RE: [council] Announcement from JAS working group

["Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you for calling attention to this Rafik.

 

I have not had time to read the report yet, but I want to send personal 
compliments to the members of the JAS WG and in particular to those who wrote 
this announcement. I found it very informative while still being concise.  Very 
nice job.

 

Chuck

 

From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Rafik Dammak
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 8:52 PM
To: Council GNSO
Subject: [council] Announcement from JAS working group

 

Hi,

 

regarding the JAS working, an announcement was just posted at ICANN website 
about the milestone report 
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-11nov10-en.htm

 

Regards

 

Rafik

 

Developing Economies and the New gTLD Program

11 November 2010

A message from the JAS WG:

The Milestone Report 
<http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/jas-milestone-report-11nov10-en.pdf>  
[PDF, 1.2 MB] and accompanying Addenda 
<http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/jas-milestone-report-addenda-10nov10-en.pdf>
  [PDF, 1.07 MB] published for public comment today deals with a very important 
issue: how can ICANN assist applicants from developing economies to increase 
their participation in the new generic Top-Level Domain (New gTLD) Program?

A Working Group (WG) formed by ICANN stakeholders has been working since April 
2010 to address this issue. This followed a Resolution 
<http://icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-12mar10-en.htm>  from ICANN Board of 
Directors in Nairobi, on March 2010 that asked ICANN’s stakeholder community

"...to develop a sustainable approach to providing support to applicants
requiring assistance in applying for and operating new gTLDs."

Here are some basic aspects of this important work.

1.      What is this all about? What is a Milestone Report?

The Milestone Report is a document produced by this Working Group that offers 
recommendations on how ICANN should develop a sustainable approach to providing 
support to applicants from developing economies requiring assistance in 
applying for and operating new gTLDs Registries. The Report proposes initial 
criteria for qualification as well as several other types of support to be 
considered, for example, technical, informational.

Although this work presents the foundation for ICANN to establish a Support 
Development Program dedicated to this issue, the work is not final yet. This 
report is going to be considered by the Board, staff and ICANN’s supporting 
chartering organizations.

This initiative is related to the New gTLD Program, which in the near future 
will allow entities from around the world to apply for a generic top-level 
domain. The applicants passing the evaluation process, will sign a contract 
with ICANN and run a Registry.

2.      Who is being considered to receive support? Who benefits from this?

The Working Group is proposing the following group to be eligible for support 
once the "need" criterion is met:

        *       Community-based applications such as cultural, linguistic and 
ethnic;
        *       Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), civil society and 
not-for-profit organizations;
        *       Applicants geographically located in emerging 
markets/developing countries;
        *       Applications in languages whose presence on the web is limited;
        *       Entrepreneurs wanting to serve a developing market that might 
not be sustainable under the current cost structure.

At this phase, the Working Group has not adopted any specific classification 
for developing economies and recommends using a classification that is 
internationally agreed upon, for example, G-77 or United Nations or World Bank 
classifications.

We all benefit from this initiative. The Internet belongs to all as well as the 
responsibility to look into effective ways to reduce the Digital Divide, in 
this particular case, by delivering a sustainable and critical support for 
applicants from developing economies and looking for a solution not only at the 
application phase but also through to the initial years of these new Registry 
operators.

3.      Why is it important?

It is important because the Internet is a virtual real estate that belongs to 
everyone. Entities from around the world should be able to increase their 
participation in the top-level expansion. The Working Group also stresses it is 
important not only to increase participation from developing economies, but 
also to increase the likelihood of success by these new participants that will 
be delivering Domain Name Services (DNS).

The current New gTLD Program, as design, has an evaluation (and several other 
fees) that are considered high for a significant number of potential 
participants from around the world. Besides the issue of high fees, the program 
is in English only and has an evaluation process with criteria and requirements 
that are quite complex to navigate.

4.      What are the highlights of this report?

This report approached the issue of accessibility from several angles. First, 
there are recommendations to lower the fees for applicants the meet the 
criteria recommended by this group. The initial focus is on a relatively 
limited and identifiable set of potential applicants that is often considered 
not controversial to support. The main criterion for eligibility is "need". The 
detailed definition of financial need and the method for determining the needs 
of an application will be part of a continued work.

5.      Who is part of this Working Group?

This Working Group, also called Joint SO/AC WG on New gTLD Applicant Support or 
simply "JAS WG", is comprised of highly respected and experienced volunteers 
from the Supporting Organization and the Advisory Committee. This all-volunteer 
group teleconferences twice each week, and works through a wiki and mailing 
lists. These active contributors are located in Australia, Africa, Europe and 
North America.

6.      What happens next?

Few things will happen in the upcoming months:

        *       The general public is strongly encouraged to participate in the 
public forum that can be found 
here:http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201012-en.htm#jas-milestone-report
 
<http://icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201012-en.htm#jas-milestone-report>
 
        *       The Board, staff, supporting organizations will review the 
Milestone Report and public comments received.
        *       The Supporting organizations and Board will allow for the 
continuation of this initiative, which means that this or a new Working Group 
will carry this work to a next phase.
        *       Staff might initiate working on the Support Development 
Program, depending on the Board’s direction.

7.      How can one get involved?

One way to get involved is to provide a feedback using ICANN’s public comment 
forum. This is one of the ways ICANN listens to the global Internet community. 
You can find the link to this forum 
here:http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201012-en.htm#jas-milestone-report
 
<http://icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201012-en.htm#jas-milestone-report>
 . The public forum will close on 15 December 2010.

If you feel strongly about this (and other Internet related issues) attend 
ICANN Meetings – in person or remotely. The next one is in Cartagena 
<http://cartagena39.icann.org/>  beginning of December).

8.      Where to find more information?

Relevant Resolutions:

        *       http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-12mar10-en.htm#20 
<http://icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-12mar10-en.htm#20> 
        *       http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-25sep10-en.htm#2.2 
<http://icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-25sep10-en.htm#2.2> 
        *       http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-28oct10-en.htm 
<http://icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-28oct10-en.htm> 
        *       http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/#201004

Information about the New gTLD Program: 
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm 
<http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm> 

Archive regarding the WG activities:

        *       E-mail: http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-irtp-b-jun09/
        *       Wiki: https://st.icann.org/so-ac-new-gtld-wg/index.cgi