Note: The latest status update date is provided for each item.
Inter- Registrar Transfer Policies Part B (IRTP B) - Michele Neylon - chair - 19 March 2010
Nothing to report.
We haven't met since before Nairobi and are currently working away and not killing each other.
Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) - Tim Ruiz - Working Group Liaison to GNSO Council/ Marika Konings Staff support - 30 March 2010
WG held first meeting on 28 July and has been meeting on a weekly basis since September. Following review of the registrar survey, the WG has conducted a survey amongst its own membership to assess the views and positions on the different charter questions in order to determine whether there is agreement on a possible way forward / recommendation and there where further work needs to be done. Following review and discussion of the outcome of the survey, the WG will continue working on reviewing the draft Initial Report.
JIG (Joint ccNSO/GNSO IDN Group - Edmon Chung - 18 February 2010
- a kick off discussion between the co-chairs and staff was conducted
- a first meeting of the group is planned for Nairobi
- 3 items of common interest has been identified, with a 4th being considered and discussed
1. IDN TLD Variants
2. Single Character IDN TLDs
3. IDN TLD Acceptance (universal acceptance of IDN TLDs by Internet applications, databases, filters etc.)
4. IDN TLD information to be included for IANA considerations
International Registration Data (IRD) Working Group - Edmon Chung - co-chair / Julie Hedlund - Staff support 30 March 2010
The WG Co-Chair provided a progress report in Nairobi on 09 March at the public SSAC meeting. The WG is examining technical challenges and options and meeting bi-weekly.
Internationalized Domain Names Group (IDNG) - Edmon Chung - co-chair - 18 February 2010
IDNG Drafting Team
- a potential issue regarding "confusingly similar strings" with special consideration for IDN gTLDs that may be considered by the council was identified (in fact in Dec 2009), this may or may not result in a statement from the Drafting Team to the council (a draft has been circulating)
Registration Abuse Policies (RAP) Working Group (WG) - Greg Aaron - chair - 23 March 2010
The RAPWG delivered its Initial Report to the GNSO Council on February 12th. The WG chair updated the GNSO Council at Nairobi, and the WG conducted an open meeting there to present the Initial Report's highlights to interested members of the community. The public comment period closes on March 28th. The WG will begin meeting in mid-April to examine the public comment and incorporate it into its Final Report, which it will deliver to Council before the Brussels ICANN meeting in June 2010.
Geo Regions Working Group - Olga Cavalli / Zahid Jamil - 10 February 2010
There will be a teleconference on Feb 15th and a face to face meeting in Nairobi.
There are no major news in relation with the open survey about regions.
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) Sub-team A (Registrant Rights Charter) - Beau Brendler coordinator - 30 March 2010
The group concluded its work and disbanded in late February. There are no further updates.
Sub-team A convened in mid-March to finalize its work. The plain language content of the RAA that was to be the basis of the statement of registrants' rights was submitted to the regional organizations for review, and returned with some minor comments. ICANN staff was requested that they incorporate the comments from the regional orgs where appropriate to create a final draft, which I agreed to review a last time before it was submitted for action to the GNSO. Unless I am missing something, I did not see a copy of that final draft, though I am happy to review it here in Nairobi, unless it has already been passed on to the GNSO. In which case, the work of Sub-team A is completed, with the agreement that I would hold or facilitate a session in Nairobi on the "aspirational rights" document, which was removed from Sub-team A's scope of work. The "aspirational rights" document will contain suggestions for changes to future iterations of the RAA.
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) subteam B (identifying issues for possible RAA amendments) - Steve Metalitz coordinator - 29 March 2010
The previous report remains valid, except that with the need to complete our work on tasks 1 and 2, and to discuss our recommendations regarding next steps (task 3), there may be some difficulty in having the draft report ready for consideration by the Council on 21 April as envisioned in our timetable. We should have some more definitive word on this after our March 31 call.
Previous Report: Subteam B has nearly completed its review of the topics proposed for possible inclusion in a revised Registrar Accreditation Agreement, including identifying any that raise issues with regard to consensus policies. We have also taken on the task of assigning higher or lower priority to the various suggestions received. The most recent iteration of our chart of these topics is available on the subteam B mailing list archive.
We are now turning to our third task of recommending to the Council next steps for moving forward on RAA revision/amendment. We remain on track to submit our report to the Council for review by the April 21 meeting.
Vertical Integration Policy Development Process (VI PDP) - Chairs Roberto Gaetano and Mikey O'Connor - Council Liaison - Stephane van Gelder - 23 March 2010
The group had its first F2F meeting in Nairobi, following the council meeting, and worked on refining Obj 5.
