Note: The latest status update date is provided for each item.
Inter-Registrar Transfer Policies Part B (IRTP B) - Michele Neylon - chair - 31 May 2010
Our initial report has been published: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-29may10-en.htm
I believe we will be meeting in Brussels and will open a comment period post-Brussels for 20 days
Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) - Tim Ruiz - Working Group Liaison to GNSO Council/ Marika KoningsStaff support - 17 May 2010
WG held first meeting on 28 July and has been meeting on a weekly basis since September. Based on the outcome of the survey conducted amongst its membership, the WG is now developing possible recommendations for each of the issues identified which will then be polled amongst the membership to determine the level of support. Following this process, the WG will update its draft Initial Report accordingly with the objective to have it ready for the ICANN meeting in Brussels.
JIG (Joint ccNSO/GNSO IDN Group - Edmon Chung - 3 June 2010
The JIG had its kick-off meeting on March 30, and started its bi-weekly meeting since April 20 (except for cancelling on the May 4th meeting).
The group has identified 3 topics of common interest:
- Single Character IDN TLD
- IDN TLD Variants
- Universal Acceptability of IDN TLDs
The group has received briefing from staff on issue 1, and had discussions regarding issue 2 (still awaiting staff briefing on the issue nevertheless).
There will be 1 meeting of the group in Brussels (tentatively scheduled for Sunday June 20, but we are still hoping to coordinate timing so that Tina Dam from staff can join the meeting as her briefing on issue 2 is important for the group's work).
In the last meeting, the group discussed the interest to start working on a document from the group for consideration on the 3 issues.
International Registration Data (IRD) Working Group - Edmon Chung - co-chair / Julie Hedlund - Staff support 8 April 2010
The WG continues to deliberate on several questions with the goal to produce recommendations.
These include:
- What should we require from internationalized registration data? And
- How would internationalized registration data affect the way data is represented and displayed?
The staff have produced a matrix to assist in addressing the questions.
The WG will continue deliberations in bi-weekly meetings and may produce a preliminary report by the ICANN Brussels meeting in June 2010.
Internationalized Domain Names Group (IDNG) - Edmon Chung - co-chair - 13 April 2010
Given no further discussions on the 2 topics that were identified:
- Application of confusingly similar TLD strings
- there seems to be enough agreement around this topic in general
- also attached clean version of the document
- Process for the application of IDN gTLDs, including those identified in 1
- there continues to be push back against having any dedicated process to handle special case IDN TLD applications
And given that it seems any further discussion would require the GNSO council to consider whether an actual working group should be formed for further work on 1 (if any) unless there is any particular objection, I will report the above back to the council.
Joint SO/AC WG on New gTLD Applicant Support (JAS WG)- Avri Doria and Evan Leibovitch co-chairs - Olof Nordling - Staff support - 8 June 2010
- Received notification of charter approval from both chartering organiations. We are uncertain that both GNSO council and ALAC approved the same version of the charter - with 5 objectives. The objective that appears to have been left off the GNSO and ALAC approved charters is:
Objective 5: To identify conditions and mechanisms required to minimize the risk of inappropriate access to support.
- The WG is working against the charter found at:
https://st.icann.org/so-ac-new-gtld-wg/index.cgi?so_ac_new_gtld_applicant_support_working_group which was the charter proposed with the inclusion of the amendment requested in the GNSO Council meeting. The GNSO council and ALAC should inform us through their liaisons if this is not correct.
It should be noted that this does include this objective that may have been dropped from one if not both of the Chartering Organization motions. Our assumption is that neither of the Chartering Organizations had an objection to the anti-gaming objective and that it was just an oversight and that it is ok for us to include that objective in our work
- the co-chairs of the group remain: Evan Leibovitch (ALAC) and Avri Doria (GNSO). It is not known whether the Chartering Organizations accept these co-chair assignments, but we continue in the roles until such time as we are informed that we should do otherwise.
- The WG is meeting weekly, with two working teams working between the meetings. Both WTs use the same email list for their discussions.
- WT1 - is reviewing the application fee structure and trying to determine if there is a way to balance:
- fairness
- support for developing regions
- maintaining cost recovery principle
Several recommendations are forming.
- WT2 - working on Who and what" on identifying applicants in need of support and of the kinds of support that may be appropriate for different kinds of applicants. Several recommendations are forming.
- Each group will have a snapshot of of its status and of possible recommendations ready for the Brussels meeting. These are being put together into an initial report that may be put out for community review at the pleasure of the chartering organizations.
