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[council] ICANN Monthly Policy Update

  • To: "'Council GNSO'" <council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Subject: [council] ICANN Monthly Policy Update
  • From: "GNSO.SECRETARIAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:52:04 +0200
  • List-id: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Sender: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Dear Councillors,

These policy updates are also published on page:
http://www.icann.org/topics/policy/

Below (and attached in Word with hyperlinks) are brief summaries of
significant Internet policy issues that are being addressed by the
ICANN community's bottom-up policy development structure, as well as
other activities of interest.  These "ICANN Policy Updates" are now
available via online subscription.  If you would like to receive these
updates in your inbox each month, go to
<http://www.icann.org/newsletter> and select "Policy Update" to
subscribe.

These monthly updates are provided by ICANN's Policy Staff in response
to community requests for periodic summaries of ICANN's policy work.
Links to additional information are included in the attached and we
encourage you to go beyond these brief staff summaries and learn more
about the ICANN community's work. These monthly updates also will be
available on our website. Our goal is to maximize transparency and
broad community participation in ICANN's policy development
activities.  We continue to investigate more effective and efficient
ways to communicate the relevance, importance and status of ongoing
issues to the ICANN community.  Comments and suggestions on how we can
improve these efforts are most welcome and should be sent to
policy-staff@xxxxxxxxx.


Regards,
Denise Michel
ICANN VP, Policy
denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx



ICANN POLICY UPDATE – June 2008


CONTENTS:

1.   GNSO -- IMPROVEMENTS
2.   GNSO -- DOMAIN NAME TASTING
3.   GNSO -- WHOIS
4.   GNSO -- INTER-REGISTRAR TRANSFER POLICY REVIEW
5.   GNSO -- FAST FLUX HOSTING
6.   GNSO -- DOMAIN NAME FRONT RUNNING
7.   MULTIPLE ENTITIES -- IDN ccTLDs
8.   MULTIPLE ENTITIES – ICANN'S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS
9.  CCNSO -- INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT PLANS CONTINUE
10.  AT-LARGE -- NEW ALSes JOIN THE COMMUNITY
11.  AT-LARGE -- ROAD TO PARIS
12.  AT-LARGE -- BOARD LIAISON NOMINATIONS OPEN
13.  ASO AC -- GLOBAL POLICY PROPOSALS (ASNs, IPv4)
14.  SSAC – DNSSEC-CAPABLE NAME SERVER SURVEY
15.  SSAC -- ANTI-PHISHING ACTIVITIES



1.     GNSO -- IMPROVEMENTS
Background: The ICANN Board is considering a comprehensive set of
recommendations to improve the structure and operations of the Generic
Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). This effort is part of ICANN's
ongoing commitment to its evolution and improvement, and follows an
independent review of the GNSO and extensive public consultation.  A
working group appointed by ICANN's Board (BGC WG) has developed a
comprehensive proposal (GNSO Improvements Report) to improve the
effectiveness of the GNSO, including its policy activities, structure,
operations and communications.  On 15 February 2008, the Board
accepted the GNSO Improvements Report for consideration and directed
ICANN Staff to open a public comment forum on the Report, draft a
detailed implementation plan in consultation with the GNSO, begin
implementation of the non-contentious recommendations, and return to
the Board and community for further consideration of the
implementation plan. A GNSO Improvement Planning Team comprised of
GNSO leadership and constituency representatives, ICANN Staff and a
Board liaison participant was formed to develop a top-level
implementation plan to structure the implementation efforts.
Recent Developments:  On 19 May 2008, the GNSO improvements Planning
Team produced a draft version of the GNSO Improvements Top Level Plan.
 The primary focus of the plan is the creation of two standing
committees (GNSO Process and GNSO Operations) that would be
responsible for ensuring that the substantive work of implementing the
BGC WG recommendations is carried-out. The document is being
circulated to the GNSO Council and to the community for discussions
and further development.

Next Steps: Board action on the BGC WG Report could occur at the June
Board meeting in Paris, France.  The GNSO Council is scheduled to
discuss the top-level implementation plan during the Paris meeting at
the end of June.  The goal, assuming the plan is approved by the
Council, is to initiate the actual work of the standing committees.

