[council] Policy Update Volume 08, Issue 9 - November 2008

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org; liaison6c[at]gnso.icann.org]
[To: ga[at]gnso.icann.org; announce[at]gnso.icann.org]
[To: regional-liaisons[at]icann.org]

http://www.icann.org/en/topics/policy/update-nov08-en.htm
Policy Update
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/policy/
Volume 08, Issue 9 - November 2008

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents

YOUR COMMENTS NEEDED ON POLICY-RELATED ISSUES
DISTANCE LEARNING...AUDIO POLICY BRIEFINGS ON MANY TOPICS NOW AVAILABLE
MULTILINGUAL MAILING LISTS AVAILABLE
IMPLEMENTATION OF GNSO IMPROVEMENTS BEGINS IN EARNEST
NEW WORKING GROUP WILL EXAMINE ICANN'S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS
GNSO CONSIDERS ISSUES REPORT ON REGISTRATION ABUSE POLICIES
MAKING IT EASIER TO TRANSFER DOMAINS BETWEEN REGISTRARS
GNSO COUNCIL AGREES TO SPECIAL MEETING ON WHOIS STUDY PROPOSALS
HOW DO WE DEAL WITH FAST FLUXING CYBERCRIMINALS?
AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE SEEKS ISSUES REPORT ON EXPIRED DOMAIN NAME RECOVERY
GLOBAL IPV4 POLICY APPROACHING ADOPTION IN ALL REGIONS
SSAC OPEN WORKSHOP AIRS MEASURES FOR DNS PROTECTION
DNSSEC WORKING GROUP DELVES INTO ROOT SIGNING TOPICS
INTERNATIONALIZED COUNTRY CODE TOP LEVEL DOMAINS ADVANCE
CCNSO COUNCIL COMPOSITION ANNOUNCED
CCNSO SEAT ON ICANN BOARD OPENING
CCNSO TRAVEL FUNDING PROCESS ESTABLISHED
CCNSO COUNCIL ADOPTS NOMCOM DELEGATE PROCESS
CCTLD MANAGER INPUT PROCESS ADVANCES
CCNSO ADOPTS GEOGRAPHIC REGION SELF-SELECTION PROCESS
CCNSO AND GNSO TO EXCHANGE OBSERVERS



The ICANN Policy Update contains brief summaries of issues being addressed by 
the ICANN community's bottom-up policy development structure, as well as 
information on related policy development activities. ICANN's Policy Staff 
publishes these monthly updates to maximize transparency and encourage broad 
community participation in ICANN's policy development activities.

Links to additional information are included and readers are encouraged to go 
beyond these brief summaries to learn more about the ICANN community's work. As 
always, the Policy Staff welcomes comments and suggestions on how to improve 
its policy communications efforts. Please send these comments to 
policy-staff@xxxxxxxxx.

ICANN Policy Update Available in Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Spanish, 
English
Beginning with the October issue, the ICANN Policy Update is now available in 
all six official languages of the United Nations: English (EN), Spanish (ES), 
French (FR), Arabic (AR), Chinese (Simplified -- siZH), and Russian (RU). This 
has been done on a trial basis to determine utility. The Policy Update is 
posted on ICANN's website and available via online subscription. If you would 
like us to send these updates directly to your inbox each month, simply go to 
the ICANN subscriptions page, enter your e-mail address, and select "Policy 
Update" to subscribe. This service is free of charge to subscribers. More 
information is available at:

ICANN Policy Updates: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/policy/
Subscribe to Policy Updates: http://www.icann.org/en/newsletter/
ICANN Policy Area: http://www.icann.org/en/policy/
What's on the Calendar for today?

Keep up-to-date on what's happening in ICANN policy development by visiting the 
online calendars of ICANN's policy development bodies. Three of the most active 
calendars include:

At-Large Calendar at http://www.atlarge.icann.org/
Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Master Calendar, including 
links to agendas and MP3 recordings of meetings at 
http://ccnso.icann.org/calendar/
Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Master Calendar, including links 
to agendas and MP3 recordings of meetings, at 
http://gnso.icann.org/calendar/index.html

1. YOUR COMMENTS NEEDED ON POLICY ISSUES As of this writing, public comment 
periods are open on eight issues of interest to the ICANN community. Act now 
for the opportunity to share your views on:

Strategic Planning - As part of its annual planning cycle, ICANN is seeking 
comments on a draft of the priorities for the strategic plan. These priorities 
will become the framework for the July 2009 - June 2012 Strategic Plan. 
Comments close 17 November 2008.
Add Grace Period - Public comment is sought on the draft implementation plan 
for the AGP Limits Policy that was developed by the GNSO in response to 
concerns about domain name tasting and approved by ICANN's Board. Comments 
close 20 November 2008.
Role of Individual Internet Users in the GNSO - The ICANN Board is seeking 
additional community input on the appropriate role and representation of 
individual commercial and non-commercial Internet users in the Generic Names 
Supporting Organization (GNSO). Comments close 28 November 2008.
IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process Implementation - Comments are encouraged on the 
Draft Implementation Plan for the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process. The IDN Fast 
Track Process is a mechanism recommended by the IDNC Working Group, focused on 
the introduction of a limited number of non-contentious IDN ccTLDs, associated 
with the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes, to meet near term demand, while an 
overall IDN ccTLD policy is being developed. Comments close 08 December 2008.
New gTLDs - The draft 'Applicant Guidebook' for new generic top-level domains 
(gTLDs) is now available for review and comment. The draft Guidebook provides 
information for those interested in applying for new generic top-level domains. 
Comments will help with the production of the final Applicant Guidebook, to be 
released early 2009. Comments close 8 December 2008.
Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars - ICANN is seeking public 
comment on a report entitled "Revisiting Vertical Separation of Registries and 
Registrars," which was developed by CRAI at the request of ICANN's Board. 
Comments close 8 December 2008.
ALAC Review - The Board's ALAC Review Working Group (WG) has released its 
Mid-point Consultation Report for discussion with the ICANN community. This 
preliminary report presents the WG's "initial thinking" on the questions under 
review following the publication of the Independent Review of the At Large 
Advisory Committee. Comments close12 December 2008.
Board Review - The Independent Reviewer's Report on the ICANN Board has been 
posted for public comment. This report will be used to inform ICANN's effort to 
develop detailed proposals for improving the Board's structure and processes. 
Comments close 12 December 2008.

