2005

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

2006

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | September | October | November | December

2007

January | February | March | April | May | June | August | September | October | November | December

Link to Google documents for editing at meetings (This is not an ICANN site): http://tinyurl.com/2z7mcc

20080103-1

Approval of GNSO Council minutes 31 October 2007
Approval of GNSO Council minutes 6 December 2007

20080103-2

Whereas a GNSO drafting team proposed a message relating to Board Resolution 07.89 regarding a fast-track for IDN ccTLDs

Whereas Chuck Gomes proposed an alternate Message to Draft 0.3 distributed by Avri relating to Board Resolution 07.89 regarding a fast-track for IDN ccTLDs

Council resolved that:

Chuck Gomes will spend 2 days processing any editorial changes suggested on the Council mailing list. On 6 January 2008 a final version will be posted on the mailing list. If there are no substantive objections to the wording, the message will then be forwarded to the Board by the Chair.

20080103-3

Whereas the GNSO council remains concerned about funding the council members to attend future ICANN meetings

Resolved that the letter drafted in be sent to the CEO of ICANN and to the COO of ICANN.

20071220-1

Approval of GNSO Council minutes 20 November 2007.

20071206-1

The GNSO Council moved a motion to approve the Nominating Committee job description as agreed upon by the Council and set forth in the document.

20071206-2

The GNSO Council submits a formal request to the ICANN Board for increased GNSO participation on the IDNC working group as stated in the charter that was approved by the ICANN Board.

20071206- 3

The GNSO Council approves two candidates to join the IDNC working group, namely, Edmon Chung (gTLD Registry constituency) and Charles Sha'ban (Intellectual Property constituency) with alternates Olga Cavalli (Nominating Committee appointee) and Cary Karp (gTLD Registry constituency).

20071120-1

Whereas, the Council has previously requested and received both the 15 June 2007 "GNSO Issues Report on Dispute Handling for IGO Names and Abbreviations" and the 28 September 2007 "Staff Report on Draft IGO Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure;"
and

Whereas, the Council believes that further work on the draft Intergovernmental (IGO) Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure is appropriate before voting on whether to initiate a policy development process on this issue;
and

Whereas, the Intellectual Property Constituency is drafting and expects to distribute not later than 28 November a revised proposed draft dispute resolution procedure,

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Council postpones until its 20 December 2007 meeting the vote on whether to initiate a policy development process.

20071120-2

Whereas the Issues Report on Inter-Registrar Transfers has been released and discussed

The GNSO council resolves to initiate a PDP to address the issues set forth in the Issues Report by the Staff.

20071031- 4

Whereas Dr Liz Williams, as Senior Policy Counselor for ICANN, has been the ICANN Staff Manager assigned to support the GNSO's Policy Development Process (PDP) on new gTLDs, since December 2005.

Whereas this PDP trialled a number of new approaches in GNSO policy development, including the use of inter-sessional face-to-face meetings, calls for formal papers with the ability for the authors to present those papers and have dialog with the committee, and the use of working groups to analyse topics such as IDNs, reserved names, and protecting the rights of others. The success of the working groups became the foundation of the Board Governance Committee's GNSO Review Working Group recommendations on using working groups as the main approach for policy development.

Whereas Liz worked tirelessly to secure support for many of these initiatives, and pull together a huge amount of public input, meeting transcripts, and GNSO constituency contributions into a final set of principles, recommendations, and guidelines, along with a large range of supporting material that will assist the ICANN staff in implementing the policy.

Whereas Liz completed the final report on the policy for new gTLDs in August 2007, finished her term of office with ICANN in September 2007.

It is resolved that the GNSO expresses its sincere gratitude for her service to the ICANN community and wishes her every success in her next endeavours.

20071031-3

WHEREAS;
1. The GNSO Council has recently received the Whois Working Group Final Report
and;

2. The GNSO Council acknowledges that the broad range of stakeholders with interests in this issue has lead to a wide range of views of what the policy issues are and how to best address those policy issues with solutions that can be supported by the consensus of the community,
and;

3. The GNSO Council observes that the Working Group failed to reach agreement on several of the key issues identified in the charter of the Working Group,
and;

4. That broadly, the scope of the issues in this area have evolved substantially over the term of this Policy Development Process since it was originally chartered, and;

5. A comprehensive, objective and quantifiable understanding of key factual issues regarding the gTLD Whois system will benefit future GNSO policy development efforts, and;

6. The rights and requirements of natural persons, the legal and business communities, anti-crime and law enforcement and registrars in the areas of privacy, access, enforcement, investigation, consumer
protection and research would benefit from future policy development by the GNSO.

THEREFORE, Be it resolved that the GNSO Council;
1. Sincerely thanks all of the volunteers, advisors, consultants, staff, stakeholders, observers and constituency participants who have contributed to the GNSO's examination of Whois policy over the last four years, and;

2. Formally ends the Policy Development Process on gTLD Whois without making any recommendations for specific policy changes to ICANN’s Board of Directors, and;

3. Recognizes the demand for future policy development including, but not limited to, ensuring appropriate privacy safeguards for natural persons, lawful access to data for rights enforcement, consumer protection, law enforcement and anti-crime purposes and will immediately initiate the following sequential actions:
1) Council shall provide additional definition regarding the potential data gathering and study requirements
2) staff shall provide the Council with rough cost estimates for various components of data gathering and studies no later than February 15th, 2008;
3) the Council will decide what data gathering and studies would be pursued; and
4) staff will perform the resulting data gathering and studies and report the results back to the Council .

4. May initiate policy development activities in this area, as supported by the findings of the data-gathering and study activities upon their completion.

20071031-2

Whereas, the GNSO Council has resolved to initiate a Policy Development Process on Domain Tasting, and pursuant to Sections 4 and 8 of Annex A of the Bylaws, resolves as follows:

1. To request that each constituency appoint a representative to solicit the constituency's views on the issues presented in the Issues Report by Staff and in the Outcomes Report of the ad hoc group. Each such representative is asked to submit a Constituency Statement to the ICANN staff manager within thirty-five (35) calendar days of this resolution.

2. To request that ICANN Staff take all Constituency Statements, the two prior reports, and other information and compile (and post on the Comment Site) an Initial Report within fifty (50) calendar days of this
resolution.

3. Thereafter, the PDP shall follow the provisions of Item 9 of Annex A of the Bylaws, in creating a Final Report for Council.

20071031-1

Whereas the Issues Report on Domain Tasting has been released and discussed
and
Whereas, the GNSO Council acknowledges the Final Outcomes Report of the ad hoc group on Domain Tasting,

the Council hereby initiates a Policy Development Process, and pursuant to Sections 4 and 8 of Annex A of the Bylaws,

The GNSO council resolves to initiate a PDP to address the issues set forth in the Issues Report by Staff and in the Outcomes Report of the ad hoc group and encourages staff to apply ICANN's fee collections to names
registered and subsequently deregistered during the add-grace period.

20071011-3

The GNSO Council resolved to postpone the decision to initiate a policy development process (PDP) on the Domain Name Tasting issue until the open meeting on 31 October in Los Angeles.

20071011-2

The GNSO Council resolved to postpone the decision to initiate a policy development process (PDP) on the Intergovernmental Organization Dispute Resolution Process (IGO-DRP) until the open meeting on 31 October in Los Angeles

20071011-1

Approval of the GNSO Council minutes of 30 August 2007
Approval of the GNSO Council minutes of 6 September 2007
Approval of the GNSO Council minutes of 20 September 2007

20070920-1

i) Whereas the GNSO Working Group on Inter-registrar Domain Transfers Policy Review (Transfers WG) has completed its work, and;

ii) Whereas, the Transfers WG has provided a series of reports to the GNSO Council for its consideration,

Be it resolved that;

i) The GNSO Council will issue the working group report entitled "Advisory Concerning Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy" for constituency and community review and comment for a period of no less than 14 days, and;

i.a) pursuant to this comment period, all material commentary will be summarized and reviewed by Council
i.b) pursuant to the review by Council that the current, or an amended form of this report be provided to Staff for posting to the ICANN web site as a community advisory.

ii) Pursuant to section 1.b of Annex A of ICANN's Bylaws, that the GNSO Council initiate the formal GNSO Policy Development Process by requesting the creation of an issues report evaluating issues raised by the working group document "Points of Clarification Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy.

iii). That the GNSO Council form a short-term planning group to analyse and prioritize the policy issues raised in the report "Communication to GNSO on Policy Issues Arising from Transfer Review" before the Council further considers a PDP on any of the work discussed in the report.