More Information:
•       GNSO Improvements information page
<http://www.icann.org/topics/gnso-improvements/>
•       Full GNSO Improvements Report
<http://www.icann.org/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-improvements-report-03feb08.pdf>
•       Board resolution on GNSO Improvements
http://www.icann.org/minutes/resolutions-15feb08.htm#_Toc64545918>
•       Summary and Analysis of Comments on GNSO Improvements Report
http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-improvements-report-2008/msg00033.html
•       GNSO Improvements - Top Level Plan, 19 May 2008
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-improvements-top-level-plan-22may08.pdf

Staff Contact: Rob Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director

2.     GNSO -- DOMAIN NAME TASTING
Background: The term "domain tasting" refers to a case when an entity
registers a domain name and then tests to see if the name has
sufficient traffic to generate more income than the annual
registration fee (usually through the addition of pay-per-click
advertising). If the address is deemed sufficiently profitable, it is
kept. If not, the current "add grace period" (AGP) - where domains can
be returned within five days without cost - is used to return the
domain at no net cost to the registrant and no ICANN charge levied on
the registrar. Among other reasons, the practice is controversial
because registrants who engage in this behavior can typically register
many hundreds of thousands of domain names under this practice, with
these temporary registrations far exceeding the number of domain names
actually licensed.
Over time, there has been a significant increase in the number of
domains registered and returned prior to expiration of the AGP. A
significant number of community members feel the AGP process presents
a loophole that facilitates this conduct. In May 2007, ICANN's
At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), asked the GNSO Council to review
the issue. In October 2007, after significant fact finding and
consideration, the GNSO Council launched a formal policy development
process (PDP) on domain tasting and encouraged ICANN Staff to consider
applying ICANN's annual transaction fee to all names registered and
subsequently de-registered during the AGP. Subsequently, Staff
included in the initial draft of ICANN's next fiscal year budget, a
proposal to charge a fee for all domains added - including a
substantial percentage of domains added and subsequently deleted
during the AGP. Public discussion of the budget, and this proposal, is
ongoing.

As part of the formal PDP process, an Initial Report was produced for
public comment, outlining the problems caused by domain tasting,
possible actions to be taken, and the arguments put forward for and
against such actions. Public comments were incorporated into a draft
Final Report posted on 8 February 2008.

On 6 March 2008, the GNSO Council considered a motion to curb the
practice of domain tasting. The motion would prohibit any gTLD
operator that has implemented an AGP from offering a refund for any
domain name deleted during the AGP that exceeds 10% of its net new
registrations in that month, or fifty domain names, whichever is
greater. Under the terms of the motion, an exemption from the
limitation could be sought for a particular month, upon a showing of
extraordinary circumstances detailed in the motion.

Public comments and constituency impact statements regarding the
motion were solicited and incorporated into a Final Report for Council
consideration at its 17 April 2008 meeting. The comments and
constituency statements reflected a plurality of views on what should
be done to eliminate abuse of the AGP to facilitate domain tasting and
addressed three potential options including (1) views on the draft
resolution itself; (2) views on eliminating the AGP entirely; and (3)
views on the proposed ICANN budget changes.

Recent Developments: The GNSO Council approved the motion on 17 April
2008 by supermajority vote. The motion (now a GNSO Council
recommendation by virtue of the supermajority vote) is pending Board
consideration. Public comments were invited on the Council
recommendation until 21 May 2008, and have been summarized by Staff.

In addition, the most recent ICANN draft budget for FY 2009 contains a
new transaction fee provision that calls for the ICANN USD .20 annual
fee to apply to all new registrations that exceed the maximum of (i)
10% of that registrar's net new registrations in that month (defined
as total new registrations less domains deleted during AGP), or (ii)
fifty (50) domain names, whichever is greater.

Next Steps: The Board is expected to consider both the GNSO Council
motion and the FY 09 budget proposal during its June meeting in Paris.

More Information:
•       Public comment request
(http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#dt-motion-21may08)
•       GNSO Domain Tasting Issues Report, June 2007 <
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/domain-tasting/gnso-domain-tasting-report-14jun07.pdf

•       Outcomes Report, October 2007 <
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-domain-tasting-adhoc-outcomes-report-final.pdf

•       Final Report, 4 April 2008
<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/domain-tasting/gnso-final-report-domain-tasting-04apr08.pdf>

Staff Contact: Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor

3.     GNSO -- WHOIS
Background: WHOIS services provide public access to data on registered
domain names. That data currently includes contact information for
Registered Name Holders. The extent of registration data collected at
the time of registration of a domain name, and the ways such data can
be accessed, are specified in agreements established by ICANN for
domain names registered in generic top-level domains (gTLDs). For
example, ICANN requires accredited registrars to collect and provide
free public access to (1) the name of the registered domain name and
its name servers and registrar, (2) the date the domain was created
and when its registration expires, and (3) the contact information for
the Registered Name Holder including the technical contact, and the
registrant's administrative contact.