2. DISTANCE LEARNING...AUDIO POLICY BRIEFINGS ON MANY TOPICS NOW AVAILABLE At a 
Glance

ICANN's Policy Department offers a series of multilingual webcasts specifically 
designed as a fast, efficient introduction for stakeholders across the ICANN 
community to a range of important policy issues.

Recent Developments

Each month, ICANN Staff organizes audio briefings on topical policy issues. 
These briefings focus on issues of interest to both the individual Internet 
user as well as the ICANN stakeholder communities.

Initiated for ICANN's At-Large community, these calls are made available to the 
general public. Each webcast features a briefing on the issue conducted via 
telephone and can be accessed on ICANN's website by anyone interested in 
learning about the topic. During the actual briefings, an Adobe Connect session 
allows participants to follow along with presentations and to chat with one 
another and the presenter during the session. Each presentation is followed by 
a question and answer session with the participants.

Briefings generally feature simultaneous interpretation so users may 
participate in English, Spanish or French, and recordings are available in all 
three languages, along with any presentation materials from the briefings.

The latest briefing featured IANA, providing a very useful introduction to what 
IANA is and what it does, and discussing the relationship between the US 
Government and IANA functions.

More Information
Information on briefings: http://www.atlarge.icann.org/en/audio-briefings
Available briefings:
Fast Flux Hosting
The New gTLD Program
Draft Amendments to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA)
Registrar Impersonation in Phishing Attacks
DNS Response Modification
IANA Introduction
Staff Contact

Matthias Langenegger, At-Large Secretariat.


3. Multilingual Mailing Lists Available At a Glance

A new mailing list translator will better enable people all over the world to 
take part in ICANN policy discussions.

Recent Developments

With the support of many ICANN community members, ICANN Staff has created an 
email list translation interface that is now entering production use. The first 
communities to benefit will be the At-Large Regional At-Large Organizations 
("RALOs") in Africa ("AFRALO") and Latin America and the Caribbean ("LACRALO").

The interface can be used one of two ways:

One-way translation output to a mailing list archive from an English-only list, 
allowing non-English readers to follow ICANN organizations' public discussions 
in several languages, or;
As a two-way interface, allowing non-English postings to be read as English, 
and vice-versa.
Since machine translation is imperfect, the results vary - but testing has 
found that the translation is generally sufficient to allow the reader to at 
least understand the general idea the poster in the other language is trying to 
convey. The interface also provides a URL link to the original posting, so 
those who can partially read the language of the original posting may always 
review it; this is especially helpful in dealing with imprecise translations.

Not every language is available - but more are regularly being added by 
SYSTRAN, the provider of the machine translation. The list of languages is as 
follows:

English <> Arabic
 French <> Dutch

English <> Chinese
 French <> German

English <> Dutch
 French <> Italian

English <> French
 French <> Portuguese

English <> German
 French <> Spanish

English <> Italian
 English <> Korean

English <> Japanese
 English <> Portuguese

English <> Russian
 English <> Spanish

English <> Greek


More Information

Contact Nick Ashton-Hart, Director for At-Large, if you are interested in 
enabling either style of multilingual interface.

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF GNSO IMPROVEMENTS BEGINS IN EARNESTAt a Glance

The GNSO community is now engaged in efforts to implement a series of 
organizational and structural changes designed to improve the efficiency, 
effectiveness and accessibility of the organization.

Recent Developments

 At its 16 October meeting, the GNSO Council approved a top-level structure for 
implementing the various operational and structural improvements endorsed by 
the ICANN Board over the past several months. The foundation of this 
implementation structure is two steering committees which will oversee and 
manage the implementation effort. Members of the GNSO Operations Steering 
Committee (OSC) and the GNSO Policy Process Steering Committee (PPSC) met for 
the first time at the ICANN Cairo meeting where they initiated their efforts 
and began to set their agendas.

The ICANN Board has asked for additional community input on two outstanding 
GNSO improvements matters - (1) the GNSO Council mechanism for selecting ICANN 
Board seats #13 and #14 and (2) the appropriate role of individual Internet 
users in the GNSO. GNSO community members and other interested parties have 
been invited to discuss and submit their comments on these important issues. A 
specific public comment forum has been established for the latter issue. 
http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/ - gnso-users.

The Board has also asked the GNSO Council to share its implementation plan 
regarding the restructuring of the GNSO Council. There is a target date for 
seating the new Council in June 2009, and the Board has asked the Council and 
the community to work toward that goal in several organized phases -

Phase 1 - GNSO Council restructuring implementation plan submitted in advance 
of the December 2008 Board Meeting;

Phase 2 - Existing Constituencies submit confirmation documents to the Board 
for review in advance of the February 2009 Board Meeting;

Phase 3 - Stakeholder Groups submit formal plans for Board approval for 
consideration at the ICANN Mexico City Board meeting; and

Phase 4 - Stakeholder Groups with plans approved by the Board select Council 
representatives, and the newly structured GNSO Council is seated by the June 
2009 Sydney, Australia ICANN Meeting.