20070906-3

Whereas the Whois WG has now completed its work,

Therefore:

The GNSO Council accepts the Final Outcomes Report of the Working Group 2007
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/icann-whois-wg-report-final-1-9.pdf
and appreciates the efforts made by WG participants and ICANN staff in preparing this report.

Further, the GNSO council:

a) graciously thanks all of the volunteers, consultants, staff and others who have participated in the Task Force and Working Group.

b) makes no specific policy recommendation to the ICANN board at this time concerning Whois or related policy.

c) requests ICANN Staff proceed with a study of gTLD registrations and registrants and how Whois data is used and misused as described in the GAC Principles Regarding gTLD WHOIS Service paragraph 4.2,
http://gac.icann.org/web/home/WHOIS_principles.pdf
and by the Working Group Final Outcomes Report.
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/icann-whois-wg-report-final-1-9.pdf
This study should include a review and analysis of the different proxy services available today and a summary of any other statistical studies that Staff can locate. We ask staff to report back to the Council on the 'study to date' by October 4.

d) requests an update on the WHOIS Data Accuracy Program outlined by ICANN Staff on April 27th, including any statistical information that can be summarized thus far.
See http://www.icann.org/whois/whois-data-accuracy-program-27apr07.pdf.

e) requests an update on the pending SSAC study on “Information Gathering Using Domain Name Registration Records” outlined in September, 2006.
See http://www.icann.org/committees/security/information-gathering-28Sep2006.pdf

f) shall review any additional factual information, in conjunction with the policy suggestions from the Task Force and Working Group reports, complete this work on Whois, and make a report to the ICANN community and to the ICANN Board, as follows:

1 - Staff will produce a Draft Final Report that references the Task Force report, the WG charter and the WG report and which includes an overall description of the process by September 13, 2007. This overview should include the text of motions to be voted on at the end of this process.

2 - This report will be sent out for Constituency Statement Review on September 13, 2007.
Constituencies will be asked to follow the by-laws on constituency statements.
http://www.icann.org/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-28feb06.htm#AnnexA
Section 7 d. Collection of Information.
Specifically

"1. Constituency Statements. The Representatives will each be responsible for soliciting the position of their constituencies, at a minimum, and other comments as each Representative deems appropriate, regarding the issue under consideration. This position and other comments, as applicable, should be submitted in a formal statement to the task force chair (sic) (each, a "Constituency Statement") within thirty-five (35) calendar days after initiation of the PDP (sic). Every Constituency Statement shall include at least the following:

(i) If a Supermajority Vote was reached, a clear statement of the constituency's position on the issue;

(ii) If a Supermajority Vote was not reached, a clear statement of all positions espoused by constituency members;

(iii) A clear statement of how the constituency arrived at its position(s). Specifically, the statement should detail specific constituency meetings, teleconferences, or other means of deliberating an issue, and a list of all members who participated or otherwise submitted their views;

(iv) An analysis of how the issue would affect the constituency, including any financial impact on the constituency; and

(v) An analysis of the period of time that would likely be necessary to implement the policy."

**Final Date for updated constituency statement: October 4, 2007

3 - Staff will Incorporate Constituency comments and any additional factual information into Final Report by October 11, 2007

4 - Staff is requested to produce staff implementation notes by October 15, 2007.

5 - Community Public Comment on Final Report: October 15 - 31 , 2007.

6 - A Public and Council Discussion will be held during the Los Angeles Public Meeting.

7 - Final vote during the Los Angeles public GNSO Council meeting.

20070906-2

Whereas the GA list sent a request to the GNSO council for approval of its new list rules,

and whereas
"the GNSO Council is responsible for managing open forums, in the form of mailing lists,"
http://www.icann.org/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-28feb06.htm#X
and the GA list is one such open forum,

Resolved:
The GNSO chair will send a message to the GA List stating the following:

The GNSO council acknowledges the GA List's charter request and thanks the participants for consulting with the GNSO council on this issue.

Given the Council's by-law responsibilities for the moderation of the GA list, the Council encourages the GA
List's movement toward self moderation and supports the GA List in implementing the mailing list rules
(found at http://www.geolang.com/draftGAListRules5.htm)
indicated in Section 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 with the following exception in section 2:

The Announce list is and should remain solely for the sole use of the GNSO Secretariat for notifying the subscribers of GNSO and other ICANN informational items.

With regard to the organizational sections of the charter, specifically sections 6, 8, and 9, the GNSO council accepts that members participating on the list are free to determine their own organizational structure, with the following exceptions in section 8 on elections:

An election is usually held near the end of the term of office for the chair of the General Assembly. The exact time is decided by the outgoing Chair and the Chair of the GNSO.

The GNSO council, and its chair, cannot accept any responsibility for the internal governance of an organizational movement on the GA List at this time and restricts the council's actions to issues concerning the moderation of the GA List as determined by the by-laws.

Please note that the members of the GA list can only speak for the GA list and not for ICANN, the GNSO, its Council or its constituencies.

20070906-1

The GNSO Council supports the 20 recommendations, as a whole, as set out in the Final Report of the ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organisation on the Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/pdp-dec05-fr-parta-08aug07.htm
going forward to the ICANN Board.

20070830-1

Approval of the GNSO Council minutes of 9 August 2007

20070809- 5

The Council would like to introduce a system of proxy voting. Council requests the ICANN General Counsel to confirm EITHER that this is possible under the current by-laws or if not advise what by-law change(s) would be needed to enable it. In considering this request the Council asks the ICANN General Counsel to consider implications of recusal when using a proxy.

20070809-4

The GNSO Council redirects the small ad hoc group on domain name tasting to complete its work and deliver its report to the Council by 4 October 2007 for consideration at the GNSO Council meeting on 11 October 2007. In extending the mandate the Council would like to specify that 'small' in this instance, is defined as, at most 2 representatives from among each of the constituencies, the Nominating Committee appointees and the Advisory Committees.

20070809-3

The GNSO Council directs the WHOIS working group to close on 20 August 2007 and Council expects to receive the group's Final Report on 23 August 2007 for discussion at a GNSO Council meeting on 30 August 2007.

20070809-2

The GNSO Council supports by a supermajority vote the recommendations, as a whole, as set out in the Final Report of the Policies for Contractual Conditions Existing Registries, PDP Feb 06 going forward to the ICANN Board.

20070809-1

Approval of the
GNSO Council minutes of 7 June 2007
GNSO Council minutes 27 June 2007
GNSO Council minutes 12 July 2007

20070627-4

Motion of Thanks to Bruce Tonkin

Whereas Bruce Tonkin served as DNSO Names Council chair beginning on August 29, 2002 and continued as GNSO Council chair until 7 June 2007,

Whereas on 8 June 2007, Bruce Tonkin’s second term as chair of the GNSO Council came to a close as he took his seat on the ICANN Board to which the Council elected him,

Whereas Bruce maintained neutrality as chair while still representing the Registrars Constituency,

Whereas Bruce demonstrated a calm demeanor in successfully keeping the Council on track during long deliberations on extremely divisive issues,

Whereas Bruce combined his leadership abilities, technical expertise, industry experience and relationship skills with extremely long hours of hard work to leave an imprint on the GNSO that will be missed greatly,

Whereas Bruce provided exemplary service in his role as chair of the Introduction of New gTLDs PDP Committee that has been working for the past one and one half years demonstrating a way in which the GNSO can effectively tackle a very large challenge involving many complex competing interests and many policy issues,

Whereas Bruce’s accomplishments are exemplified by the respect he generated not only in the GNSO but in the ICANN community as a whole,

Therefore, the GNSO Council expresses sincere thanks and appreciation to Bruce for his outstanding service to the GNSO and for his willingness to continue to serve the community as an ICANN Director.

20070627-3

The GNSO Council thanks the Staff for the Issues Report on dispute handling for IGO names and abbreviations.