WHOIS has been the subject of intense policy development debate and
action over the last few years. Information contained in WHOIS is used
for a wide variety of purposes. Some uses of WHOIS data are viewed as
constructive and beneficial. For example, sometimes WHOIS data is used
to track down and identify registrants who may be posting illegal
content or engaging in phishing scams. Other uses of WHOIS are viewed
as potentially negative, such as harvesting WHOIS contact information
to send unwanted spam or fraudulent email solicitations. Privacy
advocates have also been concerned about the privacy implications of
unrestricted access to personal contact information.

The GNSO Council decided in October 2007 that a comprehensive,
objective and quantifiable understanding of key factual issues
regarding WHOIS will benefit future GNSO policy development efforts,
and plans to ask the ICANN Staff to conduct several studies for this
purpose. Before defining the details of these studies, the Council has
solicited suggestions for specific topics of study on WHOIS from
community stakeholders. Possible areas of study might include a study
of certain aspects of gTLD registrants and registrations, a study of
certain uses and misuses of WHOIS data, a study of the use of proxy
registration services, including privacy services, or a comparative
study of gTLD and ccTLD WHOIS.

A forum for public comments on suggestions for specific topics of
study on WHOIS was open through 15 February 2008. Approximately 25
suggestions were received. A summary of those comments has been
prepared. On 27 March the GNSO Council approved a motion to form a
group of volunteers to: (1) review and discuss the 'Report on Public
Suggestions on Further Studies of WHOIS; (2) develop a proposed list
of recommended studies, if any, for which ICANN Staff will be asked to
provide cost estimates to the Council; and (3) produce the list of
recommendations with supporting rationale.

Recent Developments: On 22 May 2008, the WHOIS study group delivered
its report to the Council. In addition to considering the
recommendations solicited from the public, the group also considered
recommendations offered by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)
for WHOIS studies. The report reflects two opposing viewpoints among
participants.  A significant number of participants believe that no
further studies should be conducted, because further study (and the
resulting information) will be unlikely to persuade any stakeholders
to modify existing strongly held positions.  The second group of
participants do believe further studies would be useful in informing
the debate, and their recommendation includes specific recommendations
for further study in three primary areas: 1) the availability of
privacy services; 2) the demand and motivation for the use of privacy
services, and certain studies of WHOIS misuse, detailed further in the
report.

Next Steps: During the Paris meeting, the Council will consider this
report and provide additional direction to Staff on recommended data
gathering and study requirements.  Based on that direction, Staff will
provide rough cost estimates for various components of data gathering
and studies, if any are recommended by the Council.  Subsequently,
Council and Staff will consider what data gathering and studies should
be pursued.

More Information:
• GNSO WHOIS Policy Work Web Page <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/>
•       GAC Recommendations of 16 April 2008:
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/karlins-to-thrush-16apr08.pdf
•       Summary of Public Suggestions on Further Studies of WHOIS (updated
10 May 2008 with GAC recommendations of 16 April):
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-study-suggestion-report-10may08.pdf

Staff Contact: Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor

4.     GNSO -- INTER-REGISTRAR TRANSFER POLICY REVIEW
Background:  Consistent with ICANN's obligation to promote and
encourage robust competition in the domain name space, the
Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy aims to provide a straightforward
procedure for domain name holders to transfer their names from one
ICANN-accredited registrar to another should they wish to do so. The
policy also provides standardized requirements for registrar handling
of such transfer requests from domain name holders. The policy is an
existing community consensus that was implemented in late 2004 that is
now being reviewed by the GNSO.  As part of that effort, the Council
formed a Transfers Working Group (TWG) to examine and recommend
possible areas for improvements in the existing transfer policy. The
TWG identified a broad list of over 20 potential areas for
clarification and improvement.

In an effort to get improvements on-line as soon as possible, the GNSO
Council initiated a policy development process (Transfer PDP 1) to
immediately clarify four specific issues regarding reasons for which a
registrar of record may deny a request to transfer a domain name to a
new registrar. In parallel with the PDP process, the Council tasked a
short term planning group to evaluate and prioritize the remaining 19
policy issues identified by the Transfers Working Group. In March, the
group delivered a report to the GNSO Council that suggested clustering
the issues for consideration in five new PDPs.