- A panel discussion will be held in Brussels 16.00 - 17.30 on Wednesday 23 June to explain the mission of the group, and the work to date. It is hoped that the panel discussion will provide an opportunity for the beginning of community comment.
Registration Abuse Policies (RAP) Working Group (WG) - Greg Aaron - chair - 1 June 2010
The RAPWG submitted its Final Report to Council on Saturday 29 May. RAPWG Chair Greg Aaron is scheduled to present a summary to the Council at Brussels, on Sunday 20 June.
I look forward to seeing everyone in Brussels!
Geo Regions Working Group - Olga Cavalli - 2 June 2010
The Geographic Regions Review Working Group (WGGR) is making the latest working draft of its Interim Report available to the community. The draft document can be found on the Socialtext Wiki page of the working group (http://tinyurl.com/WGGRwiki) at this link - Draft WGGR Interim Report v5 [DOC, 188 KB].
https://st.icann.org/geo-review-wg/index.cgi?geographic_regions_review_working_group_wggr_wiki
It is still a work-in-progress and is being formally provided to the community solely for discussion purposes and so that WGGR members will have the option to discuss its contents with their respective communities - as well as the general ICANN community - during the Brussels meeting next month.
As part of its efforts in Brussels, the WGGR also plans to conduct a public session on Thursday morning (24 June) to discuss the geographic regions framework and collect community ideas about potential future options for the framework.
The WGGR has also sponsored a community survey to gather information on the impact and application of the geographic regions framework on various communities within the ICANN ecosystem. All members of the ICANN community are all invited to participate.
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) Sub-team A (Registrant Rights Charter) - Beau Brendler coordinator - 30 March 2010
The group concluded its work and disbanded in late February. There are no further updates.
Sub-team A convened in mid-March to finalize its work. The plain language content of the RAA that was to be the basis of the statement of registrants' rights was submitted to the regional organizations for review, and returned with some minor comments. ICANN staff was requested that they incorporate the comments from the regional orgs where appropriate to create a final draft, which I agreed to review a last time before it was submitted for action to the GNSO. Unless I am missing something, I did not see a copy of that final draft, though I am happy to review it here in Nairobi, unless it has already been passed on to the GNSO. In which case, the work of Sub-team A is completed, with the agreement that I would hold or facilitate a session in Nairobi on the "aspirational rights" document, which was removed from Sub-team A's scope of work. The "aspirational rights" document will contain suggestions for changes to future iterations of the RAA.
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) subteam B (identifying issues for possible RAA amendments) - Steve Metalitz coordinator - 7 June 2010
The Initial Report was posted for comment May 28 2010. The subteam will be preparing presentations on it for the Brussels meeting.
Vertical Integration Policy Development Process (VI PDP) - Chairs Roberto Gaetano and Mikey O'Connor - Council Liaison - Stephane van Gelder -2 June 2010
The working group has organised direct confrontations with the different proposal advocates with the aim of establishing consensus for a common proposal.
Now that DAGv4 has been published, the WG will examine the VI proposal it contains in order to ascertain possible effects on the group's timeline.
The WG has 3 meetings planned for Brussels. On Saturday June, 19, the WG will meet F2F for the first time and work on preparation for the WG co-chairs' meeting with the GNSO Council on Sunday June, 20. There will also be a VI workshop open to all on Wednesday June, 23.
In order to maximise its chances of reaching its objectives within the agreed-upon timeline, the WG has started a 2nd weekly conference call. Therefore, the WG is now meeting 3 times a week: 2 full group calls and one WG leaders call to organise the WG's weekly work.
WHOIS Current Activity - Liz Gasster Staff support - updated June 2010
The GNSO Council is exploring several extensive studies of WHOIS. During its 4 March 2009 meeting in Mexico City, the GNSO Council approved a resolution asking ICANN Staff to pursue cost estimates for six WHOIS study areas recommended by members of the ICANN community and ICANN's Government Advisory Committee.
Staff has collapsed the six initial study areas into four. A cross-reference to the original study groupings can be found here [PDF, 64 KB]. Proposals were sought to conduct the first set of studies on WHOIS Misuse and WHOIS Registrant Identification. On 23 March 2010 staff provided a report to the GNSO Council with our analysis of these proposals.