The council accepts the recommendation that a PDP not be initiated at this time, and that the staff continue as proposed in the issues report on page 16.

The council requests that the staff report back to the council within 3 months. The council will reconsider creating a PDP at that time.

20070627-2

The GNSO Council resolves:

1) To acknowledge the Issues Report on Domain Tasting;

2) To create a small, ad hoc group of GNSO representatives to direct and consider further research on domain tasting, including but not limited to examination of questions posed on page 30 of the issues report, and to draft terms of reference for a possible GNSO policy development process in a timely way;

3) To direct the ICANN staff to work with the ad hoc group to gather further information and data about the domain tasting issue and make further recommendations on effectively scoping a PDP;

4) To consider the further research and terms of reference, receive a status report on non-PDP mechanisms regarding domain tasting, and to consider whether to launch a policy development process on domain tasting at the September 2007 GNSO Council meeting.

20070627-1

The GNSO Council voted Chuck Gomes as vice chair.

20070607-2

The GNSO Council ratified the results of the GNSO Council chair election and congratulated Avri Doria as the new GNSO Council chair.

20070607-1

Approval of the GNSO Council minutes of 24 May 2007

20070524-3

Whereas the GNSO Council requested at its meeting on 12 April 2006 that the Intellectual Property Interests constituency following consultations make a recommendation to the GNSO Council as to whether or not a policy development process is required.

Whereas, the GNSO Council recognizes the recommendation put forward by the IPC Constituency regarding possible measures in line with WIPO-2 to protect International Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO) names and abbreviations as domain names.

Whereas, the GNSO Council notes that measures to protect IGO names and abbreviations are requested in the GAC principles for New gTLDs.

Whereas, the GNSO Council notes that WIPO is the maintenance agency for the authoritative list of relevant IGO names and abbreviations protected under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention
(http://www.wipo.int/article6ter/en/ ).

The GNSO Council requests that the staff produce an issues report on the policy issues associated with adequately handling disputes relating to IGO names and abbreviations as domain names.

The GNSO Council also requests that the staff liaise with WIPO to utilize its knowledge and experience of WIPO-2.

20070524-2

The GNSO Council agrees to create a position of Vice-chair to act as Chair in situations when the Chair is temporarily unavailable to do so and to assist the chair when needed.

20070524-1

Approval of the GNSO Council minutes of 28 March 2007 and 12 April 2007

20070412-4

The GNSO Council resolved, per the terms of the original Reserved Name Working Group (RN-WG) Statement of Work approved by the Council,
that the RN-WG is extended for an additional 30 days starting on 11 April 2007 and ending on 10 May 2007 with the tasks defined in the attached Statement of Work with Philip Sheppard's friendly amendment that the working group include in the statement of work under: Tasks regarding Recommendations, 1,a 1: 'explore the issue around ICANN IANA names' and with the requirement to deliver a final report not later than 10 May 2007.

Draft Statement of Work for 30-Day Extension of RN-WG

Original RN-WG Statement of Work will apply as applicable with the following added.

General Tasks
1. Define reserved names per direction provided during meetings in Lisbon
2. Reorganize the RN-WG report so that recommendations are grouped in the following categories:
a. Reserved name recommendations ready for input into the New gTLD PDP report
b. Recommendations for possible use in the New gTLD evaluation process, not as reserved names
i. Geographical and geopolitical names
ii. Controversial names
c. Categories of names deemed to be out of scope for the RN-WG
i. Three character names at the third level
ii. Registry specific names at the second level
iii. Other reserved names at the second level
3. Review GAC Principles for New gTLDs
4. Review IDN-WG Report
5. Add the GAC Principles for New gTLDs to the RN-WG report and reference them in applicable name categories
6. Request that the SSAC identify any possible security or stability issues with regard to RN-WG recommendations as well as suggestions as to how any such issues might be mitigated
7. Create an annex as feasible (with no explanations) which is simply the full proposed list of reserved names listed alphanumerically
8. Use format specifications to be provided by Liz Williams

Tasks regarding Recommendations

1. ICANN/IANA reserved names
a. Attempt to complete the work needed to make a final recommendation regarding whether or not the existing ASCII reserved name requirement should be continued at all levels of domain names registered by a registry.
a.b. State Restate recommendations in the RN-WG report so that they can be readily transferred into the New gTLD PDP report
i. If unable to complete the work described in item a above, maintain Maintain status quo for now regarding ASCII names
ii. Confirm that these names are already reserved at the third level for .name and .pro and edit the document accordingly
iii. Reword recommendation for “example” at all levels for ASCII and IDN names
1. Provide examples
2. Incorporate any relevant comments from the IDN-WG report
iv. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
b.c. Finalize guidelines for additional work if needed
2. Use of symbols in Reserved Names
a. Restate recommendations in RN-WG report so that they can be readily transferred into the New gTLD PDP, including fine-tuning of language
i. Provide examples as possible
ii. Maintain status quo for now regarding ASCII names
b. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
3. Single & two-character reserved names
a. Consult further with IDN experts regarding single and two-character IDN names including definition of the term ‘character’ as it relates to non-roman scripts
b. Consult further with experts in the technical community regarding single letter ASCII names, single-number ASCII names and two-character ASCII names involving at least one number.
c. Consult with the GAC as possible regarding single and two-character IDN names
d. Restate recommendations in RN-WG report so that they can be readily transferred into the New gTLD PDP report
i. Provide examples as possible for both the top and second levels, ASCII and IDN, single and two-character
ii. Incorporate any relevant comments from the IDN-WG report
e. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
f. Finalize guidelines for additional work for ASCII single character names at all levels
g. As necessary, finalize guidelines for additional work for IDN single and two-character names at all levels
4. Tagged names
a. Restate recommendations in RN-WG report so that they can be readily transferred into the New gTLD PDP report
i. To ensure clarity, change all occurrences of ‘in the third and fourth character positions’ to ‘in both the third and fourth character positions’
ii. Move recommendation 2 for IDN gTLDs from ASCII, top level to IDN top level
iii. In recommendation 2 for IDN gTLDs, change wording to use the terms ‘ASCII compatible encoding’ and ‘Unicode display form’
iv. Provide examples, including an example of what new applicants for an IDN gTLD would have to provide
v. Incorporate any relevant comments from the IDN-WG report
b. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
5. NIC, Whois and www
a. Restate recommendations in RN-WG report so that they can be readily transferred into the New gTLD PDP report
i. Provide examples
ii. Incorporate any relevant comments from the IDN-WG report
b. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
6. Geographical & geopolitical names
a. Review the GAC Principles for New gTLDs with regard to geographical and geopolitical names
b. Consult with WIPO experts regarding geographical and geopolitical names and IGO names
c. Consult with the GAC as possible
d. Reference the treaty instead of the Guidelines and identify underlying laws if different than a treaty
e. Consider restricting the second and third level recommendations to unsponsored gTLDs only
f. Restate recommendations in RN-WG report for possible use in the New gTLD evaluation process, not as reserved names
i. Describe process flow
ii. Provide examples as possible
iii. Incorporate any relevant comments from the IDN-WG report
g. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
h. Edit other text of the individual subgroup report as applicable to conform with the fact that geographical and geopolitical names will not be considered reserved names
i. Finalize guidelines for additional work as necessary
7. Third level names
a. Replace recommendations with a statement about the direction by the Council that this category is not in the scope of the RN-WG
b. Edit other text of the individual subgroup report as applicable with the statement regarding scope
8. gTLD names at the 2nd (or 3rd level if applicable)
a. Complete consultation with gTLD registries and incorporate final results in the RN-WG report
b. Determine whether final recommendations can be made
c. State recommendations in RN-WG report so that they can be readily transferred into the New gTLD PDP report
i. Provide examples
ii. Incorporate any relevant comments from the IDN-WG report
d. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
e. If additional work is needed, finalize guidelines for that work
9. Other names at the second level
a. Replace recommendations with a statement about the direction by the Council that this category is not in the scope of the RN-WG
b. Edit other text of the individual subgroup report as applicable with the statement regarding scope
10. Controversial names
a. Review the GAC Principles for New gTLDs with regard to controversial names
b. Consult with the GAC as possible
c. Consider the possibility of creating a disputed name list (not a reserved name list) that would be updated whenever controversial names are rejected and would be used for guideline purposes only
d. Restate recommendations in RN-WG report for possible use in the New gTLD evaluation process, not as reserved names
i. Describe process flow
ii. Provide examples as possible
iii. Incorporate any relevant comments from the IDN-WG report
e. Provide a brief rationale in support of the recommendations, referring to the role of the category as applicable
f. Edit other text of the individual subgroup report as applicable to conform with the fact that controversial names will not be considered reserved names
g. Finalize guidelines for additional work as necessary

Schedule
1. Restart date: Wednesday, 11 April
2. Completion date: Monday, 10 May

20070412-3

The GNSO Council resolved to appoint Philip Sheppard as interim Chair of the Whois Working Group, that Philip would undertake to chair the group in a neutral manner and undertake to take input from others in determining what constitutes rough consensus of the Working Group.