Next Steps

Interested community members will prepare and submit comments on the Board Seat 
selection and individual Internet users issues identified above. The OSC and 
PPSC will continue with their efforts, which may include the formation of 
specific work teams to focus implementation efforts on targeted areas of 
operational improvements. Calls for community volunteers will likely accompany 
those efforts. The GNSO Council is scheduled to provide a report to the Board 
on their restructuring plan implementation efforts in time for consideration 
for the December 2008 Board meeting.

Background

Through a series of decisions at its February, June, August and October 2008 
meetings, the ICANN Board of Directors has endorsed a series of goals, 
objectives and recommendations for improving several aspects of the Generic 
Names Supporting Organization's (GNSO) structure and operations. These 
decisions are a culmination of a two-year effort of independent review, 
extensive community input and marathon Board deliberations designed to improve 
the effectiveness of the GNSO's policy development activities, structure, 
operations and communications.

The recommendations approved by the Board are based on broad-based input and 
advice, and recommendations from two primary working group efforts. The bulk of 
the recommendations originated from a GNSO Improvements Report authored by the 
Board Governance Committee GNSO Review Working Group (BGC WG). The remaining 
concepts approved by the Board, to date, were suggested in large part by the 
Working Group on GNSO Council Restructuring (WG-GCR) which was created by the 
Board at its meeting in Paris. The work products of those groups can be found 
here for the Final Report of the BGC WG - 
http://www.icann.org/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-improvements-report-03feb08.pdf
 and here for the final report of the WG-GCR - 
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-council-restructuring-report-25jul08.pdf

A GNSO Improvement Planning Team (Planning Team) (comprised of GNSO leadership, 
constituency representatives, ICANN Staff and a Board liaison participant) 
formed by the GNSO Council developed a top-level implementation plan to 
organize and manage the implementation effort. The GNSO Council approved the 
plan on 16 October 2008. It features the formation of two steering committees, 
GNSO Policy Process and GNSO Operations, which are responsible for ensuring 
that the work of implementing BGC WG recommendations is carried out.

The ICANN Board has established a specific timetable for restructuring of the 
GNSO Council and has set benchmarks and goals for the other implementation 
efforts. The ICANN Staff has established a specific series of web pages 
designed to outline and explain the implementation effort. It can be reached at 
http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/.

More Information

GNSO Improvements Information page 
http://www.icann.org/topics/gnso-improvements/
GNSO Improvements Summary of Board Actions and GNSO Implementation, 1 November 
2008 http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/summary-board-actions-01nov08-en.pdf
Staff request for input on GNSO Council Restructuring 
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg05441.html
Staff Contact

Rob Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director


5. NEW WORKING GROUP WILL EXAMINE ICANN'S GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS At a Glance

The ICANN Board has authorized the formation of a community-wide working group 
to review the organization's system of geographic regions to help ensure 
effective international diversity in ICANN's structures.

Recent Developments

At its 7 November meeting in Cairo, the ICANN Board authorized the formation of 
a community-wide working group to study and review the issues related to the 
definition of the ICANN Geographic Regions, consult with all stakeholders, and 
submit proposals for community and Board consideration relating to the current 
definition of the ICANN Geographic Regions. The Board asked that all interested 
Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees nominate two individuals to 
serve on the working group.

Next Steps

The Board would like to approve the composition of the new working group at its 
December meeting. Subsequently, the Board expects the working group, as its 
first order of business, to draft and seek community input on a proposed 
charter, and submit the draft document for community review. The Board would 
like to consider and approve the charter at the March 2009 Board meeting in 
Mexico City. In drafting the charter, the Board expects the working group to 
focus, but not limit, its work on the criteria for assigning countries, 
dependencies and recognized geopolitical entities to a Geographic Region.

Background

An ICANN Board resolution in 2000 directed Staff to establish a system of 
geographical regions to ensure regional diversity in the composition of the 
ICANN Board by assigning countries to geographic regions on the basis of the 
United Nations Statistics Division's current classifications. The system was 
subsequently expanded in various ways to apply to various ICANN community 
structures, including the GNSO, ALAC and ccNSO.

The ICANN Bylaws currently 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, various community members have developed concerns about the ICANN 
Geographic Regions and related representational issues. Last year, 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.

The ICANN Board determined at its 2 November 2007 meeting in Los Angeles that 
because any change to ICANN Geographic Regions could have widespread effect in 
ICANN, the views of other Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees 
should be sought by the Board. 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.

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/en/minutes/resolutions-02nov07.htm - _Toc55609368
Staff Contact

Robert Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director

6. GNSO CONSIDERS ISSUES REPORT ON REGISTRATION ABUSE POLICIES At a Glance

The GNSO Council to take a closer look at registration abuse policies and may 
decide if seek wider action is needed.

Recent Developments

The GNSO Council is considering a report that delves into the potential for 
registration abuse contained within registry-registrar agreements. ICANN Staff 
prepared the Issues Report on Registration Abuse Policies and circulated it to 
the GNSO Council on 29 October 2008. The report provides an overview of 
existing provisions in registry-registrar agreements relating to abuse and 
includes a number of recommended next steps. The GNSO Council adopted a motion 
at its meeting on 5 November 2008 instructing the Council " to begin 
discussions of the issues report and the possible initiation of a PDP at its 
next regular meeting."

Next Steps

The GNSO Council is expected to discuss the Issues Report at its next meeting.

Background

On 25 September 2008, the GNSO Council adopted a motion requesting an issues 
report on registration abuse policies. The objective of the issues report is to 
identify existing provisions in registry-registrar agreements relating to abuse 
as well as to identify and describe potential options for further Council 
consideration.