The group then had a teleconference meeting on March 23. There was consensus for the idea of having 2 co-chairs. Mikey O'Connor and Roberto Gaetano agreed to serve as co-chairs and I stepped down as interim chair and deferred to them.
The group has sent a list of clarifying questions to the Board.
The group agreed not to limit the number of participants.
The group was unable to finalize Obj 5. At this stage, it is unclear when this item can be finalised. A straw poll will be held on the list in the next couple of days to try and ascertain whether consensus can be found, but council may want to consider granting an extension to the WG on this item.
The group decided to hold weekly meetings, and to make today's time a permanent fixture.
WHOIS Current Activity - Liz Gasster Staff support - updated April 2010
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-update-01apr10-en.htm
ccNSO update - Olga Cavalli - 24 March 2010
Six countries/territories have now had their Fast Track String Evaluation plan completed, two are pending as they must also go through a synchronised IDN ccTLD Evaluation process (this is for IDN ccTLDs requests in more than one official language or script in a country/territory, or where the request could cause a problem for internet users) - these countries are China, Hong-Kong, Quatar, Palestinian Territory, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Sri Lanka.
This means the String Delegation Process (through IANA) can now be initiated -
see http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/announcements-en.htm for more information.
An implementation plan for synchronised IDNs has also been published for public comments: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-22mar10-en.htm
Travel drafting team - Olga Cavalli - 24 March 2010
The team was going to meet face to face with ICANN staff in Nairobi.
This meeting was cancelled.
ICANN travel team is drafting the Travel Support Gudelines for next Fiscal Year (FY2011). We may send comments now, then this document will be posted for public comments.
For your reference FY 10 Travel Support Guidelines can be found in this link:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/travel-support/travel-support-guidelines-fy10-24jul09-en.pdf
(The travel Drafting Team plans a teleconference on Wednesday, 31 March 2010)
GNSO Work Prioritization Model Drafting Team - Olga Cavalli - chair - 24 March 2010
WT is meeting weekly and we are working on a document that describes methodology for prioritization and other details about the proposed Prioritization process.
The document will be presented to the GNSO before the second meeting in April.
Operations Sreering Committee (OSC) - Philip Sheppard - OSC chair - March 2010
1. GCOT submitted to the OSC proposed GNSO Operating Procedures changes to deal with abstentions in voting.
2. The CCT submitted to the OSC Part I of their recommendations regarding technology improvements (website, etc.).
3. The OSC is meeting at 3:30 pm on Sunday in Nairobi.
4. Philip Sheppard will replace Chuck Gomes as OSC Chair after the Nairobi OSC meeting.
5. Ron Andruff will fill in as in-person OSC chair for the Nairobi OSC meeting.
OSC Constituency & Stakeholder Group WT progress report - Olga Cavalli - chair - 24 March 2010
Working team is meeting weekly.
The document about recommendations for constituencies and stakeholdergroups is under last revision and will be presented soon to the OSC.
WT will start working on the second task about global outreach during April.
OSC Community Coordination Communications Work Team - Mason Cole - chair- 23 March 2010
No other update except to tell you Report II was delivered to the OSC immediately following the Nairobi meeting. I believe the OSC plans to forward it to the GNSO for consideration.
In early December, after its review of our report, the OSC sent me a letter (7 December 2009) in which it offered a number of suggestions for our consideration. One of the OSC's specific recommendations was to split the original CCT report into two components:
- Technology Improvements
- All Other Communications and Coordination Recommendations
The OSC was generally complimentary of the technology sections and thought they could be quickly amended and sent as a separate document. To comply with the OSC's recommendation, Staff took our original report and bifurcated it into two portions that are now called:
Report I - Technology
Report II - Communications and Coordination
In December-January, Staff reorganized the material, addressed various OSC suggestions, and added a lot of new content based upon the work of the sub-team that included Chris Chaplow and Steve Holsten supported by Ken Bour and Scott Pinzon from Staff.
We have a newly completed Report I, which has been reviewed, edited, and approved by both Steve Holsten (Vice-Chair) and me. It has been submitted to the OSC for their review before it’s sent to the GNSO Council.
Report II-Communications and Coordination has also was overhauled by Staff and was forwarded to the team for review. We reconvened by telephone, reviewed the report, and made additional suggestions for staff in completing the document. Ken Bour forwarded the edited (final) version, and I will send it to the OSC today for its review.
I anticipate giving a status update on both reports during the OSC meetings this weekend (I will participate remotely).
