Here’s the Policy Calendar for the BC Open meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 18-Sep (also in attachment “policy calendar.pdf”)

Channel 1. BC participation in ICANN Public Comment process:

On 2-Aug we submitted comment on the Initial Report on the Transfer Policy Review - Phase 1(a).  Thanks to Zak Muscovitch and Arinola Akinyemi for serving on the Transfer Policy Review Working Group, and thanks to Vivek, Howard Neu, and John Berard for helping draft our comment.

Selected ICANN Public Comments and other opportunities for the BC to comment:   

1. Universal Acceptance Roadmap for Registry and Registrar Systems (link).  Comments close 17-Oct.

Universal Acceptance (UA) is the ability for applications & infrastructure to support internationalized domain names and email addresses (IDN) and TLDs of various lengths and types. The BC has long supported UA initiatives.  

Thanks to Vivek and Olajide for volunteering to draft a BC comment.

2. Draft Terms of Reference for a Holistic Review of ICANN (link).  Comments close 20-Oct.  

The 3^rd Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT3) recommended a new Specific Review, the Holistic Review. It’ll start as a pilot review with implications for community structures and groups.  A team finished the draft ToR in Jun-2022 and this proceeding seeks community input.

The BC commented on ATRT3 in Jul-2020, thanks to Mason Cole and Susan Kawaguchi.  We said:

“The BC does believe now is a good time to examine the structure of the GNSO, however, with an eye toward making the structure fairer and less subject to capture and veto.”

Thanks to Margie Milam for volunteering to draft a BC comment.

3. Proposed amendments to base gTLD Registry Agreement and RAA, to add RDAP obligations (link).  Comments close 24-Oct.

Proposed operational requirements for providing Registration Data Directory Services (RDDS) via Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP), and to phase out obligations to provide RDDS via WHOIS protocols.

We need volunteers to draft this BC comment.

4. Proposed updates to GNSO procedures (link).   Comments close 27-Oct.

proposed updates: Working Group Self-Assessment; Statement of Interest Procedures.  The Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) worked on this.

Thanks to Imran Hossen for volunteering to participate in this Task Force (and hoping Imran will draft a BC comment)

5. Draft policy for gTLD Registration data (link).   Comments close 31-Oct.  

This is to implement recommendations from EPDP Phase 1 recommendations, Phase 2 Priority 2 recommendations, and Phase 1 GNSO Council Supplemental Rec 12 adopted by ICANN Board.

The BC previously commented on these recommendations here, here, and here.

Thanks to David Snead and Margie Milam for volunteering to draft BC comments

6. Draft IANA and PTI FY24 operating plan and budget (link).  Comments close 31-Oct.

The BC commented on the FY23 docs in Oct-2021, thanks to Tim Smith and Lawrence Olawale-Roberts.

We need volunteers to draft this year’s BC comment.

7. Initial Report on the Second CSC Effectiveness Review (link).  Comments close 8-Nov.

8. NIS2, followed closely by Andrew Bennett, Nik Lagergren, and Marie Pattullo.

On 17-Jun, following a political agreement between the European Parliament and Member States on NIS2, we received the latest version of the agreed-upon text.

There is still potential for changes to the text before it is officially adopted in European Parliament in Oct or Nov.  

The BC awaits the adoption of the final text and will advocate for strong transposition with Member States.

Channel 2. Support for discussion and votes of our representatives on GNSO Council

Marie Pattullo and Mark Datysgeld  are our GNSO Councilors.  

Previous council meeting was 25-Aug.  Agenda Transcript Zoom Recording Minutes

Council approved initiation of  GNSO guidance process for subsequent rounds of new gTLDs (SubPro).  See updated GGP request.

Next Council meeting is 21-Sep at 13:15 Malaysian time.  Agenda and Docs incl these items:

Item 5: discuss Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team Assignments #1 (Enforcement and Reporting) and #2 (Measurement of Accuracy) Write Up.  Also need to find a new team chair .

Toba represents the BC on the Registration Data Accuracy WG. 

Thanks to Olajide for volunteering to join Mason on this scoping team.

Accuracy under the current requirements, per the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and Consensus Policies, is understood as syntactic accuracy of the registration data elements provided by the Registered Name Holder or Account Holder as well as the operational accuracy of either the telephone number or the email address.

Item 6: discuss proposed updates to GNSO Operating Procedures: Working Group Self-Assessment; Statement of Interest Procedures.  The Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) worked on this, and thanks to Imran Hossen for volunteering to participate in this Task Force. 

Item 8: Discuss SSAD Light, now called Whois Disclosure System

Steve is on Council small team on SSAD ODA, who last met 6-Sep to review this proposed lightweight “ticketing system” without obligations for use or for disclosure.

On 13-Sep ICANN staff released a design paper and blog, and presents on Saturday in KL. Highlights:

The paper includes assumptions and risks, system mockups

ICANN org says development would take nine months; development and two-year maintenance would be $100,000

• It does not include central or governmental accreditation authorities.
• It does not include accreditation of the requestors.
• It does not include identity verification of requestors.
• It does not include an abuse investigator.
• It does not include a billing function or any fees to the requestor.
• There is no obligation or expectation of automated processing of certain requests by contracted parties. 