20070412-2

Council resolved that the WHOIS Charter of work
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg03357.html
be accepted by the Council with the changes as specified above.
see revised charter as approved
http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/whois-privacy/whois-wg/whois-working-group-charter-16apr07.pdf]

20070412-1

The GNSO Council resolved to ratify the election results for ICANN Board seat number 13 which were 21 votes for Bruce Tonkin, 3 abstentions, 3 votes not cast.

20070328-2

The GNSO Council resolves:

1) To acknowledge the completion of the Whois TF work and note we have received and discussed their report, and thank the task force for their work

2) To create a working group of affected stakeholders:

- including GNSO constituency, law enforcement and community participants,

- whose work is to be completed within 120 days

- that will work to examine the issues raised with respect to the policy recommendations of the task force and make recommendations concerning how those policies may be improved to address these issues, namely:

a. define the roles, responsibilities, and requirements of the operational point of contact, and what happens if they are not fulfilled.

b. how legitimate interests will access registration data no longer published via Whois,

c. whether a distinction should be made between the registration contact information published based on the nature of the registered name holder (for example, legal vs. natural persons) or its use of the domain name.

20070328-1

Approval of the GNSO Council minutes of 15 March 2007

20070315-4

The Council endorsed the observer rules for working groups.

"Observers: Observers shall not be members of or entitled to vote on the working group, but otherwise shall be entitled to participate on equal footing with members of the working group. In particular observers will be able to join the mailing list, and attend teleconferences or physical meetings."

To guard against some of the behaviour that can occur with unregulated mailing lists, observers must provide their real name, organisation (if associated with an organisation) and contact details to the GNSO secretariat, and the GNSO secretariat will verify at least their email address and phone contact information. Observers will also be requested to provide a public statement of interest, as for working group members.

Where a person joins an already established working group, this will be on the basis that it is their responsibility to read the existing documents, listen to teleconference recordings, and read the mailing list discussions before commenting on topics that have already been dealt with by the working group.

20070315-3

The Council extended the timeline for the working group on the Protection of the Rights of Others from the end of April to May 17, in order for the report to be considered at the GNSO Council meeting on 24 May 2007.

20070315-2

The GNSO Council approved the revised charter for the working group on "Protecting the rights of others
Background

There is a new gTLD committee of the GNSO that is developing policy recommendations with respect to the introduction of new gTLDs. In addition to policy recommendations, the committee is also considering guidelines that may assist the ICANN staff in preparing an application process, and also creating a framework agreement for registry operators.

The current registrar accreditation agreement requires that Registered Name Holders represent that, to the best of the Registered Name Holder's knowledge and belief, neither the registration of the Registered Name, nor the manner in which it is directly or indirectly used, infringes the legal rights of any third party. ICANN also has a Consensus Policy called the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) that is intended for resolving disputes between the registrant and any third party over the registration and use of an Internet domain name.

In past new gTLD rounds, applicants for new gTLDs have been required to implement measures that discourage registration of domain names that infringe intellectual property rights; reserve specific names to prevent inappropriate name registrations; minimize abusive registrations; comply with applicable trademark and anti-cybersquatting legislation; and provide protections (other than exceptions that may be applicable during the start-up period) for famous name and trademark owners. There have been a range of approaches used which vary in terms of both cost to registrants and third parties affected by registration, and effectiveness.

As part of the new gTLD committee's deliberations, there has been some discussion about what additional protections beyond the current terms in the registration agreement and existing dispute resolution mechanisms should be in place to the protect the legal rights of others during the domain name registration process, particularly during the initial start up of a new gTLD where there is contention for what Registrants perceive as the "best" names.

Purpose:

The purpose of the working group is to:

(1) Document the additional protections implemented by existing gTLD operators beyond the current terms in the registration agreement and existing dispute resolution mechanisms to the protect the legal rights of others during the domain name registration process, particularly during the initial start up of a new gTLD where there is contention for what Registrants perceive as the "best" names. The documentation should identify the problems that the protections were intended to solve. The working group should establish definitions of terms used in this document to ensure a common understanding amongst members of the working group. These definitions would only be in the context of the document, and without prejudice to the meaning of these terms in other legal contexts.

(2) Determine whether to recommend to Council a best practices approach to providing any additional protections beyond the current registration agreement and UDRP policy for the legal rights of others during the domain name registration process, particularly during the initial start up of a new gTLD where there is contention for what Registrants perceive as the "best" names. A best practices document could be incorporated into the material for the application process for new gTLD applicants. The GNSO could elect in future to use the policy development process (PDP) to create a Consensus Policy in this area.

Suggested Outline of Working Group Work Plan

I. Analyze Existing Rights Protection Mechanisms

A. Identify relevant existing TLDs (not limited to gTLDs)

B. Identify both issues that existing preventive mechanisms are designed to solve and new issues that may have developed

C. Describe existing rights protection mechanisms

1. Eligibility

2. Rights bases or requirements

3. Submission process and costs of submission

4. Review of applications

5. Challenge mechanism and cost of mechanism

D. Issues arising out of or related to the existing rights protection mechanisms

1. Eligibility

2. Rights bases or requirements

3. Review of applications

4. Allocation

E. Analyze Quantitative Effectiveness - relation between preventing the dispute and resolving the dispute

1. Define quantitative effectiveness in light of the issues identified in I.B.

2. Number of preventive registrations, number of preventive registrations vs. overall number of registrations; proportion of registrations that are purely defensive

3. Number of challenges overall and in relation to number of registrations; challenger success rate

4. Evaluate quantitative success in light of the issues identified in I.B.

F. Analyze Qualitative Effectiveness

1. Define qualitative success and set forth criteria for any evaluation in light of issues identified in I.B.

2. Nature of use of names registered during start up period

3. Whether rights protection mechanism process protects rights in a cost-effective manner in light of issues identified in I.B.

4. Evaluate qualitative effectivess in light of issues identified in I.B.

G. Impact on registries and registrars

1. Resource allocation

a) Development of rights protection mechanism

b) Implementation of rights protection mechanism

2. Other considerations

H. Impact on other affect parties

II. Identify Commonalities and Variances among existing rights protection mechanisms, including the evaluation by affected parties.

A. Eligibility Commonalities and Variances

B. Procedural Commonalities and Variances

1. Submission

2. Review

3. Challenge

C. Level of Satisfaction

1. Prior Rights Owners

2. Registrars

3. Registries

4. Other Categories

III. Scalability of rights protection mechanisms

A. Feasibility

Conclusions derived from I and II above -- effectiveness; impact on registrars, registries, and other affected parties; concerns of IP owner and holders of other rights

B. Implementation Considerations

IV. Identify and Evaluate Alternative Mechanisms

A. Alternatives

B. Evaluation

Suggested Working Group Membership

The following list sets out initial ideas for experts that would provide useful contributions. The list is neither binding nor enumerative.