More Information

Registration Abuse Policies Issues Report, 29 October 2008: 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/registration-abuse/gnso-issues-report-registration-abuse-policies-29oct08.pdf

Staff Contacts

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counsellor, and Marika Konings, Policy Director


7. MAKING IT EASIER TO TRANSFER DOMAINS BETWEEN REGISTRARSAt a Glance

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

Recent Developments

As part of a broader review of this policy, one Policy Development Process 
(PDP) on transfer denial reasons has recently been concluded and a second on 
new IRTP issues is ongoing. The latter addresses questions relating to the 
exchange of registrant e-mail information, the potential for including new 
forms of electronic authentication and potential provisions for "partial bulk 
transfers."

Transfer Denial Reasons PDP

The ICANN Board adopted a recommendation at its meeting on 7 November 2008 that 
proposes new provisions for Denial Reasons #8 and #9 (these are defined below). 
Changes will be implemented through corresponding modifications of the IRTP.

Following public comments, the original Recommendation had been slightly 
modified by the GNSO Council on 16 October 2008. The voting by the Council on 4 
September and 16 October carried in both cases with a supermajority.

New IRTP Issues -- Set A

Following the public comment period and the submission of Constituency 
Statements, ICANN staff has prepared a first draft of the Initial Report that 
is currently being discussed by the Working Group.

Next Steps

Transfer Denial Reasons PDP

With the adoption of the recommendation by the Board, ICANN Staff will now take 
the necessary steps to prepare the recommendation for implementation.

New IRTP Issues -- Set A

Following the review of the draft Initial Report by the Working Group, it will 
be submitted for public comment and a second round of Constituency input.

Background

ICANN promotes and encourages robust competition in the domain name space. The 
organization's Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP), therefore, 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 
and is now being reviewed by the GNSO. As part of that effort, the GNSO 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.

The IRTP performs a critical function but the specific terms of the policy can 
be arcane and the work to clarify them complex. In an effort to deal with that 
complexity while moving to get clarifications and improvements on-line as soon 
as possible, the Council initiated a policy development process (Transfer PDP 
1) to immediately examine four specific issues from the broader list that 
addressed reasons for which a registrar of record may deny a request to 
transfer a domain name to a new registrar. The IRTP currently enumerates nine 
(9) specific reasons why a registrar can deny a transfer. Those issues 
identified as needing clarification included the following:

No payment for previous registration period (Denial Reason #5);
A domain was already in "lock" status (Denial Reason #7);
The domain was in the first 60 days of an initial registration period (Denial 
Reason #8); and
A domain name is within 60 days of being transferred (Denial Reason #9)
ICANN Staff finalized and posted an Initial Report for public comment as part 
of this PDP and used public comments received to compile a Final Report for the 
Council's consideration on further steps to take. At the GNSO Council meeting 
on 17 April 2008, a drafting group was launched to develop suggested text 
modifications for the four transfer denial reasons. The drafting group reported 
on its findings to the GNSO Council. The Council resolved on 25 June 2008 to 
post the proposals for transfer denial reasons #8 and #9 for public comments, 
while deferring denial reasons #5 and #7 to be handled in a future transfer 
policy development process (PDP C).

The GNSO drafting group posted its proposals addressing transfer denial reasons 
#8 and #9 for public comments on 26 June 2008. One comment was received and 
sent to the GNSO Council for consideration. Following the GNSO Council call on 
7 August, the Council members were invited to bring the outcome of the drafting 
group regarding the IRTP PDP on Clarification of Reasons for Denial to the 
attention of their Constituencies for any position preparations needed.

At its 4 September meeting, the GNSO Council adopted a motion on the IRTP 
Denial Definitions Policy Development Process (PDP). The motion resolves that 
the text for denial reason #8 (the domain name was in the first 60 days of an 
initial registration period) and #9 (a domain name is within 60 days of being 
transferred) be amended as proposed by the GNSO drafting group. Following the 
adoption of the motion, the GNSO Council opened a public comment period prior 
to ICANN Board consideration of the issue. Based on the comments received, the 
Council adopted a rephrasing of denial reason #9 on 16 October. The Board 
adopted the recommendation on 7 November 2008.

Parallel to the above 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 2008, the group delivered a report to the 
Council that suggested combining the consideration of related issues into five 
new PDPs. On 8 May 2008, the Council adopted the structuring of five additional 
inter-registrar transfer PDPs as suggested by the planning 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 and received an Issues Report from Staff on the first of 
the new PDP issue sets (Set A -- New IRTP Issues). The three "new" issues in 
Set A address: (1) the potential exchange of registrant email information 
between registrars; (2) the potential for including new forms of electronic 
authentication to verify transfer requests and avoid "spoofing"; and (3) the 
inclusion of provisions for "partial bulk transfers" between registrars. The 
GNSO Council resolved on 25 June 2008 to launch a PDP ("PDP June-08") on these 
issues and adopted a charter for a Working Group on 17 July 2008. The Working 
Group started its deliberations on 5 August 2008.

The Part A PDP Working Group opened a public comment period from 8 September to 
25 September to receive community input on the three issue areas. The Staff 
summarized responses to questions. (see Summary and Analysis of Comments for 
the Inter-Registrar Transfer policy - Part A).

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
Drafting group outcome 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/transfers/gnso-final-draft-denial-reasons-04jun08.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
Charter Inter Registrar Transfer Policy -- Part A PDP Working Group 
https://st.icann.org/gnso-council/index.cgi?irtp_pdp_a_wg_charter
Staff Contact

Marika Konings, Policy Director


8. GNSO COUNCIL AGREES TO SPECIAL MEETING ON WHOIS STUDY PROPOSALS At a Glance

WHOIS is the data repository containing registered domain names, registrant 
contacts and other critical information. Questions persist concerning the use 
and misuse of this important resource. A GNSO Council study group completes a 
report exploring what questions deserve further examination.