Recent Developments:  ICANN Staff finalized and posted an Initial
Report for public comment as part of the Transfer PDP 1 described
above. The public comments received have been used by ICANN Staff to
compile a Final Report for the GNSO Council's consideration of further
steps to take in this PDP.  At the GNSO Council meeting on 17 April
2008, a drafting group was launched to develop suggested text
modifications in the current provisions. This group will report on its
findings to Council following the group's last meeting on 4 June.

During its 8 May 2008 meeting, the GNSO Council adopted the
structuring of five additional inter-registrar transfers PDPs as
suggested by the drafting group (in addition to the ongoing Transfer
PDP 1 on the four reasons for denying a transfer).  The five new PDPs
will be addressed in a largely consecutive manner, with the
possibility of overlap as resources permit. The Council requested an
Issues Report from Staff on the first of the new PDP issue sets (Set A
– New IRTP Issues), which has since been delivered to the Council.

Next Steps: At the June ICANN meeting in Paris, the Council will
consider the Issues Report on Set A and decide on further steps to
take. The Council will also consider the drafting group's report on
the PDP on clarification of reasons for denial and resolve what the
next steps should be for that PDP.

More Information:
•        Draft Advisory
<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/transfers/gnso-draft-transfer-advisory-14nov07.pdf>
• Initial Report <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-17mar08.htm>
•       Final Report <
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/final-report-irt-policy-09apr08.pdf>
•       PDP Recommendations
<http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/transfer-wg-recommendations-pdp-groupings-19mar08.pdf>
•       Issues Report, Set A
(http://gnso.icann.org/issues/transfers/transfer-issues-report-set-a-23may08.pdf

Staff Contact:   Olof Nordling, Manager, Policy Development Coordination

 5.     GNSO – FAST FLUX HOSTING
Background: Fast flux hosting is a term that refers to several
techniques used by cyber criminals to evade detection, in which the
criminals rapidly modify IP addresses and/or name servers. The ICANN
Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) recently completed a
study of fast flux hosting. The results of the study were published in
January 2008 in the SSAC Advisory on Fast Flux Hosting and DNS (SAC
025). Because fast flux hosting involves many different players—the
cybercriminals and their victims, ISPs, companies that provide web
hosting services, and DNS registries and registrars—it is possible to
imagine a variety of different approaches to mitigation. Most of these
will require the cooperation of a variety of actors.

On 26 March 2008, Staff posted an Issues Report on fast flux hosting,
as directed by the GNSO Council. In the Report, Staff recommends that
the GNSO sponsor additional fact-finding and research to develop best
practices concerning fast flux hosting. Staff also notes that it may
be appropriate for the ccNSO to participate in such an activity.

At its 8 May 2008 meeting, the GNSO Council formally launched a policy
development process (PDP), rejected a task force approach and called
for creation of a working group on fast flux.
Recent developments: At its 29 May meeting, the GNSO Council approved
a working group charter to consider the following questions:
•       Who benefits from fast flux, and who is harmed?
• Who would benefit from cessation of the practice and who would be harmed?
•       Are registry operators involved, or could they be, in fast flux
hosting activities? If so, how?
•       Are registrars involved in fast flux hosting activities? If so, how?
•       How are registrants affected by fast flux hosting?
•       How are Internet users affected by fast flux hosting?
•       What technical (e.g. changes to the way in which DNS updates
operate) and policy (e.g. changes to registry/registrar agreements or
rules governing permissible registrant behavior) measures could be
          implemented by registries and registrars to mitigate the
negative effects of fast flux?
•       What would be the impact (positive or negative) of establishing
limitations, guidelines, or restrictions on registrants, registrars
and/or registries with respect to practices that enable or facilitate
fast flux hosting?
•       What would be the impact of these limitations, guidelines, or
restrictions to product and service innovation?
•       What are some of the best practices available with regard to
protection from fast flux?
•       Obtain expert opinion, as appropriate, on which areas of fast flux
are in scope and out of scope for GNSO policy making.

Next Steps: The Working Group shall report back to Council within 90
days, with a report discussing these questions and the range of
possible answers developed by the Working Group members. The Working
Group report also will outline potential next steps for Council
deliberation. These next steps may include further work items for the
WG or policy recommendation for constituency and community comment and
review and for Council deliberation.

