TOP STORY

2023 Audit of Service Organization Controls for IANA Functions Completed

ICANN has completed another year of audits of the key systems used to deliver the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions. The accounting firm, RSM US LLP, conducted two Systems and Organization Control audits: a SOC2 audit of the Registry Assignment and Maintenance Systems and a SOC3 audit of Root Zone Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) services for the 12-month periods ending 30 September 2023 and 30 November 2023, respectively.

For the 14th consecutive year, an exception-free audit has been completed for the management of the Root DNSSEC Key Signing Key (KSK) securing the Domain Name System (DNS). Using the SOC 3 framework, the audit demonstrates that effective security, availability, and processing integrity controls exist to manage the root KSK. The report is publicly available here.

Read the announcement to learn more.

ICANN NEWS

ICANN Opens Search for SVP, Policy Development and Support

ICANN is conducting a global search to fill the Senior Vice President, Policy Development Support role previously filled by David Olive.

A fundamental part of ICANN’s mission is to coordinate policy development related to the Internet’s system of unique identifiers. The Policy Development Support team facilitates the development of policy recommendations and related advice by ICANN's multistakeholder community. The Senior Vice President for Policy Development Support, a key member of the ICANN executive team, will lead ICANN’s global policy support function, which comprises more than 40 full-time staff and professional contractors.

To ensure a thorough and timely process, ICANN has hired the international search firm Odgers Berndtson to assist in the search. ICANN would like to receive applications from all areas, including internal candidates, the community, and others with relevant qualifications and experience in policy development and facilitation.

Read the announcement to learn more about the role and how to apply.

ICANN Launches New Root Server System Advisory Committee Pages

By Sally Newell Cohen, Senior Vice President, Global Communications

As part of our continuing effort to leverage the Information Transparency Platform (ITP), I am pleased to announce the launch of the new Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) pages on icann.org.

As with the addition of the Security and Stability Advisory Committee pages, the new RSSAC pages strike true to the overall mission of the ITP: improving ICANN's content governance and infrastructure, while providing a more streamlined and intuitive experience for users. 

These new RSSAC pages offer many enhanced features, including:

• An improved layout and user experience
• An improved search capability for RSSAC and RSSAC Caucus Meeting Minutes, RSSAC Publications, and RSSAC and RSSAC Caucus Members
• An improved keyword search for documents and files
• The ability for users to download search results as a comma-separated values file
• Allowing users to subscribe for email alerts when RSSAC content is posted or updated

Please note: subscribers must have an ICANN account.

To learn more, read my blog.

EMEA ACTIVITIES AND HIGHLIGHTS

Europe

Join ICANN’s New European Webinar Series!

By Gabriella Schittek, Director, Stakeholder Engagement, Nordic and Central Europe

Beginning this August, ICANN is launching a new webinar series for the entire European region. This series combines the Nordic with the Central European and Baltic ICANN Training Series. The first webinar, "Identity Verification – Three Approaches," will be held 28 August 2024 from 12:00–13:00 UTC. Registration is now open!

This initiative, which started during the pandemic to keep community members connected, has been well-received and will now broaden its reach across the Continent. Stay tuned for more updates on ICANN's social media and subscribe to regional email lists to stay informed. Read the full blog to learn more details about the series. 

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

ICANN and RIPE NCC Organize Internet Measurement Day in Uzbekistan

On 29 May, ICANN, in collaboration with RIPE NCC, organized the latest event in the Internet Measurement Day series, an initiative that has been ongoing since 2021. The event took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and catered to the local technical community, including Internet Service Providers, the .UZ ccTLD, and governmental agencies. Hosted by Inha University in Tashkent and supported by Internet Society and the local Ministry of Communications, the event featured a keynote by Deputy Minister Rustam Karimov, who emphasized the importance of developing Internet infrastructure with an understanding of its technical workings.

Internet Measurement Day Uzbekistan was the largest event in the series to date, attracting more than 60 participants. The discussions focused on measuring network performance, specifically in DNS, IP routing, and peering policy. Participants explored how ISPs and DNS operators could benefit from ICANN's measurement tools and engage in research projects like ITHI.

