifying registrant rights and discussing further amendments to the RAA.

At-Large

ICANN Board Unanimously Approves Principle of Adding an At-Large Voting Board Member

Until recently, the At-Large Advisory Committee has had a non-voting Liaison on ICANN’s Board. In August, the Board approved a recommendation from the Board Review Working Group (BRWG) that, in principle, this Liaison should be replaced with a voting member from the At-Large Community on ICANN’s Board.

At-Large Names 2009/2010 NomCom Delegates

Each year between the June ICANN meeting and the ICANN Annual General Meeting (AGM), the At-Large community appoints five Nominating Committee voting delegates. This process has an impact on the whole ICANN community.

At-Large Plans How to Implement Review Recommendations

In June, an independent external review of At-Large concluded when ICANN’s Board approved recommendations from the At-Large Review Working Group. The report contains multiple recommendations. At-Large is now planning how to turn the recommendations into reality.

SSAC

SSAC to Hold First Annual Member Retreat

The Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) plans to hold its first annual member retreat, 30 September through 1 October, 2009.

Board Update

AUGUST 2009 BOARD MEETING

ICANN’s Board of Directors met on 27 August 2009.

A preliminary report for the August meeting is available online (http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/prelim-report-27aug09.htm). All previous minutes and future meeting agendas are also available online (http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/).

Operational Matters

Brussels, Belgium was chosen as the location for the European 2010 meeting in June.

The next steps were taken in the development of a global policy for allocating ASN blocks to Regional Internet Registries under the IANA contract.

The redelegation of Cape Verde’s dot-cv registry to the Agencia Nacional das Comunicacoes was approved.

Structural Matters

A range of bylaw amendments designed to seat a new GNSO Council at ICANN’s October 2009 meeting in Seoul were approved to be posted for public comment.

After several Board meeting discussions on the issue, the decision to appoint a voting director selected by the At Large Internet Community in place of the current non-voting liaison was approved in principle. Staff was asked to identify the steps needed to make the change.

A decision was made not to reduce the number of ICANN Board members, and for the CEO to look at ways to delegate work currently done by the Board to management. The decision and its effectiveness will be reviewed in three years’ time. The initial recommendation to reduce the size of the Board was made by external consultants the Boston Consulting Group.

Five members of the Board were chosen to join a joint Board/GAC working group. The working group will review the role of governments within the ICANN structure.

Wolfgang Kleinwachter was appointed as the chair of the 2010 Nominating Committee. The Committee chooses a number of key positions on ICANN’s Board and Councils.

Other Matters

A transfer of $11 million from working capital to a reserve investment fund was approved.

Operational Statistics

In August, 15 root zone requests were opened; 12 were closed; and 13 remain outstanding. Two companies applied for registrar accreditation; one was approved. A total of 185 new registrar requests were received, and 268 requests approved. The number of registrars enrolled in the data escrow program is 831, representing 98.75 of all generic top-level domains registered; 66 registrars have yet to enroll.

Seven registry service requests have been made so far in 2009. ICANN has received $12.86 million more in revenue than its costs of $49.54 million so far in 2009; $5.94 million more than budgeted. For more information, visit: http://forms.icann.org//idashboard/public/

SEPTEMBER 2009 BOARD MEETING

The Board met on 30 September. You can view the agenda at: http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/agenda-30sep09.htm.

A preliminary report will be available soon at: http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/

The Board will met next in public in Seoul on 30 October 2009.

Board Committee Public Meeting

The Board Public Participation Committee (PPC) held a special public session on Monday 5 October to discuss the Committee's work, focusing in particular on the Document Publication Operational Policy currently out for public comment.

The public session was held entirely online using the conferencing software that ICANN has been testing over the course of 2009 for its remote participation abilities. The meeting proved very successful and the input was taken by the Committee and will be fed into the document policy.