More Information:
•       SSAC Report 025 on Fast Flux Hosting, January 2008 -
http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025.pdf
•       Issues Report on Fast Flux Hosting, corrected 31 March 2008 -
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/fast-flux-hosting/gnso-issues-report-fast-flux-25mar08.pdf

Staff Contact: Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor

6.     GNSO – DOMAIN NAME FRONT RUNNING
Background: Domain name front running is the practice whereby a domain
name registrar uses insider information to register domains for the
purpose of re-selling them or earning revenue via ads placed on the
domain's landing page. This practice is also sometimes referred to by
some as "domain reservation" or "cart-hold" or "cart-reserve." By
registering the domains, the registrar locks out other potential
registrars from selling the domain to a customer. The registrar
typically uses the 5-day add grace period (AGP), during which the
domain can be locked without permanent payment. Alerted to the issue
by (1) industry input, (2) a Security and Stability Advisory Committee
report, and (3) a letter from the At-Large Advisory Committee to the
ICANN Board requesting emergency action, on 27 March 2008 the Chair of
the ICANN Board referred the matter to the GNSO Council  for
additional information gathering and policy development, if necessary.

Recent Developments: The GNSO Council, at its 8 May 2008 meeting,
approved a motion to create a drafting team. The team will work to
develop a recommendation to the Council on whether to request an
Issues Report or whether other research on domain name front running
(including further defining the problem) should be pursued. The
drafting team will consider questions such as:
•       How is the problem defined?
•       How prevalent is the problem?
•       Will the measures relating to domain tasting affect front running?
• Are there rules within the RAA that can be used to address this activity?

Next Steps:  The goal of the drafting team will be to bring a
recommendation to the Council on whether to request an Issues Report
or a more extensive research effort that could help to define the
terms of the report.

More Information:
•       Original ALAC Correspondence Raising Front Running Issue;
(http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/pipermail/alac_atlarge-lists.icann.org/2008q1/003290.html)
•       (SAC 022, SSAC Advisory on Domain Name Front Running, October 2007
(http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac022.pdf)

Staff Contact: Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor

7.     MULTIPLE ENTITIES -- IDN ccTLDs
Background:  The potential introduction of Internationalized Domain
Names (IDNs) represents the beginning of an exciting new chapter in
the history of the Internet. IDNs offer the potential for many new
opportunities and benefits for Internet users of all languages around
the world by allowing them to establish domains in their native
languages and alphabets.

An IDN ccTLD (internationalized domain name country code top level
domain) is a country code top-level domain (corresponding to a
country, territory, or other geographic location as associated with
the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes) with a label that contains at least
one character that is not a standard Latin letter (A through Z), a
hyphen, or one of the standard numerical digits (0 through 9). The
technical potential for ICANN to now make these domain names available
for assignment is prompting significant discussion, study and demand
within the ICANN community – particularly for territories and
communities who want to make use of non-Latin characters.  Current
efforts are taking place on two fronts; (1) efforts to identify a
"fast track" process to provide new domain opportunities to
territories with immediate justifiable needs; and (2) efforts to
develop a comprehensive long term plan that ensures a stable process
for all interested stakeholders.

7a.  IDNC Working Group Pursues The IDN "Fast Track"
A joint IDNC Working Group (IDNC WG) was chartered by ICANN's Board to
develop and report on feasible methods, if any, that would enable the
introduction of a limited number of non-contentious IDN ccTLDs, in a
timely manner that ensures the continued security and stability of the
Internet while a comprehensive long-term IDN ccTLD policy is being
developed. On 1 February 2008, the IDNC WG posted a "Discussion Draft
of the Initial Report" (DDIR) for public comment and input from the
ICANN community. The DDIR clarified the relationship between the "fast
track" process and the broader long-term process IDNccPDP (the ccNSO
Policy Development Process on IDN ccTLDs) and also identified the
mechanisms for the selection of an IDN ccTLD and an IDN ccTLD manager.
The ccNSO Council determined that those mechanisms were to be
developed within the parameters of:
• The overarching requirement to preserve the security and stability of the DNS;
•       Compliance with the IDNA protocols;
•       Input and advice from the technical community with respect to the
implementation of IDNs; and
•       Current practices for the delegation of ccTLDs, which include the
current IANA practices.

A public workshop was held 11 February in New Delhi, India to discuss
the DDIR and a comment period was opened on that document. The IDNC WG
produced a first draft of the IDNC WG Methodology in the form of an
Interim Report that has also been made available for public comment.
Discussions on the methodology were held at the ICANN Regional Meeting
in Dubai, UAE (1-3 April 2008) and public comments on the methodology
were open until 25 April 2008.

Recent Developments: The IDNC WG has recently created several new
opportunities for discussion of the WG methodology including at the
RIPE meeting in Berlin, the APTLD meeting Kula Lumpur and the LAAC TLD
meeting in Bahia, Brasil. The IDNC WG also conducted several
conference calls during May, and a face-to face meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland with remote participation on 12 May.