Middle East and Africa

Outreach in the Middle East and Africa: FY24 Recap and FY25 Goals

By Baher Esmat, VP, Stakeholder Engagement, Middle East and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa

Reflecting on the 2024 fiscal year (FY24), we’ve made significant strides in both the Middle East and Africa regions. We’ve been aligning our efforts with ICANN’s strategic objectives, focusing on security, governance, unique identifier systems, and geopolitics.

Throughout FY24, we organized and participated in more than 100 events and connected with more than 7,000 individuals. Notable events included the 10th Middle East DNS Forum, the High-Level Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, and numerous training sessions, workshops, and events hosted and organized by the Coalition for Digital Africa. We also focused on technical and academic engagement and worked to raise awareness of generic top-level domains and Universal Acceptance throughout the regions.

Looking ahead, we are excited to continue our collaborative work in strengthening and innovating the Internet environment in the Middle East and Africa. Read the full blog.

Africa

Highlights from GSE Africa at the ICANN80 Policy Forum in Kigali

The ICANN80 Policy Forum, held in Kigali, Rwanda, 10-13 July 2024, was a great success. The Global Stakeholder Engagement (GSE) team in Africa led a range of pre-conference activities related to the Coalition for Digital Africa initiatives. These included Internet Governance Training for African Parliamentarians and a capacity development session for nine country code top-level domains. Moreover, around the forum, there was a technical workshop by OCTO on the Domain Name System (DNS), a brainstorming session by Smart Africa on Internet governance, and a workshop on digital transition by the European Commission. 

Last but not least, the 2023 Africa Domain Name Industry Study was officially published on 12 July during the Policy Forum in Rwanda. The report looks at the rapid growth and changes in the domain name industry in Africa, giving an essential overview of infrastructure development, digital divide issues, and domain name registration growth.

POLICY UPDATE

ICANN80 Policy and Advice Outcomes

Thank you for participating in ICANN80! ICANN hopes that the Policy Forum fostered dynamic discussions and advanced priority work items. 

During ICANN80, all the Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs) met for fruitful deliberation, and organized a total of 90 sessions during the four-day program. Those meetings produced a bevy of high-level policy and advice outcomes.

For instance, the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), through its meetings at ICANN80, agreed upon the following:

• The ccNSO Council approved its report to the ICANN Board from the policy development process (PDP) on the (de)selection of Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) country code top-level domain (ccTLD) strings.
• The ccNSO Council established a working group to identify and explore potential gaps in Internet Assigned Numbers Authority policies, practices, and procedures pertaining to ccTLDs.
• The ccNSO Domain Name System (DNS) Abuse Committee organized a session about the latest amendments to the Base Registry Agreement and Registrar Accreditation Agreement and how the changes could impact the work of ccTLDs.

Read the blog to learn more.

Public Comment for the Preliminary Issue Report on Latin Script Diacritics

The GNSO recently announced the opening of a Public Comment proceeding for the Preliminary Issue Report on Latin Script Diacritics. On 16 May 2024, the GNSO Council requested an Issue Report on this topic to assist in determining whether a PDP should be initiated. The report examines a single issue: the circumstance where a base ASCII generic top-level domain (gTLD) and the Latin script diacritic version of the gTLD are not variants of each other, and where currently no mechanism exists that allows a single registry operator to simultaneously operate both gTLDs. 

The report provides background about this issue, including factors that might be appropriate for considering the scope of the issue or that might aid in a policy development process (PDP), and an assessment as to whether this issue is within scope of the ICANN policy process and the GNSO. Finally, the report also includes a draft PDP charter. The community can review the announcement or provide input directly on the Public Comment page. The GNSO welcomes any Public Comment on this topic before the closure date of 27 August 2024.

GAC Strategic Planning

The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) is currently focused on post-ICANN80 Meeting activities, such as the implementation of its Four-Year strategic plan and 2024-2025 Annual Plan, which were adopted in the Kigali Communiqué.

In an effort to develop a more proactive stance, aiming to drive and align ICANN policy outcomes with the public policy interests of governments, the GAC developed a set of Strategic Objectives for the next four years. The work also included the concrete outcomes expected on an annual basis.