* Owners of globally famous brands from different regions.
* INTA Internet Committee member
* Rights protection mechanism dispute panelist
* Non-profit educational or charitable organization representative
* Registrars with experience in preventive rights protection mechanisms
* Registries with experience in preventive rights protection mechanisms
* Representative from EURid or PWC, EURid validation agent
* Commercial financial institution representative (because of concerns over consumer protection and concerns related to fishing and identity theft)
* IPC designee
* NCUC designee
* ISP designee
* BC designee
* WIPO representative (given WIPO's expertise in evaluating existing rights protection mechanisms)

1. Voting:

In general, the working group should operate using a rough consensus approach. Every effort should be made to arrive at positions that most or all of the group members are willing to support. "Straw poll voting" should be used to determine whether there is rough consensus on particular issues. In order to ensure that each constituency does not have to provide the same number of members, constituencies, regardless of number of representatives, can hold 3 votes, and each individual nominating committee councilor hold one vote. Liaisons are non voting.

2. Membership

The Working Group is open for membership to Councilors and to GNSO Constituency members; advisory committees (e.g., ALAC, GAC) may appoint non-voting liaisons to the working group. Members may be added by the constituencies and the Advisory groups at any time during the work of the WG. The ccNSO could be invited to have representatives participate as observers because there may be implications for the treatment of the two letter country codes, which are presently reserved at all levels. The WG may invite external experts as speakers or advisors (in the role of observer) that may be able to constructively contribute to the effort.

Every effort should be made to ensure that the working group include and consider the varying points of view on key issues. It is more important that all varying points of view are examined and reflected than for
every constituency or group to have representation or equal numbers of members. If this goal is achieved and recommendations are developed that have rough consensus of the group, then the full Council, with balanced representation from all constituencies and NomCom appointees, will then have opportunity to act.

Members should be selected who can commit sufficient time during the next three-four months to facilitate achievement of the targeted accomplishments describe in the next section (Working Timeline).

The Council will appoint an initial or interim chair [or co-chairs] and the Working Group should, at its initial meeting, elect or confirm the chair and co-chair(s).

3. Working Timeline

The Working Group is asked to convene at the earliest possible time and to achieve the following targets:
1. Progress report at least one week prior to the start of the Lisbon ICANN meetings (16 March 2007).
2. Final report at least one week prior to the April 2007 GNSO Council meeting.

Timeline:

The working group should conclude its work in time to provide a report for the GNSO Council meeting in April 2007

20070315-1

Approval of GNSO Council minutes 1 February 2007

20070201-4

Council thanked Marilyn Cade, from the Commercial and Business Users Constituency whose term expired, for her outstanding service on the Council.

20070201-3

Council endorses the proposed election procedure and timelines for the ICANN Board seat # 13.
Call for nominations by members of the GNSO Council:
3 weeks for Nominations:
Opens on Monday 19 February 2007 closes on Monday 12 March 2007

Two weeks to verify and interview candidates
Monday 12 March 2007 to Sunday 25 March 2007

Start voting - first round
Monday 2 April 2007 - Monday 9 April 2007

Start voting - second round
Monday 9 April 2007 - Monday 16 April

Start voting - third round
Monday 16 April 2007 - Monday 23 April

Announce results 24 April, or before if the voting is successfully completed.

Proposed dates for GNSO Council meeting to confirm results:
Thursday 26 April OR Thursday 3 May in time for the GNSO to give due notice of its selection no later than five months after the Annual Meeting 2006, which would be 8 May 2007.

In accordance with the ICANN Bylaws
From Article VI, http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm#VI

3. In carrying out their responsibilities to fill Seats 9 through 14, the Supporting Organizations shall seek to ensure that the ICANN Board is composed of members that in the aggregate display diversity in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective, by applying the criteria set forth in Section 3 of this Article. At any given time, no two Directors selected by a Supporting Organization shall be citizens of the same country or of countries located in the same Geographic Region.
[Note the other ICANN Board seat holder elected by the GNSO is Rita Rodin]

Templates will be available for Nomination and Seconding of candidates
All nominations must be seconded by another GNSO Council member.

Each nomination must be accompanied by a brief description of how the candidate meets the following selection criteria
http://www.icann.org/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-28feb06.htm

Section 3. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF DIRECTORS

ICANN Directors shall be:
Accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence, with reputations for sound judgment and open minds, and a demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making;

Persons with an understanding of ICANN's mission and the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet community, and committed to the success of ICANN;

Persons who will produce the broadest cultural and geographic diversity on the Board consistent with meeting the other criteria set forth in this Section;

Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet;

Persons who are willing to serve as volunteers, without compensation other than the reimbursement of certain expenses; and

Persons who are able to work and communicate in written and spoken English.

Section 4. ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

1. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, no official of a national government or a multinational entity established by treaty or other agreement between national governments may serve as a Director. As used herein, the term "official" means a person (i) who holds an elective governmental office or (ii) who is employed by such government or multinational entity and whose primary function with such government or entity is to develop or influence governmental or public policies.

2. No person who serves in any capacity (including as a liaison) on any Supporting Organization Council shall simultaneously serve as a Director or liaison to the Board. If such a person accepts a nomination to be
considered for selection by the Supporting Organization Council to be a Director, the person shall not, following such nomination, participate in any discussion of, or vote by, the Supporting Organization Council
relating to the selection of Directors by the Council, until the Council has selected the full complement of Directors it is responsible for selecting. In the event that a person serving in any capacity on a Supporting Organization Council accepts a nomination to be considered for selection as a Director, the constituency group or other group or entity that selected the person may select a replacement for purposes of the Council's selection process.

3. Persons serving in any capacity on the Nominating Committee shall be ineligible for selection to positions on the Board as provided by Article VII, Section 8.

Section 5. INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION
In order to ensure broad international representation on the Board, the selection of Directors by the Nominating Committee and each Supporting Organization shall comply with all applicable diversity provisions of these Bylaws or of any Memorandum of Understanding referred to in these Bylaws concerning the Supporting Organization. One intent of these diversity provisions is to ensure that at all times each Geographic Region shall have at least one Director, and at all times no region shall have more than five Directors on the Board (not including the President). As used in these Bylaws, each of the following is considered to be a "Geographic Region": Europe; Asia/Australia/Pacific; Latin America/Caribbean islands; Africa; and North America. The specific countries included in each Geographic Region shall be determined by the Board, and this Section shall be reviewed by the Board from time to time (but at least every three years) to determine whether any change is appropriate, taking account of the evolution of the Internet.

Only GNSO Council members may nominate and vote for candidates, although GNSO Council members should consult with their constituencies with regard to suitable candidates

Accepting Nominations:
The GNSO Secretariat will confirm the nomination, by sending an e-mail to the candidate requesting their acceptance.
The GNSO Secretariat shall convey the nomination and the acceptance thereof to the GNSO Council list.

B. VOTING PROCEDURE
The voting will be "convention style" voting. This consists of sequential rounds of voting until a single candidate receives a majority of the votes on the GNSO Council.
(see: Appendix A Convention Style Voting
http://gnso.icann.org/elections/election-procedures-01jun06.htm)
(There will be a total of 27 votes cast and a majority is 14 or more.)

C. PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR THE ROUNDS OF CONVENTION STYLE VOTING
Start voting - first round
Monday 2 April 2007 - Monday 9 April 2007

Start voting - second round
Monday 9 April 2007 - Monday 16 April

Start voting - third round
Monday 16 April 2007 - Monday 23 April

D. GNSO COUNCIL MEMBERS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE:

All GNSO Council members are eligible to vote, that is, 3 representatives from each constituency, Registrars, gTLD registries, Commercial and Business Users (CBUC), Non Commercial Users (NCUC),
Intellectual Property (IPC), and Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers (ISPCP) and the 3 Nominating Committee appointees. Liaisons from the ALAC and the GAC do not vote.

GNSO Council members who are candidates, will be replaced temporarily on the Council by a member chosen by the constituency affected and that person will have the right to vote.

E. COUNTING OF VOTES:
As provided in the ICANN bylaws,
http://www.icann.org/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-28feb06.htm, Article X, section 5.2.
each GNSO Council member representing either the registrars constituency or the gTLD registries constituency will be entitled to cast two votes in each round, and all other members (including those selected by the Nominating Committee) shall be entitled to cast one vote.

There will be a total of 27 votes cast and a majority is 14 or more.