Next Steps: A Draft Final Report, including recommendations of the
IDNC WG will be published shortly for discussion at the ICANN Paris
meeting.

More Information:
•       Public Comments Requested on Initial Draft Fast-Track Mechanism
(<http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-01feb08.htm>)
•       Draft Methodology for Fast Track
(<http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/idnc-proposed-methodology-31mar08.pdf>
)
•       Public Comments on the Discussion Draft of the Initial Report
(<http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#dd-idn-cctld-ft>)

Staff Contact:   Bart Boswinkel, Senior Policy Advisor

7b.   ccNSO Comprehensive IDNccTLD Policy Development
Background:  In parallel to considerations of a "fast track" approach,
the ccNSO Council has initiated a comprehensive long-term policy
development process for IDNccTLDs (referred to as the IDNccPDP). At
its meeting in October 2007, the ccNSO Council resolved to call for an
Issues Report to examine the need for an IDNccPDP to consider:
•       Whether Article IX of the ICANN bylaws applies to IDN ccTLDs
associated with the ISO 3166-1 two letter codes, and if it does not
then to establish if Article IX should apply.
•       Whether the ccNSO should launch a PDP to develop the policy for the
selection and delegation of IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-1
two-letter codes.

The Council formally requested that Issues Report on 19 December 2007
and directed ICANN Staff to identify policies, procedures, and/or
by-laws that should be reviewed and, as necessary revised, in
connection with the development and implementation of any IDN ccTLD
policy – including efforts designed to address the proposed fast-track
concept.

The GNSO and several other parties submitted comments regarding the
proposal to set a comprehensive long-term policy development process
for IDNccTLDs (referred to above as the IDNccPDP).  An Issues Report
will be submitted to the ccNSO Council and will form the basis for the
Council's decision on whether or not to formally initiate the
IDNccPDP.

Next Steps:  Comments regarding the preparation of an Issues Report on
the IDNccPDP continue to be evaluated.

More Information:  IDNccPDP Announcement:
(<http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19dec07.htm>)

Staff Contact: Bart Boswinkel, Senior Policy Advisor

8.      MULTIPLE ENTITIES – ICANN'S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS
Background:   An ICANN Board resolution in 2000 directed Staff to
assign countries to geographic regions on the basis of the United
Nations Statistics Division's current classifications, and introduced
the concept of "citizenship" in relation to the definition of ICANN
Geographic Regions. The ICANN Geographical Regions were originally
created to ensure regional diversity in the composition of the ICANN
Board and were subsequently expanded in various ways to apply to the
GNSO, ALAC and ccNSO.

The ICANN Bylaws define five geographic regions as Africa, North
America, Latin America/Caribbean, Asia/Australia/Pacific and Europe --
and also expand the concept that "persons from an area that is not a
country should be grouped together with the country of citizenship for
that area" so that the area or territory itself was similarly
allocated to the region of the "mother country."

Over time, the ccNSO has developed concerns about the Geographic
Regions and related representational issues.  The ccNSO Council passed
a resolution recommending that the ICANN Board appoint a
community-wide working group to further study and review the issues
related to the definition of the ICANN Geographic Regions, to consult
with all stakeholders and submit proposals to the Board to resolve the
issues relating to the current definition of the ICANN Geographic
Regions.

Recent Developments:  The ICANN Board determined that because any
change to ICANN Geographic Regions could have wide-spread effect in
ICANN, the views of other Supporting Organizations and Advisory
Committees should be sought by the Board. At its 2 November 2007
meeting in Los Angeles, the Board asked the ICANN community, including
the GNSO, ccNSO, ASO, GAC, and ALAC, to provide the ICANN Staff with
input on the ccNSO Council's resolution relating to ICANN's Geographic
Regions. The Board directed ICANN Staff to summarize and analyze this
input and prepare a report for consideration by the Board.

Next Steps:  ICANN Staff has begun soliciting input from all
Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees.  The results will be
summarized and reported to the Board for consideration.

More Information:
•       ccNSO Working Group Report and Recommendations
(http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/ccnso-final-report-regions-wg-240907.pdf)
•       2 November 2007 ICANN Board Resolution
(http://www.icann.org/minutes/resolutions-02nov07.htm#_Toc55609368)

Staff Contact:   Robert Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director

9.     CCNSO -- INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT PLANS CONTINUE
Background:  The ccNSO Council has initiated efforts to improve its
work plans, administrative procedures and communications tools. As a
result of a Council workshop held at the ICANN New Delhi meeting, a
working group of the Council was established to propose administrative
procedures for the ccNSO. The Council also approved creation of a new
"authoritative" ccNSO email list.  In addition, the ccNSO has been
conducting a participation survey to understand better why ccTLDs do
or do not participate in ccNSO meetings, and has developed a leaflet
on participation both in the ccNSO and Regional Organisations.