Recent Developments

The GNSO Council, meeting in Cairo, has agreed to schedule a special Council 
meeting to discuss various constituency positions on the need for WHOIS 
studies. Prior to Cairo, the Council had asked Council representatives to 
forward the WHOIS Study Hypothesis Report to their respective constituencies 
for discussion and comment as applicable.

In response, t he Registry Constituency submitted extensive comments. These 
comments categorized studies into three levels of priority, identified a few 
that they thought might be done by the compliance team, and included all 
questions the Government Advisory Committee had raised in their own needs 
analysis. The Registry Constituency analysis raised feasibility questions 
regarding several studies, but did not make specific recommendations beyond 
this analysis at this time.

Other constituencies are in the process of developing constituency positions on 
WHOIS studies. The Council agreed to conduct the special meeting in order to 
discuss the study proposals in detail once constituency views have been 
submitted.  The Council will also consider whether studies might be identified 
for feasibility and costs in a phased approach, to allow staff to scope certain 
studies that may be of a higher priority. The goal is for the Council to decide 
which studies, if any, should be assessed for cost and feasibility, request 
staff to perform that assessment, and, following that assessment, the Council 
will decide which studies should be conducted.

Also in Cairo, in its meetings with the GNSO and the ICANN Board, the 
Government Advisory Committee expressed disappointment that no substantive 
progress has been made in response to its March 2007 request for studies on the 
uses and misuses of WHOIS data. Board Chairman Peter Dengate-Thrush noted that 
ICANN's Compliance office has finished the design phase of a WHOIS accuracy 
study (with the National Opinion Research Center, associated with University of 
Chicago), and is exploring a registrar privacy/proxy registration services 
study to assess the extent to which registrants are using privacy/proxy 
registration services and improvements to the WHOIS data problem reporting 
system. He also reiterated that the Board was tracking the GNSO's efforts. The 
GAC welcomed the status report provided by the Board and asked that it be 
converted into a more formal written response. The GAC also invited the Board 
to reflect on alternative ways to address the GAC's request.

Next Steps

The ICANN Staff will be asked in an upcoming meeting of the Council to prepare 
the pertinent cost estimates.

Background

WHOIS services provide public access to data on registered domain names, data 
that currently includes contact information for Registered Name Holders. The 
extent of registration data collected at the time a domain name is registered, 
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 would 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 solicited suggestions for specific topics of study on 
WHOIS from community stakeholders, with possible areas of study including: 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; and a comparative study of 
gTLD and ccTLD WHOIS. The Council opened a public comment forum through 15 
February 2008, in order to solicit suggestions for specific topics of study on 
WHOIS. The Council received approximately 25 suggestions and a summary of 
comments was prepared.

On 27 March 2008, the GNSO Council convened a group of volunteers to do the 
following : (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 would be asked to provide cost estimates to the Council; 
and (3) produce the list of recommendations with supporting rationale.

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 reflected 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) would be unlikely to persuade any stakeholders to modify existing 
strongly held positions. The second group of participants believe further 
studies would be useful in informing the debate, and their comments include 
specific recommendations for further study in three primary areas: 1) the 
availability of privacy services; 2) the demand for and motivation behind the 
use of privacy services; and 3) certain studies of WHOIS misuse, detailed 
further in the report.

During the June 2008 Paris meeting, the GNSO Council voted to reconvene a group 
to review the WHOIS study recommendations offered through the public comment 
period and the studies requested by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) 
and, based on those recommendations and the GAC request, prepare a concise list 
of hypotheses that could be the subject of research. The group completed its 
work and sent a WHOIS Study Hypothesis Report to the GNSO Council on 26 August 
2008.

More Information

GNSO WHOIS policy development page http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/
The suggestions for further studies of WHOIS offered by the Government Advisory 
Committee on 16 April 2008 can be found at: 
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/karlins-to-thrush-16apr08.pdf
WHOIS Study Hypothesis Report, 26 August 2008 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-study-hypothesis-group-report-to-council-26aug08.pdf
Staff Contact

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor

9. HOW DO WE DEAL WITH FAST FLUXING CYBERCRIMINALS? At a Glance

Fast flux hosting refers to techniques used by cybercriminals to evade 
detection by rapidly modifying IP addresses and/or name servers. The GNSO is 
exploring appropriate action.

Recent Developments

The GNSO's Fast Flux Working Group has been discussing a draft Initial Report 
prepared by Staff and will be finalizing it over the next few weeks.

Next Steps

Following publication of the Initial Report, public comments and a second round 
of constituency statements will be solicited. These comments will be considered 
in the development of a Final Report.

The Working Group's Final Report will discuss the questions outlined below and 
the range of possible answers developed by its members. The Report also will 
outline potential next steps for Council deliberation. These next steps may 
include further work items for the Working Group or policy recommendation for 
constituency and community review and comment, and for Council deliberation.

Background

The ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) recently completed a 
study of fast flux hosting. Because fast flux hosting involves many different 
players - the cybercriminals and their victims, Internet service providers, 
companies that provide web hosting services, and DNS registries and registrars 
- there are many potential approaches to mitigation. Most of these will require 
the cooperation of a variety of actors, and some will be outside of ICANN's 
scope.

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. Subsequently, at its 29 May 2008 
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 registries and registrars 
implement 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?
The group also will obtain expert opinion, as appropriate, on which areas of 
fast flux are in scope and out of scope for GNSO policy making.