An RFP for a third WHOIS study on Proxy and Privacy “Abuse” was posted on 20 May 2010. This study will focus on the extent to which domain names used to conduct illegal or harmful Internet activities are registered via privacy or proxy services to obscure the perpetrator’s identity. ICANN is seeking to engage independent research organizations to undertake this study and responses are due by 20 July 2010. More information on this study may be found here: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-18may10-en.htm.
An RFP for a related WHOIS study on the “reveal” of non-public WHOIS contact information by Proxy and Privacy service providers will be released at a later date.
A fourth study area, calling for an examination of the implications of non-ASCII registration data in WHOIS records, will be considered by a SSAC-GNSO Working Group that was convened at the request of the ICANN Board in June 2009. The Internationalized Registration Data Working Group is studying the feasibility of introducing display specifications to deal with internationalized registration data and will be consulting with other ICANN Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees as they conduct this work. More information about this Working Group may be found here: https://st.icann.org/int-reg-data-wg/index.cgi?internationalized_registration_data_working_group.
The fifth study area, requested in May 2009 by the GNSO Council, asks that a comprehensive set of requirements for WHOIS service be compiled based on current requirements and a review of previous GNSO WHOIS policy discussions. This resolution reflects increasing community concerns that the current WHOIS service is deficient in a number of ways, including data accuracy and reliability, as well as in other technical areas noted in recent SSAC reports, such as accessibility and readability of WHOIS contact information in an international environment. Staff published a first draft of the report 26 March 2010, solicited input from SOs and ACs, and posted a draft final report reflecting SO and AC input on 31 May (see below). The Report will be discussed in Brussels and a Final Report will be prepared shortly thereafter.
ccNSO update - Olga Cavalli - 2 June 2010
One of our Councillors for the North American region, Keith Drazek recently resigned from his position at NeuStar. His seat on the ccNSO Council has therefore become vacant. A nomination period for our North American members to fill the seat started today and is scheduled to end on the 9th June 2010. For those of you who wish to know more, please see http://ccnso.icann.org/about/elections/call-for-nominations-01jun10-en.htm
Archives are available at http://forum.icann.org/lists/ccnso-nominations
The Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG) has released an update to their phishing survey report. See attachment for more information.
http://www.antiphishing.org/reports/APWG_GlobalPhishingSurvey_2H2009.pdf
Travel drafting team - Olga Cavalli - 2 June 2010
There will be a face to face meeting in Brussels with ICANN staff.
Main agenda items are:
- Possible funding for working team chairs
- Possible funding for GNSO outreach activitiers
- Possible funding of Fridays if GNSO councillors want to participate in the ICANN Board meeting on Friday morning during ICANN meetings
GNSO Work Prioritization Model Drafting Team - Olga Cavalli - chair - June 2010
Prioritizaton: a motion has been submitted to the GNSO for approving the project list prepared by ICANN Staff. (In progress)
Operations Sreering Committee (OSC) - Philip Sheppard - OSC chair -31 May 2010
http://gnso.icann.org/improvements/icann-osc-planning-26may10-en.pdf
OSC Constituency & Stakeholder Group WT progress report - Olga Cavalli - chair - 2 June 2010
Recommendations for consituencies and stakeholdergroup´s document has been sent to the OSC for revision.
The working team is working now in a document with recommendations for GNSO outreach activities.
OSC Community Coordination Communications Work Team - Mason Cole - chair- 8 April 2010
Reports I and II have been delivered to the OSC. At the OSC's request, the report was merged into one document; delivery to the GNSO is now at the OSC chair's discretion. Absent any further requests from the OSC or the GNSO, the CCT's work is considered complete.
OSC GNSO Council Operations Work Team (GCOT) - Ray Fassett - chair - 12 May 2010
The GCOT Work Team plans to have all materials and products currently under review with regards to the GNSO Council Rules of Procedure upon completion of its next teleconference meeting of May 19. The Work Team has no additional items on its agenda.
PPSC Policy Development Process work team (PDP-WT) - Jeff Neuman - chair/Marika Konings - Staff support - 17 May 2010
The WT has now discussed all the five stages of the new PDP and a draft report has been prepared for review. The WT has reviewed a number of other issues such as translation, timing, voting thresholds, decision-making methodology and transition. It will now focus its attention on completing its Initial Report so that it can be presented and discussed at the ICANN meeting in Brussels. A rough outline of the proposed new Annex A, which the WT will develop and review in its coming meetings, is expected to be part of this Initial Report.