Recent Developments:  The ccNSO Council is internally reviewing the
proposed new administrative procedures before they are sent out to
ccNSO members for discussion at the ICANN Paris meeting. The
procedures include:
•       Guidelines for ccNSO Council meetings;
•       Guidelines for ccNSO general meetings;
• Setting up Working Groups and templates to assist drafting of charters;
•       Guidelines for Selection of Board seats 11 and 12, and election of
ccNSO Council members by the ccNSO;
• Guidelines for liaisons and observers with other ICANN related entities.

More Information:
•       ccNSO <http://www.ccnso.icann.org/>
•       ccTLD Community Email List <
http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/charter-cctld-community-list.pdf>
•       ccNSO Participation Working Group
<www.ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/participationwg.htm>
•       ccNSO Administrative Processes Working Group:
<http://www.ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/processeswg.htm>

Staff Contacts: Bart Boswinkel, Senior Policy Advisor and Gabriella
Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat

10.    AT-LARGE:  NEW GROUPS JOIN THE COMMUNITY
In May, At-Large welcomed three new Internet end-user groups (referred
to as 'At-Large Structures' or 'ALSs') to the At-Large community:
•       Associación de Derecho Informático de Argentina (ADIAR): From
Argentina, ADIAR is a group of legal professionals oriented towards
Information Technology Law.
•       Pacific Community Networks Association (PCNA): From Canada, PCNA is
one of several ALSs that work at the grassroots level helping
individuals, especially in remote areas, get connected to the Internet
and
          learn to use it effectively.
•       Association for Technology and Internet (APTI): From Romania, APTI's
mission is to promote "the fair and lawful use of information society
service,s and aims at protecting the Internet users against illegal
activities
          and abuses that may occur on the Internet."

There are currently 101 total ALSs from every geographic region. Three
additional applications are currently being reviewed.

More information:  For information about joining ICANN's At-Large
community, visit http://www.atlarge.icann.org/.

Staff Contact: Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large

11.     AT-LARGE: THE ROAD TO PARIS
At-Large has been actively preparing for meetings in Paris with the
Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), the ccNSO Council, and the GNSO
Council respectively.  As part of that effort the At-Large Staff
organised a series of briefings in early June on New GTLDs, the FY 09
Operating Plan and Budget, and Fast Flux Hosting.

At the ICANN Paris meeting, At-Large will receive additional
briefings, and also will consider proposed At-Large input on new
gTLDs, among other items.  The At-Large New GTLDs Policy Working Group
has been tasked with drafting input from the community on
implementation planning for new GTLDs.

Also in Paris, the European Regional At-Large Organization (EURALO)
will conduct its first General Assembly. It is expected to set a work
plan for the coming year, as well as conduct nominations for the open
ALAC seat recently vacated by the resignation of Veronica Cretu of
Moldova.

More information:  Full schedule details for At-Large at the ICANN
Paris meeting may be found at
https://st.icann.org/alac/index.cgi?paris_meeting.

Staff Contact: Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large

12.     AT-LARGE: BOARD LIAISON NOMINATIONS OPEN
Nominations are now open for ALAC's ICANN Board Liaison for the term
beginning at the end of the Cairo ICANN meeting. Current nominees
include the incumbent, Wendy Seltzer, and Beau Brendler of Consumer
Reports.  Nominations close on the eve of the Paris meeting.

Staff Contact: Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large

13.   ASO AC - GLOBAL POLICY PROPOSALS (ASNs, IPv4)
Background:   Two significant global policy proposals on addressing
matters continue to be actively studied and discussed within the
addressing community.  If they are (1) adopted by all Regional
Internet Registries (RIRs), (2) verified by the Address Supporting
Organization (ASO), and (3) subsequently ratified by the ICANN Board,
the policies will govern the allocation of Internet addresses from the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to the RIRs. The two
current proposals are described below.