More Information

SSAC Report 025 on Fast Flux Hosting, January 2008
English: http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025.pdf
French: http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025-fr.pdf
Spanish: http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025-es.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
Limited translations of the Issues Report on Fast Flux Hosting available at 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/ under "Fast Flux"
25 June GNSO Council resolution on Fast Flux Hosting 
http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/
Staff Contacts

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor and Marika Konings, Policy Director


10. AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE SEEKS ISSUES REPORT ON EXPIRED DOMAIN NAME 
RECOVERY At a Glance

To what extent should registrants be able to reclaim their domain names after 
they expire? The ALAC has asked the GNSO for an Issues Report to explore this 
matter further.

Recent Developments

During its Cairo meetings, the ALAC voted to request an Issues Report on the 
subject of registrants being able to recover domain names after their formal 
expiration date. Some in the At-Large community maintain that there isn't 
always adequate notice to registrants whose domain names are expiring. The 
At-Large's request notes that issues may include a lack of consistent 
notification standards, undelivered expiration notification emails, or 
notification rights inadvertently signed away during initial domain name 
registration. It is unclear at this point how many registrants may be affected 
by this problem.

Next Steps

The GNSO Council will consider the ALAC request.

More Information

ALAC motion: 
https://st.icann.org/alac/index.cgi?recovery_of_expired_domain_names .

Staff Contact

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor and Marika Konings, Policy Director


11. GLOBAL IPV4 POLICY APPROACHING ADOPTION IN ALL REGIONSAt a Glance
Regional Internet Registries near consensus on a move to allocate the remaining 
IPv4 address blocks.

Recent Developments
Four of five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) have approved a proposed 
policy to allocate the remaining IPv4 address blocks. ARIN, LACNIC, AfriNIC and 
RIPE have adopted the measure. The proposal has also passed the final call for 
comments stage in APNIC and is ready for a decision on formal adoption by the 
APNIC Executive Council at its next meeting 20 November 2008.

Next Steps

Once the proposal is adopted by the APNIC Executive Council, it will be 
reviewed by the Number Resource Organization Executive Committee and the 
Address Supporting Organization Address Council according to their established 
procedures and subsequently be forwarded to the ICANN Board for ratification.

Background

IPv4 unallocated address blocks in IANA's pool continues to be depleted. A 
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 the most recent meetings of all RIRs (APNIC, ARIN, RIPE, LACNIC and AfriNIC) 
and has been adopted by all RIRs except APNIC, where it is expected to be 
formally adopted at the next APNIC Executive Council meeting 20 November 2008.

More Information

Background Report IPV4, updated 8 September 2008 
http://www.icann.org/announcements/proposal-ipv4-report-29nov07.htm

Staff Contact

Olof Nordling, Director Services Relations


12. SSAC OPEN WORKSHOP AIRS MEASURES FOR DNS PROTECTION At a Glance

Activity continues across a number of fronts to address issues confronting 
Domain Name Server security.

Recent Developments

SSAC presented interim reports on several ongoing committee studies during its 
SSAC Open Workshop during the ICANN Cairo Meeting on November 3. SSAC is 
currently studying measures that registrars and resellers should consider to 
provide better protection against hijacking and phishing of domain 
administration accounts.

SSAC also reported on progress in assessing the state of DNSSEC "readiness" in 
three key implementation areas: availability of DNSSEC-capable name server 
implementations, ability of broadband access devices to process DNSSEC queries 
and responses, and availability of DNSSEC-aware end user applications.

Kim Davies (IANA) provided the community with a summary of the recently exposed 
DNS vulnerabilities, countermeasures, and IANA activity to assess the impact on 
root and TLD name servers.

SSAC also presented a summary and technical assessment of the many analyses of 
fast flux attacks conducted over the past nine months.

The topic of phishing has become increasingly important to the ICANN community, 
and SSAC's Staff, Dave Piscitello, has collaborated with a member of the APWG 
to write an advisory on phishing attacks using subdomain (third level) labels 
that can be registered via free web hosting providers. This advisory was 
submitted to the APWG as a joint work and publication is anticipated later this 
year.

Next Steps

Work continues in the above-mentioned areas. Additional topics currently under 
study by SSAC include evaluations of WHOIS services and phishing attacks. SSAC 
met with the GNSO to discuss collaborative efforts to assess whether directory 
services might serve the community better in the future than existing WHOIS 
services. SSAC is also studying "internationalized" registration contact 
information to determine appropriate ways to collect, store and display 
registration information to provide users and registrants with the ability to 
use local languages when registering and examining domain registration records.

More Information

Update on SSAC's DNSSEC Statement (SAC026)
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/piscitello-dnssec-status-03nov08.pdf
Protecting High Value Domain Names
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/piscitello-high-value-domains-03nov08.pdf
Registrar Phishing Threat
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/mohan-registrar-fishing-03nov08.pdf
Addressing DNS Vulnerabilities
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/davies-dns-vulnerabilities-03nov08.pdf
DNS Fast Flux
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/piscitello-fast-flux-03nov08.pdf
Staff Contact

Dave Piscitello, Senior Security Technologist


13. DNSSEC WORKING GROUP DELVES INTO ROOT SIGNING TOPICS At a Glance

Various groups offer insights on DNSSEC implementations.

Recent Developments

The DNSSEC working group of the SSAC convened a public session on 5 November to 
hear from multiple constituencies about DNSSEC implementations and zone 
signing. IANA and VeriSign presented their respective proposals for signing the 
root. Bulgaria, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, and PIR (.ORG) presented reports on 
their respective efforts in deploying DNSSEC in their TLDs. Names Beyond 
presented its methods for managing its customers' signed zones. Steve Crocker 
presented details of a sponsored study to assess the ability of broadband 
access devices to process DNSSEC queries and responses (SAC 03x), and a 
Microsoft DNS expert described how DNSSEC will be incorporated into Window 
operating systems.