The 2024-2028 GAC Strategic Plan is comprised of nine (9) priority areas:

1. Role for Governments in ICANN
2. Effectiveness of the GAC
3. Future Rounds of New generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)
4. DNS Abuse
5. Domain Registration Data
6. Universal Acceptance
7. Impact of New Technology on Internet Unique Identifier Systems
8. Internet Governance
9. Internet Number Resources

For example, regarding Future Rounds of New gTLDs, the GAC’s strategic objective is as follows:

Leveraging the experience and lessons learned from previous rounds of new gTLDs, including costs, benefits, and accessibility, the GAC seeks to ensure that any future rounds of new gTLDs: 

• Promote competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice.
• Contribute to reducing the digital divide, in particular through the support of applicants from underserved and underrepresented regions and the promotion of Internationalized Domain Names.
• Incorporate appropriate security, stability, and resiliency safeguards.

For more information, please visit the GAC Strategic Planning page: https://gac.icann.org/activity/gac-strategic-planning. 

Work of the ccNSO Policy Gap Analysis Working Group Begins

The global coordination of the DNS Root, IP addressing, and other Internet protocol resources is performed as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions. The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) is the policy authority for the framework that defines how IANA relates to country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) in the root zone. In June 2023, IANA staff informed the Council of the need for operational measures in relation to an exceptional and temporary operational situation where there was no recourse to applicable policies. The ccNSO Council considered this and other issues and has consulted with the ccTLD community and others since ICANN78. 

Following a call for volunteers, the ccNSO Council appointed volunteers to a new working group in July 2024: the ccNSO Policy Gap Analysis Working Group (PGA WG). The objective of the PGA WG is to identify, analyze, and advise the Council on whether and how to address gaps in existing ccNSO policies, guidelines or practices relating to the delegation, transfer, revocation, and retirement of ccTLDs and other related IANA naming functions for ccTLDs. The PGA WG kicks off its work in August and will brief the community about progress at ICANN81. For details on the background, scope, and objectives of the PGA WG, see the PGA WG Charter, or consult the recordings of the informative webinar held on 3 July.

GDS UPDATE

ICANN Org’s Universal Acceptance Readiness

In its last Universal Acceptance (UA) Readiness blog, ICANN announced that it has support for internationalized email addresses. Since then, ICANN has continued to make progress to ensure that all pertinent internal systems are UA-ready.

To date, ICANN org has conducted a comprehensive gap analysis on all its software products, prioritizing community-facing applications. The gap analysis was followed by the ICANN org Engineering and IT team's efforts to deliver UA support for the majority of its application portfolio. As a result of these efforts, only 9 percent of the org's applications remain on a UA-adoption roadmap. 

Advancing UA-readiness remains a priority for ICANN internally and externally. Read the blog to learn more, and be sure to stay tuned for future updates.

Registration Data Request Service FAQs

Do you have questions about using ICANN's Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) to access nonpublic domain registration data? RDRS is a free service that was developed with community input to provide a more consistent and standardized format for handling requests to access data related to generic top-level domains. 

Check out our FAQs offered in multiple languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish) to learn more about this pilot program.

A Vital Virtual Resource for New gTLD Applicants

Are you interested in participating in the New Generic Top-Level Domains Program: Next Round or do you know of an organization that may want to apply? Be sure to bookmark the New gTLD Program website.

The new site offers comprehensive information for prospective applicants, whether they be newcomers or longtime ICANN community members. Most of the content is available in the ICANN six languages (e.g., Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, and Russian), and serves up details about the application and evaluation processes, as well as basic information about gTLDs and what it takes to be a registry operator. The website also offers news about the Applicant Support Program and Registry Service Provider Evaluation Program, as well as updates about timelines and implementation status. 

And there’s much more to come: the Applicant Guidebook and Applicant Support Program Handbook will be published on the site soon – and the latest draft version of the Applicant Support Program Handbook is already available. 

A list of approved Registry Service Providers will be published on the website in advance of and throughout the next round of gTLD applications. Prospective gTLD applicants will be able to peruse that list to select a back-end provider for their proposed new gTLD. There’s also an opportunity to sign up to receive Next Round-related news directly to your inbox.

To learn more, please visit https://newgtldprogram.icann.org/en

ICANN Around the World

Regional Offices:

Los Angeles, U.S.A. (Headquarters)

Brussels, Belgium

Istanbul, Türkiye

Montevideo, Uruguay

Singapore

Engagement Centers:

Beijing, China

Geneva, Switzerland

Nairobi, Kenya

Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

For address and contact information, visit: icann.org/contact