F. VOTING
Voting will take place by secret e-mail ballot.

1. Ballots will be sent out individually to each GNSO Council members' e-mail address.
2. Ballots should be filled out and returned to the e-mail address stated in the ballot. They should not be copied to any e-mail list.
3. At the scheduled times, the Secretariat will announce the results of each round of balloting by sending a message to the <council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> mailing list. These announcements will include:
a. The number of votes received by each candidate;
b. The names of the GNSO Council members from whom ballots were received; and
c. The confidential code number of each ballot and the candidate for whom it was voted.
Item 3(c) will allow each GNSO Council member to double-check that his or her ballot was properly understood, but will not allow others to determine how the member voted.
4. In exceptional cases where a GNSO Council member has no Internet access during the voting period, a voice vote may be registered with the GNSO Secretariat personally during the voting period, before the vote is
closed.

G. DISCLOSURE OF THE VOTING
The Secretariat will announce the outcome of the voting at the close of the voting period.
The GNSO Council will confirm the results of the voting at a Council meeting. Once that occurs, the GNSO Secretariat will prepare and post a full record of all voting, including how each member voted in each round.

H. DISCUSSION MAILING LIST DURING ELECTIONS
1. In accordance with a decision as noted in:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20030325.GNSOrio-captioning.html
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20030325.GNSOrio-minutes.html
Public archiving of the GNSO Council list will not be stopped.
A separate archive and mailing list will be created for the purpose of managing elections going forward. This list will (a) exclude those Council members who are candidates; but include (b) any liaisons from the ALAC or GAC to the GNSO Council; and (c) the GNSO Secretariat.
The list recipients and archiving will be concluded at the end of the process.

This list name is elections-gnso@xxxxxxxxx and archives will be posted at
http://forum.icann.org/lists/elections-gnso/ following the conclusion of the election.

2. Messages posted to the list should be treated as confidential until the end of the elections. The GNSO Secretariat may, however, disclose them to the General Counsel's office to the extent appropriate to obtain
advice about how to handle procedural problems that arise during the voting process.

The Council list should continue to be used for normal policy development work.

Please note that the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel will not be recipients of the special election mailing list during this period, so they should be copied on any particular message that you wish to bring to their attention.

20070201-2

The Council approved the formation of the Working Group on Mechanisms to Protect Rights of Others, with a Statement of Work that will be revised to incorporate changes as indicated:

a. Document and evaluate practices that are currently in existence or have previously been used in the introduction of new gTLDs for protecting rights.
b. Identify the problems that the procedures are intended to solve
c. Establish definitions of terms used in the working group to ensure all members have a common understanding
d. Make recommendations to the Council regarding ways to protect the rights of others when new gTLDs are introduced
e. Add text from the Reserved Names working group (RN-WG) Statement of Work suggested by Chuck Gomes to bring this working group in line with regard to the formation, voting and membership:

Formation of the Working Group.
The Working Group (WG) is chartered by the GNSO Council with an approved statement of work, as defined below. This Statement of Work is intended to guide the work of the group.

1. Voting:
In general, the working group should operate using a rough consensus approach. Every effort should be made to arrive at positions that most or all of the group members are willing to support. “Straw poll voting” should be used to determine whether there is rough consensus on particular issues. In order to ensure that each constituency does not have to provide the same number of members, constituencies, regardless of number of representatives, can hold 3 votes, and each individual nominating committee councilor hold one vote. Liaisons are non voting.

2. Membership
The Working Group is open for membership to Councilors and to GNSO Constituency members; advisory committees (e.g., ALAC, GAC) may appoint non-voting liaisons to the working group.
Members may be added by the constituencies and the Advisory groups at any time during the work of the WG. The ccNSO could be invited to have representatives participate as observers because there may be implications for the treatment of the two letter country codes, which are presently reserved at all levels. The WG may invite external experts as speakers or advisors (in the role of observer) that may be able to constructively contribute to the effort.
Every effort should be made to ensure that the working group include and consider the varying points of view on key issues. It is more important that all varying points of view are examined and reflected than for every constituency or group to have representation or equal numbers of members. If this goal is achieved and recommendations are developed that have rough consensus of the group, then the full Council, with balanced representation from all constituencies and NomCom appointees, will then have opportunity to act. Members should be selected who can commit sufficient time during the next three-four months to facilitate achievement of the targeted accomplishments describe in the next section (Working Timeline).

The Council will appoint an initial or interim chair [or co-chairs] and the Working Group should, at its initial meeting, elect or confirm the chair and co-chair(s).

3. Working Timeline
The Working Group is asked to convene at the earliest possible time and to achieve the following targets:
1. Progress report in the upcoming intercessional working sessions of Dec05 PDP committee and the Feb06 PDP task force, scheduled for February 22-25
2. Progress report at least one week prior to the start of the Lisbon ICANN meetings (16 March 2007).
3. Final report at least one week prior to the April 2007 GNSO Council meeting.

20070201-1

Approval of GNSO Council minutes 18 January 2007

20070118-3

Chuck Gomes selected as the interim chair of the working group on reserved names.

20070118-2

The GNSO Council approved the Statement of Work for the Working Group on Reserved Names (WG-RN) with the modification in the timeline as proposed by Bruce Tonkin

I. Formation of the Working Group
The Working Group (WG) is chartered by the GNSO Council with an approved statement of work, as defined below. This Statement of Work is intended to guide the work of the group.

1. Voting:
In general, the working group should operate using a rough consensus approach. Every effort should be made to arrive at positions that most or all of the group members are willing to support. "Straw poll voting" should be used to determine whether there is rough consensus on particular issues. In order to ensure that each constituency does not have to provide the same number of members, constituencies, regardless of number of representatives, can hold 3 votes, and each individual nominating committee councilor hold one vote. Liaisons are non voting.

2. Membership
The Working Group is open for membership to Councilors and to GNSO Constituency members; advisory committees (e.g., ALAC, GAC) may appoint non-voting liaisons to the working group. Members may be added by the constituencies and the Advisory groups at any time during the work of the WG. The ccNSO could be invited to have representatives participate as observers because there may be implications for the treatment of the two letter country codes, which are presently reserved at all levels. The WG may invite external experts as speakers or advisors (in the role of observer) that may be able to constructively contribute to the effort.

Every effort should be made to ensure that the working group include and consider the varying points of view on key issues. It is more important that all varying points of view are examined and reflected than for every constituency or group to have representation or equal numbers of members. If this goal is achieved and recommendations are developed that have rough consensus of the group, then the full Council, with balanced representation from all constituencies and NomCom appointees, will then have opportunity to act.

Members should be selected who can commit sufficient time during the next three-four months to facilitate achievement of the targeted accomplishments describe in the next section (Working Timeline).

The Council will appoint an initial or interim chair [or co-chairs] and the Working Group should, at its initial meeting, elect or confirm the chair and co-chair(s).

3. Working Timeline
The Working Group is asked to convene at the earliest possible time and to achieve the following targets:

1. Progress report in the upcoming intercessional working sessions of Dec05 PDP committee and the Feb06 PDP task force, scheduled for February 22-25
2. Complete its work and deliver written recommendations for next steps to the GNSO Council at least one week prior to the start of the Lisbon ICANN meetings
3. Respond to any follow-up actions requested by the Council within 30 days after the Lisbon meetings.

As appropriate, the Working Group should coordinate throughout with the Dec05 PDP Committee, the Feb06 PDP Task Force and the GNSO Council.

II. Purpose of the Working Group

The purpose of the WG will be to perform an initial examination of the role and treatment of reserved domain names at the first and second level., with the goal of providing recommendations for further consideration by the TF or Council. This working group should focus initially on defining the role of reserved strings, and how to proceed with a full examination of issues and possible policy recommendations. This will include prioritizing sub-elements of the broad topic of reserved names in a manner that would facilitate breaking the broad topic into smaller parts that could then be divided into separate policy efforts of a more manageable size and that might also allow some less complicated issues to be resolved in a more timely manner so that some policy changes might be included in the introduction of new gTLDs.

The treatment of reserved names is a matter of contract for existing gTLDs and will be a matter of contract for future gTLDs. As such it relates to the work of both the Dec05 PDP regarding the Introduction of New gTLDs including IDNs and the Feb06 PDP regarding Contractual Conditions for Existing Registries, Therefore the WG needs to provide an initial examination of reserved names at both the top and second level for both existing and new gTLDs. Should it be determined that the ToR for Feb 06 does not allow for addressing contractual conditions, the WG report to the Council regarding relevant recommendations.