More Information

Root Zone Signing proposals:
IANA
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/lamb-dnssec-05nov08.pdf
VeriSign
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/kane-dnssec-05nov08.pdf
DNSSEC in the field: Bulgaria
https://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/kalchev dnssec-bg-05nov08.pdf
DNSSEC in the field: Brazil
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/getschko-dnssec-05nov08.pdf
DNSSEC in the field: CZ
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/filip-dnssec-05nov08.pdf
DNSSEC in the field: .ORG
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/wolak-dnssec-05nov08.pdf

Making DNSSEC Accessible to Customers
https://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/murali-making-dnssec-accessib
le-names-beyond-05nov08.pdf
DNSSEC in Windows
https://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/seshadri-dnssec-windows-05nov
08.pdf
Appliances, Recursive Resolvers, and Next Steps
http://cai.icann.org/files/meetings/cairo2008/crocker-dnssec-05nov08.pdf

14. INTERNATIONALIZED COUNTRY CODE TOP LEVEL DOMAINS ADVANCE At a Glance

The effort to create domain names in non-U.S. ASCII characters advances along 
two tracks.

Recent Developments

At the ccNSO meeting in Cairo the overall schedule and structure for the 
upcoming IDN ccPDP was presented. The Issue Manager for the ccPDP suggested 
that, as part of the ccPDP, a cross SO/AC working group should propose a 
definition of, and selection mechanism for, IDN ccTLDs.

With regard to the Fast Track and the new gTLD process, members of the ccNSO 
will suggest an implementation model to avoid the use of ISO 3166 listed 
territory names as a new gTLD while the IDN ccPDP is running.

Next Steps

A draft Issues Report will be provided to the ccNSO. It will include, among 
other things, the charter of and schedule for the SO/AC WG and the 
establishment of a small ad hoc Working Group , chaired Hilde Thumen, .NO, to 
suggest possible implementation of ccNSO guidelines on the use of names of 
territories listed in the ISO 3166-1 list as gTLDs.

Background

A ccTLD string (like .jp, .uk) represents the name of a country, territory or 
area of geographical interest and its subdivisions, as identified in ISO 3166, 
and is represented by 2 US-ASCII characters. This method of identification was 
adopted for use in the Internet through RFC 920, dated October 1984, and 
reaffirmed through RFC 1591, dated March 1994. All ccTLDs in use today are 
taken directly from the ISO 3166-1 list or from the list of exceptionally 
reserved code elements defined by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency. There are 
two sources used by ISO to develop the 3166 list; the United Nations 
Terminology Bulletin Country Names or the Country and Region Codes for 
Statistical Use Of the UN Statistics Division.

The implementation of Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) ccTLDs introduces the 
(apparent) use of symbols outside the US-ASCII character set (for example 
characters in Cyrillic, Chinese, Arabic, and other scripts) for domain name 
strings.

The ccNSO Council determined that the cc Policy Development Process is the 
appropriate mechanism for developing policy for the selection and delegation of 
IDN ccTLDs.

At its meeting on 2 October 2007 the ccNSO Council requested the creation of an 
Issues Report as a first step in launching a ccPDP . Questions to be addressed 
were 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.
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
It became clear that the development of the required policy for IDN ccTLDs to 
resolve the issues raised was likely to take a minimum of 2 years. It also 
became clear that such a time frame was a major concern for a number of ccTLD 
managers who claim a pressing need for an IDN ccTLD in their territory. Because 
of this, the concept of a fast track approach began to be discussed. In those 
discussions it was thought that it might be possible to find a method to allow 
the introduction of a limited number of IDN ccTLDs while the overall policy was 
being developed.

The ccNSO Council recommended that the ICANN Board apply the following 
principles in the new gTLD process:

Principle on meaningful representation of the name of a territory listed on the 
ISO 3166-1 in a non ASCII script.

No name of a territory as listed in ISO 3166-1 or a meaningful abbreviation of 
it, whether represented in a non ASCII script or in any recognised language 
represented in that script, shall be available as a gTLD. This principle should 
be revisited once the IDN ccPDP Recommendation, if any, is adopted by the Board.

Principle on meaningful representation of the name of a territory on the ISO 
3166-1 list in ASCII.

No name of a territory as listed in ISO 3166-1 or a meaningful abbreviation of 
it, whether represented in ASCII or in any recognised language, shall be 
available as a gTLD. This principle should be revisited once the IDN ccPDP 
recommendation, if any, is adopted by the Board.

More Information

Meeting notes ccNSO meeting Cairo http://ccnso.icann.org/

ccNSO Council minutes 31 October 2007 
http://ccnso.icann.org/meetings/losangeles/ccnso-council-minutes-31oct07.pdf

Staff Contact

Bart Boswinkel, Senior Policy Advisor, ccNSO


15. CCNSO COUNCIL COMPOSITION ANNOUNCED At a Glance

ccNSO fills several Council seats while the AP region election continues.

Recent Developments:

Newly selected ccNSO Councilors are: AF: Vika Mpisane, .za; EU: Juhani 
Juselius, .fi; LAC - Patricio Poblete, .cl; NA: Byron Holland, .ca. The AP 
region is currently holding elections, as more than one candidate was nominated 
for the seat. The three candidates are: Lee Han Chuan, .sg, Young Eum Lee, .kr, 
Ming-Cheng Liang, .tw. In a related development, NomCom appointee Slobodan 
Markovic's term on the ccNSO Council has ended. Jian Zhang, .cn is taking over 
the vacated seat. The NomCom appointees rotate on a 3-year basis.

Next Steps

As the necessary quorum of votes wasn't reached within the set timeframe, the 
election period had to be extended and will now close on 21 November 2008. The 
selected Councilors will take their seats after the Mexico meeting in March 
2009.