The Committee and staff would like to thank everyone for their participation and for experimenting with the online meeting software. The session was recorded and will be posted in due course on the PPC webpage, which can be found at: http://www.icann.org/en/committees/participation/.

The operational policy covers the provision of documents and meeting agendas a set time ahead of an ICANN international public meeting, and also includes sections on the provision of executive summaries, plain language, use of jargon and acronyms, translation and so on. It was put out for public comment on 8 September and closed on 8 October. A summary and analysis of comment received will be produced in due course.

Regional Update—Participation in Caribbean Telecommunication Union’s Roadshow

Shernon Osepa presenting at CTU’s Roadshow in St. Kitts & Nevis

Shernon Osepa presenting at CTU’s Roadshow in St. Kitts & Nevis

The Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), established by Head of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) States in 1989, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

CTU is the main Caribbean advisory entity advising Caricom Ministers on all ICTs matters. Although not all Caribbean countries are members of Caricom, most of them take CTU advice very seriously and incorporate it into local ICTs policies.

In order to celebrate its 20th anniversary the CTU has planned a yearlong ICT roadshow during which most countries in the Caribbean will be visited. The roadshow began August 2009 and will finish July 2010. The chosen theme for this roadshow, “Harnessing the Power of Innovation - the engine for ICT-enabled Caribbean”, clearly highlights what CTU is expecting to achieve through this initiative.

Objectives

The main objective of this initiative is to promote ICTs usage and awareness in the region by involving all stakeholders such as governments, academia, private sector and civil society in the ICTs development process.

Contributors

Recognizing the importance of such an initiative, key regional and international organizations have committed themselves to participate. Among these organizations are the Internet Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN); Columbus Networks; Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); Internet Society (ISOC); Latin America and Caribbean Internet Registries (LACNIC); Packet Clearing House (PCH); Congress WBN and Gauss Research Laboratories Inc.

Kick-off meeting

The Roadshow kick-off meeting was held in St. Kitts and Nevis from the 24 to 28th August 2009.

Most people know that St. Kitts & Nevis’ name is derived from its discoverer Christopher Columbus, but few know that there is a direct link between the 10 US dollar bill and this country.

Alexander Hamilton depicted on a 10 US dollar bill was a national of St. Kitts and Nevis.

In addition to lectures and presentations given by organizations such as ARIN (discussing Internet Resources), GLOCOM (on Internet Governance), ISOC (the Internet eco-system), ICANN (the value of TLDs), PCH (Internet Exchanges), ETI Networks (WiMax technology), Signals Telecoms Consulting (Broadband access in the Caribbean) there were also policy forums in which regulators had the opportunity to discuss relevant issues such as how to foster competition in the Caribbean.

Hands-on workshops on IPv6, youth-focused programs, case studies and consultation with stakeholders were all part of this St. Kitts and Nevis event.

ICANN’s role in this event

ICANN through the Global Partnerships (GP) department works actively to increase global engagement by conducting outreach programs in all parts of the world. These programs focus on general ICANN topics such as Security, Stability and Interoperability of the Internet as well as providing in depth presentations on topics such as new gTLDs, IDNs, IPv4/6. In addition to organizing technical workshops, persuading Governments, academia, business and civil societies to join the different supporting organizations within the ICANN structure is also part of GP’s activities. The myriad ways to become involved and participate in ICANN processes are continuously highlighted.

Shernon Osepa, ICANN’s Manager of Regional Relations for the Caribbean participated in the St. Kitts and Nevis event and gave a general ICANN overview presentation as well as comments focused on new gTLDs and re-delegation which is a hot topic in the Caribbean.

Way forward

ICANN is committed to continuing presence in and support of Caribbean events as well fostering awareness of ICANN and opportunities for participants from the region to be active in its processes. In this regard, ICANN will participate at the next Roadshow event which will take place in Antigua and Barbuda from 14 to 17th September 2009 as well.

Fellowship Update

The Fellowship program is just a beginning with alumni like Siranush from Armenia to ensure that the program lives on…please read on for her story of ICANN initiation and participation.