The BC has asked, what are benefits to requestors and registrars, to motivate use of a “voluntary” system?

ICANN:  requesters get a single place to request –for any Rr, and there are templates to help form your request.

No real benefit to Rrs.  But if requesters could name registrars who ignore, delay, or always deny, then both would want to use it.

We asked: will anyone inside ICANN be tasked with monitoring use of the ticketing system, incl requests that are ignored or universally denied?

ICANN replied:

the system will have a business owner within the organization and we'll be tracking activity and data, with a scheduled check-in to review the data. our compliance team will be prepared to review complaints that may come in regarding the system.

Requestors could always complain to ICANN compliance about requests that are ignored, delayed, or denied.   Under the interim policy/Temp Spec, registrars must provide reasonable access to registration data... in response to requests.  So, requests sent via this system would be treated just like a request outside the system-if there was a complaint, Compliance would ask the registrar to demonstrate how it is meeting the currently applicable policy requirement.  So, if a registrar is ignoring requests sent through this system, there may be grounds for Compliance enforcement action

Please also see Steve Crocker’s questions submitted last week.

Small team will advise Council about responding. 

If GNSO Council endorses this ticketing system in Oct (and Board approves), ICANN could begin development first half of 2023.

Item 9: Update from the Universal Acceptance Steering Group.

Expected topics for Council meetings with GAC and ALAC at ICANN75

ALAC has suggested the following topics:

· The GNSO Council Small Team on DNS Abuse's work

The following are potential topics for the GAC bilateral:

· SSAD Light

· Subsequent Rounds of New gTLDs

· DNS Abuse

· Accuracy

Other Council activities:

1. DNS Abuse small team. Mark Datysgeld serves as co-lead.

The team has a draft work plan several phases:

outreach to the community,

understanding the current landscape of DNS abuse,

considering which elements of DNS abuse appear inadequately mitigated AND are in scope for GNSO policy making (if any),

making recommendations on next steps to the Council.

Discussion of DNS Abuse at ICANN 74:

Goran pointed us to DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Technical Study Group (DSFI-TSG).  See their Final Report.   

GAC briefing and slides presented in their Tue session.

 2. Closed Generic gTLDs in the next round.

following an invitation from the Board, GNSO and GAC will “formulate a workable framework to identify and handle closed generic applications for the immediate next round of new gTLDs”, and in this dialogue we will be joined by ALAC. 

Council leadership invited each Stakeholder Group to select a representative for this dialogue. This group is would ideally have a first informal meeting during ICANN 75.  Thanks to Tim Smith for offering to do this.

The attached document provides the guidance for this appointment. 

the framework discussion will focus on options other than the two endpoint positions (i.e. no closed generics at all; closed generics without restrictions) as per the Board’s Proposed Parameters for Dialogue

the participants will "contribute as independent individuals, bringing their individual experiences and expertise, and not serve as representatives of their respective community organization(s). The participants must commit to focusing on successfully developing a framework for closed generics, even if the end product is inconsistent with the goals or priorities of the participant or the participant's SO/AC/SG/C.” (Council small team report)

Channel 3. Supporting discussion/voting on matters before the Commercial Stakeholders Group (CSG)

Tim Smith is the CSG Liaison for the BC.   

CSG ExComm met on August 25 and September 1 to complete planning for meetings during ICANN 75. 

Xavier Calvez has confirmed to attend the CSG Open meeting on September 20 for an update on Auction Proceeds and Planning Prioritization.  Also on the agenda for discussion amongst the membership are the SSAD pilot and Data Accuracy.

Also on September 20 is the CSG meeting with the ICANN Board.  We will seek an update on the work of the Board DNS Abuse group and their impression of the various DNS abuse initiatives outside of ICANN.  We will also seek their input on ODP process and whether they feel it is working.  We are still working on how to address the Board topic of “What collaborative actions should the Community, Board and Org be undertaking to further progress achieving our strategic priorities?”.

On September 22 CSG is scheduled for a meeting with CPH for which we have asked Goran Marby to attend for about 15 minutes because he had a conflict for the CSG open meeting.  We will again ask for his input on auction proceeds and planning at ICANN.  The remaining part of the CPH meeting will focus on common interest topics, such as DNS abuse. 

GNSO Council Chair and Vice Chair elections are on the horizon, and we have reached out to NCSG and CPH to determine their positions and potential nominees for these posts.  

Upcoming for ICANN 75 (Sep 17-22)

Registration for ICANN75 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.   The comprehensive schedule has been posted 

BC Membership Meeting - Sunday, 18-Sep at 15:00 MYT time (UTC +8) 07:00-08:00 UTC time

CSG Membership Session – Tuesday, 20-Sep 10:30-12:00 MYT (UTC +8) | 02:30-04:00 UTC

CSG meeting with ICANN Board – Tuesday, 20-Sep 13:15-14:30 MYT (UTC +8) 05:15-06:30 UTC

CPH/CSG Meeting – Thursday, 22-Sep 16:30-17:30 MYT (UTC +8) 08:30-09:30 UTC

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