More Information

ICANN's bylaws, Article IX, Section 4.9

http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm - IX

http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/council.htm

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


16. ccNSO SEAT ON ICANN BOARD OPENING At a Glance

Nominations to open for ICANN Board seat.

Recent Developments

The term for ccNSO selected ICANN Board member Demi Getschko ends in May 2009. 
The nomination period for one of two ccNSO representative seats on the ICANN 
Board opens 17 November 2008. Gabriella Schittek has been appointed Election 
Manager . The ccNSO fills two seats on the ICANN board -- seats 11 and 12 - 
according to ICANN's bylaws.

More information

ICANN bylaws, Article VI, Section 2.c
http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat

17. ccNSO TRAVEL FUNDING PROCESS ESTABLISHED At a Glance

A process advances for providing travel support.

Recent Developments

The ccNSO Processes Working Group has defined a process for distributing ccNSO 
Travel funding.

Next Steps

The ccNSO's travel funding process will begin on the 21 November 2008 with a 
call for applicants desiring support for the ICANN Mexico City meeting.

Background

Based on ICANN's recent initiative to support travel funding for the supporting 
organizations (SO's), the ccNSO Council asked the ccNSO Processes Working Group 
to come up with a suggested process on how to allocate the funding. Similarly, 
the GNSO is forming a drafting team to develop a proposal on funding travel 
expenses for GNSO Council review.

The work to create a community travel support procedure began with a specific 
call for travel support in late 2007 by some in the community (though this 
issue has been discussed for some time). There was extensive consultation on 
community travel support. It began as a workshop in New Delhi, with comments 
received and an analysis posted. A subsequent draft proposal was posted in 
June, discussed during budget meetings in Paris, and again subject to fairly 
extensive comment in person, via email and on the web. A " Revised Community 
Travel Support Procedure for FY09" was issued in August 2008.

ICANN Staff will collect feedback on issues that arise in the implementation of 
this procedure, and will make clarifications, as needed. Additionally, Staff 
will conduct a complete review of the travel procedure at year-end with a 
public consultation at the June 2009 ICANN meeting.

More Information

http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/ccnso-travel-funding-04nov08.pdf

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat

18. ccNSO COUNCIL ADOPTS NOMCOM DELEGATE PROCESS At a Glance

A ccNSO delegate joins the NomCom.

Recent Developments

The ccNSO Council adopted at its Cairo meeting the ccNSO Processes Working 
Group's proposed procedure for appointment of a ccNSO delegate to the 
Nominating Committee (NomCom). The ccNSO can appoint one member to the NomCom, 
which is responsible for selecting some members of the ICANN Board, GNSO 
Council, ccNSO Council and the At-Large Advisory Committee.

Next Steps

The procedure will become effective for the next appointment. For the upcoming 
NomCom, Margarita Valdez from Chile was appointed.

More Information

ccNSO http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/organisational.htm
NomCom http://nomcom.icann.org/

Staff Contact

Gabriela Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat

19. ccTLD MANAGER INPUT PROCESS ADVANCES At a Glance

The ccNSO Council adopts a process to better structure the input of ccTLD 
managers into ICANN's strategic and operational planning cycle.

Recent Developments

At the request of the ccNSO Council, the ccNSO Processes WG has proposed a 
procedure to facilitate the interaction of ccTLD managers into the ICANN 
strategic and operational planning cycle. The ccNSO Council adopted the 
procedure at its Cairo meeting. With the adoption of all Processes Working 
Group-developed documents, the Working Group completed its work and disbanded.

Next Steps

The ccNSO Secretariat will call for nominations to establish a committee to 
coordinate the interaction process, in cooperation with ccNSO Secretariat and 
other ICANN Staff.

More Information

http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/organisational.htm

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO secretariat.


20. ccNSO ADOPTS GEOGRAPHIC REGION SELF-SELECTION PROCESS At a Glance

Under what circumstances should ccTLD managers be able to self-select their 
geographic region? A process for so determining advances.

Recent Developments

The ccNSO Council adopted a procedure and application form for ccTLD manager 
self-selection into an ICANN Geographic Region. Requirements for self-selection 
are:

The ccTLD is assigned to a ICANN Geographic Region on the basis of 
"citizenship" criterion; and
The relevant public authority support the self-selection.
Next Steps

 The form and procedure will be posted.

Background

The ccNSO Geographic Region WG recommended, and the ccNSO Council adopted, a 
procedure for Geographic Region self-selection. Some ccTLD managers may 
consider themselves inappropriately assigned to an ICANN Geographical Region 
based on so-called "citizenship criteria." Others feel that the definition may 
be confusing or limit the participation in ICANN of ccTLD managers from 
smaller, resource constrained countries. The ccNSO Council adopted this 
recommendation at its meeting on 2 October 2007.

More Information

ccNSO http://ccnso.icann.org/

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO secretariat


21. ccNSO AND GNSO TO EXCHANGE OBSERVERS At a Glance

Major ICANN supporting organizations exchange observers.

Recent Developments

The GNSO Council has appointed Olga Cavalli as observer to the ccNSO Council. 
At the same time, the ccNSO Council has issued a call for nominations for a 
ccNSO observer to the GNSO Council.

Next Steps

The ccNSO Council will appoint an observer to the GNSO Council. The ICANN 
bylaws allow Supporting Organizations to exchange observers and independent 
reviews of ICANN structures have recommended supporting and expanding liaisons 
as one of the ways to improve communication and information sharing among ICANN 
structures. The ccNSO Council requested that the GNSO exchange observers.

More Information

ccNSO guidelines on liaisons and observers

http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/ccnso-rules-and-guidelines-25jun08.pdf

http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm#IX

Staff Contact
Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://gnso.icann.org