[council] Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services Launched

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-14dec12-en.htm
Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services Launched
14 December 2012

13 December 2012... Fadi Chehadé, ICANN's President and CEO, is announcing the 
creation of an Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services. This first step 
in fulfilling the ICANN Board's 
directive<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-08nov12-en.htm>
 to help redefine the purpose and provision of gTLD registration data will 
provide a foundation to help the ICANN community (through the Generic Names 
Supporting Organization, GNSO) create a new global policy for gTLD directory 
services. The working group will be chaired by Jean-Francois 
Baril<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-14dec12-en.htm>, 
as the group's Lead Facilitator, and interested individuals with the requisite 
experience are invited to indicate their interest in serving as volunteer 
working group members (more information below). Board Chair, Steve Crocker, and 
Director, Chris Disspain, will serve as Board liaisons to the working group.

The objectives of the working group are to 1) define the purpose of collecting 
and maintaining gTLD registration data, and consider how to safeguard the data, 
and 2) provide a proposed model for managing gTLD directory services that 
addresses related data accuracy and access issues, while taking into account 
safeguards for protecting data. This output will feed into a Board-initiated 
GNSO policy development process to serve as a foundation for the GNSO's 
creation of new consensus policy, and requisite contract changes, as 
appropriate. The working group will be informed by the WHOIS Policy Working 
Group's 
report<http://www.icann.org/en/about/aoc-review/whois/final-report-11may12-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 1.44 MB] and previous community input and GNSO work over the last 
decade, will address key questions set forth by the Security and Stability 
Advisory Committee (SSAC) in their report, 
SAC055<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/ssac/documents/sac-055-en.pdf> 
1<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-14dec12-en.htm#foot1>
 [PDF, 348 KB], and will take into consideration current and future Internet 
operations and services. The working group also will address concerns of the 
parties who provide, collect, maintain, publish or use this data as it relates 
to ICANN's remit.

ICANN staff will publish an issues report that incorporates the working group's 
output, which will form the basis of a Board-initiated GNSO PDP. ICANN and its 
leadership will be focused on facilitation of the expedited policy work to 
enable the GNSO to recommend a consensus policy that, at a minimum, addresses 
the purpose of collecting, maintaining and making available gTLD registration 
data, and related data accuracy and access issues. Such a policy would be 
contractually binding on ICANN accredited gTLD registrars and gTLD registries 
upon adoption by the ICANN Board.

Working Group Schedule and Operations

The working group will conduct its activities from January through April 2013 
and may be extended, if needed. Work will be conducted primarily online and 
through conference calls, and two face-to-face meetings are expected. The 
working group will periodically provide public updates on its progress, and 
output from the working group is expected to be presented for community 
discussion online and at the ICANN Beijing meeting in April 2013. ICANN Staff 
will support the working group.

Working Group Volunteers

Qualified individuals are being identified to participate in the working group. 
Individuals with the following characteristics are invited to indicate their 
interest in serving as volunteer working group members by sending an expression 
of interest and their resume/CV by email to 
experworkinggroup@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:experworkinggroup@xxxxxxxxx> by 31 December 
2012.

Volunteer working group members should: have significant operational knowledge 
and experience with WHOIS, registrant data, or directory services; be open to 
new ideas and willing to forge consensus; be able to think strategically and 
navigate conflicting views; have a record of fostering improvements and 
delivering results; have a desire to create a new model for gTLD directory 
services; and be able to volunteer approximately 12-20 hours a month during 
January - April 2013 to the working group. Individuals who have worked 
extensively in the areas of registration data collection, access, accuracy, 
use, privacy, security, law enforcement, and standards and protocols are also 
encouraged to consider working group membership. As the working group will be a 
collection of experts, it is not expected to be comprised solely of 
representatives of current ICANN community interests. Although members may not 
come directly from ICANN structures, the working group will have a deep 
understanding of, and concern for, the ICANN communities' interests.The working 
group's results will feed into the GNSO's bottom-up, policy development process 
where all community interests will be encouraged to participate in the 
decision-making efforts.

ICANN will reimburse working group members for travel and other expenses 
associated with working group activities, per ICANN reimbursement rules.

________________________________

1<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-14dec12-en.htm#note1>
 In SAC055, SSAC called for an expert working group to define the purpose of 
collecting and maintaining gTLD registration data and address questions such 
as: Why are data collected? What purpose will the data serve? Who collects the 
data? Where is the data stored and how long is it stored? Where is the data 
escrowed and how long is it escrowed? Who needs the data and why? Who needs 
access to logs of access to the data and why?

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