PPSC Working Group model work team (WGWT) - J. Scott Evans - chair/ Marika Konings - Staff support - 1 June 2010
A public comment period on the proposed GNSO Working Group Guidelines closed on 22 March 2010 the WT finalized its review of the submitted public comments during its conference call on 19 May. A proposed final draft was circulated on the WT list and a call was held on 26 May in which members agreed to a call for consensus. A call for consensus was emailed to the WG WT list on 26 May 2010 at 11:26 AM EDT. Members of the WT were given until COB their local time Sunday, 30 May 2010 to raise an objection to the call for consensus and any final editorial revisions to the proposed final document. No objections were raised to the call for consensus and several editioral revisions were received from WT members. On 31 May 2010, Marika sent the final consensus version of the document for posting and I then formally submitted the document to the PPSC for consideration.
Constituency/Stakeholder Group Update Report For 20 May 2010 Telephonic GNSO Council Meeting
Submitted by Rob Hoggarth – 4 June 2010
Status of "Re-confirmation" Efforts For Existing GNSO Constituencies
In August of 2008, the Board adopted a concept of "re-confirming" the charters and operational mechanisms of each GNSO Constituency every three years (see - http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-28aug08.htm). The initial Constituency re-confirmation process was slated for 2009, but the process took a back seat as the Board focused its efforts on evaluation and approval of the new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures and approval of the processes and recommended Bylaws changes necessary for seating the new GNSO Council. Since the Board has generally resolved those issues, during the Seoul meeting it set a deadline of the Nairobi meeting for formal re-submission of any revised re-confirmation proposals by the existing GNSO Constituencies and directed the ICANN Staff to assist constituency leaders in developing those submissions (see - 30 October 2009 Board Meeting Resolutions - Consent Agenda Item 1.3 - see http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-30oct09-en.htm).
Given the GNSO community's focus on other substantive policy matters since Seoul, the potential value of dovetailing that effort with the work on GNSO constituency operating practices and procedures by the Constituency Operations Work Team and other uncertainties related to developing permanent Stakeholder Group Charters, at its Nairobi meeting the Board extended that timeline until the Brussels ICANN meeting (see - http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-12mar10-en.htm#1.7.
The GNSO Constituency Operations Work Team submitted its recommendations regarding Constituency and Stakeholder Group operations to the GNSO's Operating Steering Committee (OSC) Chair for review on 31 May 2010. Council review of that work is unlikely to conclude until at least the Brussels meeting – if not later. The Staff has consulted with various Constituency leaders who agree that completing the re-confirmation work would not be efficient if some likely additional obligations are approved by the Council. As a result, a final extension of time to the ICANN Annual General Meeting in Cartagena is being prepared for Board consideration.
Potential New GNSO Constituencies
Since Board approval of the GNSO Improvements recommendations in June 2008, a total of four potential new Constituency groups have formally applied to the Board for recognition. At its 9 December 2009 meeting the Board decided to "not approve" the proposed charters for the potential new CyberSafety, City TLDs and IDNgTLDs constituencies. The proposal for a new Consumers Constituency remains "pending" and a public comment period on the latest version of that proposal ran through 13 February 2010 (see - http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201002-en.htm#newco).
A Notice of Intent to Form A New GNSO Constituency (NOIF) has also been submitted for a potential new Public Internet Access Constituency (see http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/piacc-constituency-noif-cover-redacted-02mar10-en.pdf and see http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/piacc-constituency-noif-redacted-02mar10-en.pdf). The process also remains available for other interested parties to develop proposals for new GNSO Constituencies and to submit them to the Board. A number of community groups are currently discussing the merits of submitting their own NOIF documents.
Permanent Stakeholder Group Charters
When the Board approved the four (4) new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures last year, it acknowledged that the charters for the Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG) and the Non Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) were to be transitional/temporary and that permanent charters were to be developed over the course of the coming year. Based on discussions in Seoul and Nairobi, the Staff is continuing to work to develop opportunities for dialogue and further community discussion of these important matters. Some productive work is already under way, particularly by the NCSG, and the Staff has discussed with CSG community leaders their thoughts on timetables and benchmarks to ensure that permanent charter efforts are pursued to conclude by the Cartagena, Columbia ICANN meeting.
Additionally, when the Board approved those Stakeholder Group Charters on 30 July 2009, it said it expected to “re-examine the Stakeholder Group structures and their operations in one year.” According to that timetable, one would anticipate Board review of those structures to begin some time next month, although the Board could extend that review period to coincide with the consideration of the permanent CSG and NCSG Charter efforts later this year.