Recent Developments – Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs):  ASNs are
addresses used in addition to IP addresses for Internet routing. A new
global policy proposal for ASNs would formalize the current procedure
for allocation of ASNs and provides a policy basis for the transition
from 2-byte (16 bits) to 4-byte (32 bits) ASNs. The final transition
step is now foreseen for 31 December 2009, after which date the
distinction between 2- and 4-byte ASNs will cease and all ASNs will be
regarded as of 4-byte length, by appending initial zeroes to those of
2-byte original length.

Next Steps:  This new 4-byte proposal has been adopted by all RIRs.
It will be forwarded to the ICANN Board for ratification by the ASO
Address Council (ASO AC) after the Council has verified that each
RIR's procedural steps have been duly followed. The final text has
been submitted from the NRO Executive Committee to the ASO AC and a
decision to forward the proposal to the ICANN Board is expected at the
next ASO AC call on 12 June.

Recent Developments – Remaining IPv4 address space:  The IANA pool of
unallocated IPv4 address blocks continues to be depleted.  As
previously announced, a new global policy has been proposed to
allocate the remaining address blocks once a given threshold is
triggered. The text of the proposed policy essentially recommends that
when there are five /8 blocks remaining in the IANA pool, one
remaining block will be allocated to each RIR. The proposal has been
discussed at all the RIR meetings (APNIC, ARIN, RIPE, LACNIC and
AfriNIC) during the last four (4) months.

Next Steps: Discussions within RIPE and APNIC are not conclusive
regarding the level of support for the proposal at this stage and may
not be so until the next RIPE and APNIC meetings later in 2008.

More information:
•       Background Report ASN
<http://www.icann.org/announcements/proposal-asn-report-29nov07.htm>
•       Background Report IPV4
<http://www.icann.org/announcements/proposal-ipv4-report-29nov07.htm>

Staff Contact:  Olof Nordling, Manager Policy Development Coordination

14.  SSAC -- DNSSEC-CAPABLE NAME SERVER SURVEY
Background:   SSAC has begun a survey to determine the availability of
DNSSEC features among commercial, open source, and publicly available
name server software releases. A public notice web page (SAC030)
announcing the survey has been published,
http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac030.htm.  The set of
survey questions were sent to approximately 40 software vendors and
developers.

Recent Developments:  SSAC has received survey responses from about
25% of the vendors and products surveyed. The majority of responses
come from commercial vendors. Soliciting survey responses from the
Open Source community has been more difficult. The initial set of
responses is being reviewed and will be published in early June.

Next Steps:  A survey summary will be presented at the ICANN Paris
meeting (pending sufficient responses).

More Information: SSAC <http://www.icann.org/committees/security/>

Staff Contact: Dave Piscitello, Senior Security Technologist

15.   SSAC – ANTI PHISHING ACTIVITIES
Background:   The term "phishing" has been used to describe criminal
and fraudulent attempts by bad actors to acquire sensitive private
information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by
masquerading as trustworthy entities in an electronic communication.

Recent Developments:  Following a one-month opportunity offered to the
registrar community to review and comment, SAC028, "Registrar
Impersonation in Phishing Attacks," was published 26 May 2008. The
document was warmly received by the Anti Phishing Working Group, which
hopes to factor some of SAC028's findings into the fast flux issues
identification work being done for the GNSO.

ICANN Staff has also reviewed a new report that surveys and analyzes
data related to phishing attacks during 2007.  Of particular interest
is the report's analysis of phishing distribution across ccTLDs and a
rise in the use of subdomains for phishing attacks. This report and a
second report presented at the HTCIA (High Technology Crime
Investigation Association) are provide valuable insights into the spam
and phishing "hot spots." Using spam data collected since 2005 the
HTCIA report concludes that 90% of illegal web sites are hosted at
domains registered through just 20 registrars.

Staff suspects that public outcries to "take down" the 20 registrars
and revise future registrar agreements to require registrars to do
more to see that domains are used for legitimate purposes (or
strengthen clauses in their UTAs) are forthcoming. In parallel, the
Staff is continuing its work with phishing investigators and ICANN's
compliance officers to exert pressure on one registrar (yes, among the
20) by issuing a steady stream of WHOIS inaccuracy claims.

More Information:
•       SAC028, "Registrar Impersonation in Phishing Attacks," 26 May 2008.
See http://icann.org/committees/security/ssac-documents.htm
•       Global Phishing Survey 2007
(<http://www.apwg.org/reports/APWG_GlobalPhishingSurvey2007.pdf.>)

Staff Contact: Dave Piscitello, Senior Security Technologist

#  #  #


--
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat - ICANN
gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org
http://gnso.icann.org

Attachment: ICANN Policy Update June 08.doc
Description: MS-Word document



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