The first meeting of the Work Track on Geographic Names as Top Level Domains (referred to as WT5) will be held tomorrow, 15 Wednesday at 20:00. Everyone who has an interest in the subject should consider joining the group. See https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2017-10-22-en for further information and https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesX279zqBZfuxQ9HEuEqJ3NH2p2xNO0jQzZhfOTOpYf0LwLA/viewform to join.

In addition, the ALAC is seeking one WT Member from each region to be the regional liaison to this WT. Although not formally representing the views of the region or the ALAC, the presence of a liaison will ensure that each region has at least one person who plans to closely follow and actively participate, and that the ALAC has at least five people with whom to coordinate our related activities.

Anyone volunteering for the position of liaison must be registered as a Member of the WT (see above) and must commit to actively participating. All WT discussions are carried out in English at this time.

The ALAC will try to ensure that among the liaisons, we have a wide range of views and positions to ensure that the views of At-Large are heard.

Those wishing to become a regional liaison for WT5 should send an expression of interest (EoI) to At-Large Staff <staff@atlarge.icann.org> no later that Monday, 20 November at 23:59. The EoI should include:

a) Confirmation that the applicant has already registered as a Member of WT5;
b) the region of At-Large that the applicant is affiliated with;
c) a summary of the applicant's views (no more than a few sentences) on the use of geographic names as TLDs. These could include (but are not limited to):
        i) freedom of speech should allow any use of geographic names without permission;
        ii) geographic names should be fully controlled by the government(s) associated with the regions;
        iii) don't care about the details, but the result must be balanced to ensure governments are reasonably satisfied and there is reasonable access to geographic names by companies and others.
d) Subject line should include WT5 LIAISON.

All views are allowed, but the ALAC selection committee and the ALAC will attempt to ensure that all views have a voice.

Alan Greenberg
Chair, ALAC