My name is Siranush Vardanyan, I am a three time ICANN Alumni (New Delhi, Cairo and Sydney), a Diplo Foundation Internet Capacity Building Program 2007 Alumni, as well as a participant in the First Summer School on Internet Governance (in Meissen, Germany). Currently I work with Habitat for Humanity Armenia as a Program Development Manager. I am also actively involved in different affiliations, such as the UN Association of Armenia local NGO where I am a Board Member, “Harmony" Information Technologies and Education Development Fund (“Harmony” Fund) for which I volunteer my time, and the many different local organizations' activities, related to the development of IT sector in Armenia, to which I provide support as needed.

Besides activities on a local level, I continue my involvement with ICANN through the At Large organization, by participating in different mailing list discussions and EURALO conference calls. I also remain active in the Fellowship Alumni program.

From my participation as a fellow in the ICANN Fellowship program, I have been given many great opportunities; one of these is the ability as alumni to use the growing network of fellows to share invaluable information before, during and after the ICANN meetings. For example, as a result of my participation at the First Summer School on Internet Governance in Germany in 2007, I was able to share details of this event with my new ICANN fellows in New Delhi, resulting in two ICANN fellows from New Delhi applying for, and receiving, fellowships to participate in the following round of Summer School.

My participation in ICANN meetings allowed me to identify the gaps in knowledge and expertise, both for me and for Armenia, to learn about emerging issues and push for the launch of capacity building campaigns in order to promote Armenia to the real worldwide technological discourse and progress. It is crucial to talk about about these emerging issues among Armenian professional communities, to attract local officials’ attention and challenge their knowledge on worldwide updates, as currently there is not much of this type of discussion resonating in my country.

After my participation in each ICANN meeting in 2008, I put together several meetings in my country with different organizations and affiliations, working on ICT development issues and sharing the information that I had gained by attending the ICANN meetings. Of note was a meeting with the President of Armenian ISOC, IT experts of “Harmony" Information Technologies and Education Development Fund, as well as with the representatives of the National Center for Education and Technologies (NCET), under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia.

Now is the time for moving ICANN’s activities forward, out of developed countries, and transfer the progress achieved by ICANN during 10 years to the new developing countries, who lack the access, competency, and information. That is why the possibilities for participation of young professionals from developing countries, which until now are rather behind in their development in relationship to developed countries, is a unique opportunity. The time has come when developing countries and governments urgently need people from our developing nations, who are aware of ICANN processes, and are ready to be engaged, participate in discussions and provide support for policies and implementation; the ICANN fellows/alumni will be exactly that contingent of professionals who will be in place to become the next generation of Internet community leaders.

I hope that I will always be able to continue my involvement in ICANN processes and in this community, on an individual, local and international basis.

New Top Level Domains

Applicant Guidebook v3

Fast Track Final Plan for IDNs:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/idn-cctld-implementation-plan-30sep09-en.pdf

gTLD Applicant Guidebook Version 3:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-3-en.htm#files

ICANN is pleased to announce the public posting of two milestone documents for the introduction of new top-level domains.

Fast Track (IDNs)

The Proposed Final Implementation Plan for the introduction of country-code Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) - better known as the Fast Track - has been published.

Applicant Guidebook (gTLDs)

At the same time, the next version of the draft Applicant Guidebook – the instruction manual for those requesting a generic top-level domain (gTLD) - has been published for public comment and review.

New gTLDs are expected to bring innovative services and greater choice to Internet users through increased competition, and engender broad participation through the introduction of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and community-based TLDs into this part of the Domain Name System.

Read the full announcement: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-04oct09-en.htm

We Want to Hear From You

If you have a comment about an article you’ve read, want to know more about a particular topic, are confused about an acronym, or if you would you like to submit an Op-Ed article? We invite you to submit your thoughts, ideas, and feedback to us at: michele.jourdan@icann.org