III. Working Group Responsibilities, Tasks and Proposed Working Approach

A. To perform its initial examination of the role and treatment of reserved domain names at the first (top) level, WG responsibilities and tasks should include but need not be limited to the following:

1. Review the present treatment and process for reservation of names at all levels (using Appendix 6 in the latest gTLD Registry Agreements as examples), including reviewing treatment of reserved names that may differ in existing contracts - link provided in Background Section
2. Review any other discussions to date that have occurred related to reserved names for top level strings for new gTLDs including IDN gTLDs (e.g., the GNSO's Task Force on new gTLDs; constituency comments, etc.)
3. Review any ICANN staff reports related to reserved names - see Background Section
4. Review any relevant technical documents ,e.g., relevant RFCs -see Background Section and determine what technical outreach (IETF, IAB, SSAC,etc.) is needed and complete.
5. Liaise with the ICANN staff as needed, including legal and operational, to identify and review any existing work or relevant experiences related to reserved names processes and procedures
6. Liaise with the ccNSO and the ccTLD community in general as needed regarding the two letter names issues, including whether the present approach, as outlined in Appendix 6, is sufficient or necessary

B. Proposed Working Approach for Working Group:

1. Initially, examine the sub-elements of the broad topic of reserved names to consider breaking the broad topic into smaller parts
2. Estimate the complexity of issues associated with each of the sub-elements and briefly describe the elements of complexity (e.g., more controversial issues involving multiple stakeholder groups with competing views might be rated more complex; consultation with the GAC might be rated as more complex; etc.)
3. Prioritize the sub-elements according to these two factors:
   1. Estimated level of complexity (less complex to higher)
   2. Importance/relevance to complete any future policy work prior to the introduction of new gTLDs
   3. Other {to be developed}
4. Identify any sub-elements for which any needed policy work may be able to be completed in time for the introduction of new gTLDs and develop recommendations about how that might best be accomplished/launch development of recommendations
5. Identify the remaining sub elements and establish a working plan to address these, including considering parallel work tracks, if feasible and resources permit, versus sequential work.
6. Prepare and submit an interim report to the relevant PDP group and/or the Council so that any additional policy work needed could be started as soon as possible referencing the Time Line provided by the Council
7. Prepare and submit a final report regarding all of the above for both PDP groups and the Council upon conclusion of work.

Regular progress reports should be provided for both PDP groups and the Council corresponding to scheduled meetings of those groups and the Council.

IV. Example of Topics for Reserved Names

This section provides an example of a work plan outline for the work of the Working Group. It is provided as an initial resource for potential use by the Working Group and to attempt to help to launch the Working Group quickly, due to the pressures of time limitations. It is not intended to be comprehensive nor prescriptive. It should be assumed that the work will need to ask the question of how reserved names apply to IDNs at both second and first levels, as well as Latin character gTLDs.

1. Identify possible roles and purposes for reserved names at the top level and review and examine those roles and purposes, including how to address the role of reserved names in IDNs
2. Identify and develop proposals to address any policy issues that should be or are under consideration by the existing GNSO PDPs regarding policy considerations related to the role, use, reservation, and release and allocation of reserved names at the top and second level
3. Determine:
   1. The various roles that reserved names may play in new gTLDs in addressing controversial categories of names, including whether trademark names and country/geopolitical names should have initial or permanent reserved status; etc.
   2. Whether existing reserved names at the second level should automatically be included at the first level or
   3. Whether there is different treatment proposed for existing reserved names at the second level, in the first level
   4. Whether reserved name requirements need to be the same for all gTLDs and, if not, which ones might vary
   5. Whether there should be a procedure by which staff publishes new categories of reserved names before adding them to registry agreements
4. Discuss and review processes by which names could be put into reserved status at the top level
5. Discuss and propose processes by which names can be unreserved at the top level and made available for allocation, including discussion of whether there are unique treatments in allocation for names that are reserved
6. Discuss whether and how categories of names can be unreserved and allocated at the second level from the existing categories, including second level reservations in single character[1] and two character labels, and reservations for geographic and geopolitical names, to include examination of any existing technical concerns
7. Reconfirm whether there should be a process by which new names or categories are added to the reserved status in the second level (e.g., should we assume that all new strings allocated for operation as registries are reserved at the second level when they are awarded?)

Background Materials and Relevant Initiatives to take into account:

Background:

1) Existing Registry Agreements Reserved Names (Annex 6 and other examples) http://www.icann.org/registries/agreements.htm

2) Relevant RFCs which discuss reserved names
http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2606.txt
http://www.ietf.org/rfc./rfc2141.txt
http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3491.txt

3) Status report on single letter names - to be provided

Relevant Initiatives:
(1) PDP 05: developing policy recommendations on new
gTLDs, as part of a policy development process called PDP-Dec05.
http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/

(2) PDP 06
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/gtld-policies/

(3) IDN Working Group
http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/idn-tlds/issues-report-02aug06.htm

Attachment 1:

Additional considerations:

For a policy issue to warrant a policy development process it must Meet the following criteria:

(A) Is within the scope of ICANN's mission statement;

(B) is broadly applicable to multiple situations or organizations;

(C) is likely to have lasting value or applicability, albeit with the need for occasional updates;

(D) Will establish a guide or framework for future decision-making; or

(E) Implicates or affects an existing ICANN policy.

20070118-1

Approval of GNSO Council minutes 6 December 2006

Approval of GNSO Council minutes 21 December 2006

20061221-1

Bruce Tonkin elected as GNSO Council Chair for the period 21 December 2006 until the end of the ICANN Annual General Meeting in 2007.

20061206-2

Approval of GNSO Council minutes 16 November 2006

20061206-1

Bruce Tonkin elected as GNSO Council chair until the conclusion of the current election period.

20061116-5

The recommendations of the LSE regarding term limits for GNSO Council members should be adopted immediately by the GNSO Council with no grandfathering except in connection with the ability of a council member to serve out their existing term. A council member can serve no more than two consecutive terms (regardless of duration). Moreover, a former council member must remain off the GNSO Council for one full term prior to serving any subsequent term. However, there shall be an exception to the two term limit in connection with special circumstances (I.e. Geographic diversity requirements) where a constituency is unable to find an alternative representative to serve. In applying this special circumstance exception, the existence of an otherwise qualified candidate willing to serve on the council within that constituency shall constitute a non-rebuttable indication that special circumstances do not exist. The GNSO Council will forward this recommendation to the ICANN Board of Directors for implementation in the bylaws and also recommend to the GNSO Constituencies that they voluntarily adopt these practices until such time that they have been formally implemented by the Council and Board.

20061116-4

Procedural motion to vote on whether to vote on the Proposed

The recommendations of the LSE regarding term limits for GNSO Council members should be adopted immediately by the GNSO Council with no grandfathering except in connection with the ability of a council member to serve out their existing term. A council member can serve no more than two consecutive terms (regardless of duration). Moreover, a former council member must remain off the GNSO Council for one full term prior to serving any subsequent term. However, there shall be an exception to the two term limit in connection with special circumstances (I.e. Geographic diversity requirements) where a constituency is unable to find an alternative representative to serve. In applying this special circumstance exception, the existence of an otherwise qualified candidate willing to serve on the council within that constituency shall constitute a non-rebuttable indication that special circumstances do not exist. The GNSO Council will forward this recommendation to the ICANN Board of Directors for implementation in the bylaws and also recommend to the GNSO Constituencies that they voluntarily adopt these practices until such time that they have been formally implemented by the Council and Board.