OSC GNSO Council Operations Work Team (GCOT) - Ray Fassett - chair - 5 March 2010
The GCOT has completed its work on the Abstention procedures for recommendation into the Council Rules of Procedure. These have been submitted to the OSC with the recommendation for GNSO Council to review.
The Work Team is nearing completion on the SoI/DoI document, also for inclusion into the Rules of Procedure and will be taking up this subject as part of its meeting agenda in Nairobi. Next items under consideration by the Work Team include the rules of procedures for Absentee voting and term limits. Given that procedures for Board Seat 13 are not urgent at the moment, we have prioritized our work accordingly.
PPSC Policy Development Process work team (PDP-WT) - Jeff Neuman - chair/Marika Konings - Staff support - 26 March 2010
The WT has now discussed all the five stages of the new PDP and a draft report has been prepared for review. The WT will now focus its attention on a number of other issues such as translation, timing, voting thresholds, decision-making methodology and transition. In addition, the WT will start discussing which changes to Annex A of the ICANN by-laws it will recommend in order to implement the new PDP. The WT aims to have its report out for community discussion for the ICANN meeting in Brussels (for an updated timeline see https://st.icann.org/data/workspaces/icann-ppsc/attachments/pdp_team:20100325145119-0-1353/original/PDP-WT%20timeline%20-%20Updated%2024%20March%202010.pdf
PPSC Working Group model work team (WGWT) - J. Scott Evans - chair/ Marika Konings - Staff support - 23 March 2010
The public comment period closed on March 22, 2010. Our team will now review and analyze the comments and make any necessary adjustments to the draft text based on input received during the public comment period. Once this process is complete, we will have a call for consensus on revised draft and, once consensus is established, we will present the draft text to the PPSC for consideration.
Constituency/Stakeholder Group Update Report For 1 April 2010 Telephonic GNSO Council Meeting
Submitted by Rob Hoggarth – 24 March 2010
Renewed "Re-confirmation" Efforts For Existing GNSO Constituencies
The Board adopted a concept of "re-confirming" the charters and operational mechanisms of each GNSO Constituency every three years (see - http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-28aug08.htm). The initial Constituency re-confirmation process was slated for 2009, but the process took a back seat as the Board focused its efforts on evaluation and approval of the new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures and approval of the processes and recommended Bylaws changes necessary for seating the new GNSO Council. Since the Board has generally resolved those issues, during the Seoul meeting it set a deadline of the Nairobi meeting for formal re-submission of any revised re-confirmation proposals by the existing GNSO Constituencies and directed the ICANN Staff to assist constituency leaders in developing those submissions (see - 30 October 2009 Board Meeting Resolutions - Consent Agenda Item 1.3 - see http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-30oct09-en.htm).
Given the GNSO community's focus on other substantive policy matters since Seoul, the potential value of dovetailing that effort with the work on GNSO constituency operating practices and procedures by the Constituency Operations Work Team and other uncertainties related to developing permanent Stakeholder Group Charters, the Board extended that timeline until the Brussels ICANN meeting.
The GNSO Constituency Operations Work Team is continuing to make progress on its set of recommendations regarding Constituency and Stakeholder Group operations for review by the GNSO's Operating Steering Committee (OSC).
Potential New GNSO Constituencies
Since Board approval of the GNSO Improvements recommendations in June 2008, a total of four potential new Constituency groups have formally applied to the Board for recognition. At its 9 December 2009 meeting the Board decided to "not approve" the proposed charters for the potential new CyberSafety, City TLDs and IDNgTLDs constituencies. If they desire, the proponents for those potential constituencies can revise and re-submit their proposals in the future. The proposal for a new Consumers Constituency remains "pending" and a public comment period on the latest version of that proposal ran through 13 February 2010 (see - http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201002-en.htm#newco).
A Notice of Intent to Form A New GNSO Constituency (NOIF) has now also been submitted for a potential new Public Internet Access Constituency (see http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/piacc-constituency-noif-cover-redacted-02mar10-en.pdf and see http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/piacc-constituency-noif-redacted-…). The process also remains available for other interested parties to develop proposals for new GNSO Constituencies and to submit them to the Board.
Permanent Stakeholder Group Charters
When the Board approved the four (4) new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures last year, it acknowledged that the charters for the Commercial Stakeholder Group and the Non Commercial Stakeholder Group were to be transitional/temporary and that permanent charters were to be developed over the course of the coming year. Based on discussions in Seoul and Nairobi, the Staff will be working to develop opportunities for dialogue and further community discussion of these important matters. Some work is already under way and the Staff has reached out to community leaders for their thoughts on timetables and benchmarks to ensure the efforts are concluded by the Latin America ICANN meeting.