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Meeting Report
Introduction
The ccNSO is pleased to present its report for the meeting in Lisbon, Portugal on the 26th, 27th and 28th March 2007.
Approximately 30 ccTLDs were represented at the meeting, as well as several observers.
All of those present express their appreciation for the work done in facilitating the meeting by the members of the local host organising committee.
1) Joint session with the GAC on IDNs
The ccNSO met with the GAC to discuss a draft issues paper Selection of IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-1 two letter codes prepared by the joint ccNSO-GAC IDN Working Group.
Part of the discussion was related to the use of a mandated list for IDN ccTLDs and as part of this discussion, presentations were given by Elisabeth Porteneuve (AFNOR) and Debbie Garside (World Language Documentation Centre) on current standardisation efforts and procedures being undertaken by their respective organisations.
The group agreed on a way forward to continue their joint work on IDNs.
2) Joint session with the GAC on Regions plus other topics
The groups met again to discuss other topics of interest for ccTLDs and the GAC.
David Archbold (ccTLD manager .ky Cayman Islands) gave a presentation on some issues with the current definition of ICANN regions from a ccTLD manager's perspective. Useful discussions took place and the GAC was encouraged to provide input.
The group then received an update on the development of the .tz TLD. The Tanzanian government passed a resolution in 2003 to turn the country into a hub of ICT infrastructure.
The group held a session on IANA's Discussion paper on Retiring Country Codes Top-Level Domains. The GAC expressed concern that IANA follows the ISO list when retiring ccTLDs. Although the list proves to be extremely reliable when introducing country codes, it was felt that this perhaps was not the best way to proceed when a country ceases to exist.
3) ICANN CEO/President and ICANN Board
The meeting was then joined by Vint Cerf and Paul Twomey who talked about the work of the ICANN board.
Paul Twomey identified the main issues within ICANN at the moment. He mentioned the eIANA effort and thanked the Polish registry NASK for their help and commitment to the project. He also highlighted the fact that once eIANA is in place, IANA will introduce an authentication regime to ensure a robust authentication mechanism for the zone files.
Chris Disspain raised concerns about a draft paper prepared for US Homeland Security which suggests, among other things, that the US government be the sole signer of the DNS Sec root. He suggested that it may be time for the broader community to consider the establishment of a co-operative of some form to be responsible for this issue.
4) Registry Failover
Patrick Jones (ICANN) introduced the group to the Registry Failover project. This was initiated in the ICANN Operational Plan. Although it primarily is a project for gTLDs, comments and information from ccTLDs on their experience with failure scenarios would be appreciated.
5) Role of the General Manager, Public Participation
Kieren McKarthy (General Manager of Public Participation) gave an overview on what his role involves. Kieren defined that poor filtering of community input, as well as lack of interaction has created frustration. To change this, fact sheets and newsletters with relevant information will be produced. An interactive website has already been launched where the community can follow the ICANN meetings and give their immediate input.
6) IANA Update
Olivier Guillard (.fr, chair of IANA Working Group) reported that the IANA Working Group had conversations with IANA on issues such as the accuracy of data in the IANA database and what the term sponsoring organisation actually means. The next big issue for the group is to come up with a revised List of cc concerns about IANA.
Kim Davies (IANA) gave an overview of the most important topics on IANA's agenda. The main project has been to start the root zone management workflow automation. During the next weeks a first, functioning version will be available for testing: however, the name server function will only begin in May.
7) IDN Sessions
The ccNSO held two sessions discussing IDN issues.
Vaggelis Segredakis (.gr) explained how the Greek registry opened registrations for ancient and current Greek characters at the second level in July 2005. The problems that the registry had to face, due to linguistic complexities, were outlined. These problems will have to be tackled again when IDN registrations open on the top level.
The group also received presentations from Jonathan Shea (.hk) and Minjung Park (.kr) on Second Level Issues in ccTLDs and Cross-over Issues with the work being undertaken by the gNSO, which had been identified within the IDN Working Group.
A further session was dedicated to discussing the draft issues paper prepared by the joint ccNSO GAC working group. It was agreed that much more discussion were required on IDN issues and a full day session was proposed for the San Juan meeting in June.
Further work will be done on the draft issues paper during this period as well.
8) Updates from ccTLD Regional Organisations and ICANN's Global Partnership
The group received presentations from the regional organisations on their current work. Don Hollander, APTLD, Michuki Mwangi, AfTLD, Peter van Roste, CENTR and Margarita Valdes from LACTLD all emphasized their commitment to cooperate with each other and the ccNSO on relevant issues.
ICANN's Global Partnership representatives Giovanni Seppia, Save Vocea and Baher Esmat, updated the group on their efforts to establish relations with country code operators around the globe.
It was noted that since the liaisons had begun their work, they have assisted in Accountability Framework discussions and have assisted several countries with their ccNSO applications.
9) Accountability and Transparency
Paul Levins (Executive Officer and Vice President Corporate Affairs) presented the outcomes of a report completed by One World Trust (OWT), examining the Accountability and Transparency of ICANN. The outcome showed that ICANN in many ways was a very transparent organisation, but improvement is still required in some areas. The report will be published to the public and their comments implemented in a response to the OWT. The draft will be ready before the ICANN meeting in Puerto Rico.
10) ccTLD updates: .eu, .cz, .rs
The group received interesting updates from Herman Sobrie (.eu), Ondrej Filip (.cz) and Slobodan Markovic (.rs) on the latest developments in their respective registries.
11) Updates from ccNSO Board Members
The last session of the day was devoted to updates from the ccNSO Board Members Peter Dengate-Thrush (.nz) and Demi Getschko (.br). The board members informed the group about the significant work load the ICANN board has to face. A discussion followed where it was suggested that the ICANN board should try to focus on policy and should concentrate on key issues only in order to diminish the workload.
12) Thanks
The group thanked Donna Austin for her commitment and hard work as the ccNSO policy officer. Donna is leaving her position after two years and hands over her post to Bart Boswinkel, who was welcomed on board.