20061116-3

GNSO IDN Working Group Charter

The IDN Working Group operates in the context of the following related activities within ICANN:

1. There is a President's Advisory Committee on IDNs which has been in operation since November 2005. Amongst other things this committee is tasked with analyzing the challenges relating to the technical implementation of internationalized top level domains and suggestions towards their resolution. IN particular the committee is supervising laboratory tests (see http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19oct06.htm).
2. There has been a working group of gTLD registries and ccTLD registries to create a set of technical Guidelines for the Implementation of IDNs at the second level. See http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-22feb06.htm for version 2.1 of the Guidelines dated - 22 Feb 2006.
3. The GNSO has a Committee developing policy recommendations on new gTLDs, as part of a policy development process called PDP-Dec05. The policies developed for new gTLDs apply to new gTLDs that use the IDN standards. See: http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/ for more information.
4. The ICANN staff have produced a draft issues report on IDNs dated 2 August 2006 available at: http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/idn-tlds/issues-report-02aug06.htm.
5. The ccNSO has formed a ccNSO IDN working group. From the minutes of 23 Aug 06 the purpose of this group is to: consider what the ccNSO should do on IDN issues, what policy issues should be considered jointly with the GNSO, and liaise with the GNSO and prepare a report on the current status and future steps for the ccNSO on IDN issues.
6. External to ICANN, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has released a document (RFC4690) which provides a review and recommendations for Internationalized Domain Names.

The purpose of the GNSO IDN Working Group is to identify and specify any policy issues that should be considered by the GNSO via a policy development process that have not already been considered within PDP-Dec05. It should do this using the following steps:

1. review the draft recommendations on new gTLDs (which include IDN gTLDs) from the GNSO's Committee on new gTLDs
2. review the current status and outcomes from the laboratory tests,
3. review the ICANN staff issues report,
4. review the IAB document (RFC4690)
5. liaise with the ccNSO working Group to discuss any policy issues which they have identified

Note for a policy issue to warrant a policy development process it must meet the following criteria:

1. is within the scope of ICANN's mission statement;
2. is broadly applicable to multiple situations or organizations;
3. is likely to have lasting value or applicability, albeit with the need for occasional updates;
4. will establish a guide or framework for future decision-making; or
5. implicates or affects an existing ICANN policy.

Membership: Membership is open to any member of a GNSO constituency or the GNSO Council.

ICANN advisory committees may appoint liaisons to the working group.

Voting: Voting will be on the basis of 1 vote per member

Duration: The working Group must complete its work by the end of the ICANN meeting in Portugal on 26-30 March 2007, and provide a report to the GNSO Council.

Chair: The chair will be appointed via election from the existing members of the IDN working group established by the GNSO Council on 18 May 2006 to review the IDN issues report in the lead up to the ICANN meeting in Morocco.

20061116-2

Notice and comment on gTLD agreement approvals.

"With respect to any proposed agreement relating to generic top-level domains that includes provisions that would have an effect materially different from other past or current ICANN agreements or practices, including but not limited to gTLD registry and registrar agreements, ICANN will notify the GNSO Council and post the proposed agreement for public comment on the ICANN website at least twenty-one days (and if practical, longer) prior to any final approval of the agreement."

20061116-01

Approval of the GNSO Council minutes

20061019-01

Approval of the GNSO Council minutes

20060928-04

The GNSO Council resolves to direct staff to begin gathering the information data, conduct the research and pull together all the back ground and historical information that would be needed for the review and then recommend changes to the PDP.

20060928-03

The GNSO Council resolves:

To request the Board to delay any decision on the .biz .info and .org agreements until the ICANN Board meeting after the Sao Paolo ICANN meetings 2006 and to take into account the current outcome of the PDPFeb06 task force at that time.

Item 4: Proposed bylaws amendment to improve transparency with respect to contract approvals

- update from General Counsel on action with respect to the GNSO request of 18 August 05 regarding proposed changes to ICANN bylaws to improve transparency with respect to contract approvals

20060928-02

1. The GNSO Council resolves:

a) To instruct the PDPFeb06 task force to continue its work, to appoint an interim chair

b) To instruct staff to propose a work schedule in agreement with the interim chair and Task Force this week and carry it out

c) To ask the General Counsel within 14 days to list all ICANN agreements sections on consensus policy

d) To ask the General Counsel within 14 days to compare and contrast the PDP06 Terms of Reference with the so –called “picket fence” consensus policy areas and provide a without prejudice assessment of likelihood of in or out of scope indicating uncertainty as necessary.

20060928-01

• Approval of the GNSO Council minutes
  • http://gnso.icann.org/meetings/minutes-gnso-28sep06.shtml

20060720-03

"The GNSO Council notes that, consistent with generally accepted privacy principles, Registrars are required under clause 3.7.7.4 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement to provide notice to each new or renewed Registered Name Holder stating:

(i) The purposes for which any Personal Data collected from the applicant are intended;

(ii) The intended recipients or categories of recipients of the data (including the Registry Operator and others who will receive the data from Registry Operator);

(iii) Which data are obligatory and which data, if any, are voluntary; and

(iv) How the Registered Name Holder or data subject can access and, if necessary, rectify the data held about them.

To further understand the range of purposes for which data is intended, the GNSO proposes the following steps:

(1) The ICANN staff will review a representative sample of registrar agreements with Registered Name Holders, taking into account the issues of geographical diversity and rule of law variances, to identify some of the purposes for which registrars collect Personal Data in the course of registering a domain name for their customers.

(2) The ICANN staff will review a representative sample of cctld registry or cctld registrar agreements with registrants, taking into account the issues of geographical diversity and rule of law variances, to identify some of the purposes for which these organisations collect Personal Data from registrants.

(3) The ICANN staff will summarise the current material that has resulted from WHOIS discussions since 2002 that document the current uses and abuses of the Personal Data that is currently made public through the WHOIS service.

(4) Supported by the material produced in steps (1), (2) and (3) above, the Council will undertake a dialogue with the ICANN Advisory Committee's, such as the GAC, SSAC and ALAC, regarding the purposes for collecting Personal Data, and discuss whether any policy development is required in this area consistent with ICANN's mission and core values.

The dialogue should seek to examine and understand consumer protection, privacy/data protection and law enforcement perspectives."

20060720-02

"The GNSO Council notes that the WHOIS definition approved by the GNSO Council on 18 April 06, as a working definition to allow the WHOIS task force to proceed with its work, is related to the service that provides public access to some of the data collected by registrars. It is not a definition of the purpose of the data collected by the registrars in the course of registering a domain name for their customers.

In response to the extensive community and Government input on the definition of the purpose of WHOIS, the GNSO Council agrees to undertake the following steps:

(1) Any Council member who voted in favour of the definition may provide a brief explanation of the reason for supporting the resolution and their understanding of its meaning. An Advisory Committee that supports the current definition may also make a statement for the record through the appropriate liaison to the GNSO Council.

(2) The ICANN staff will provide a summary of the other interpretations of the definition that have been expressed during the public comment period, and subsequently in correspondence from the public and Governments.

(3) The GNSO Council requests that the WHOIS task force continue with their work as specified in the terms of reference taking into account the recent input that has been provided.

(4) The GNSO Council will take the Final Report (as specified in clause 9(c) of the GNSO PDP process) from the WHOIS task force after the task force finishes its work on all the terms of reference, engage in further dialogue with the Advisory Committees (including the GAC, SSAC and ALAC), and consider improving the wording of the WHOIS service definition so that it is broadly understandable.

Note that the WHOIS Task force will produce a Task Force Report (as specified in clause 7(e) of the GNSO PDP process) later in 2006 that addresses all terms of reference. This report will be subject to a further public comment process, and the output of this public comment will be incorporated into the Final Report.

Note that the previous clause (3) in the motion posted on 13 July 2006 that related to the purposes for collecting data is now the subject of a separate motion.

20060720-01

• Approval of the minutes:
  • http://gnso.icann.org/meetings/minutes-gnso-18may06.shtml

20060628-02

beloved member of the Internet and ICANN family, Liz Dengate Thrush, was killed last week in a tragic car accident that also took the life of three other members of her family.

Liz was a well known leader and contributor to the Internet, and many of the ICANN community knew Liz personally through her participation in ICANN's meetings, and her leadership in InternetNZ and in New Zealand.

Liz was the wife of Peter Dengate Thrush, a long standing contributor and leader in the global Internet community, and in the New Zealand Internet community, and an ICANN board member.

The GNSO Council, on behalf of the GNSO, sends heartfelt condolences to Peter Dengate Thrush, to Liz's and Peter's children, Clare, Phoebe, and Henry, to the families of Liz and Peter in their tragic loss and to Liz's many loving friends, for the tragic loss of Liz and other members of their family.

20060628-01