I would humbly suggest that we may be focused overly much on a circa 2000 Internet model, where human-driven Internet action and URLs dominated. That is not true today, and will bring some even more profound changes in the future. Here are two to contemplate:

First, most Internet traffic is machine-to-machine and that fraction is growing rapidly. That is especially true with the increasing rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). Those bring to the fore many important issues surrounding addresses (and sometimes names, but less so), but also a plethora of issues related to security and privacy, acceptable use, critical infrastructure risks (and rewards), directory services, energy management and device lifetime, publisher/subscriber services, metadata and ontologies, …

A second major trend is “in application” service, where the data and user access are managed within the application. In part, that is driven by the now dominate global interaction mode -- mobile devices -- where user interface real estate is at a premium and alternatives to the old WIMP model are crucial. Here, the users is almost always one or two levels removed from the notion of web sites and domain names because the app and its services hide these things. Strong technical and economic forces are driving this model, along with increasingly powerful recommender engines. One could easily posit a world where domain names become quaint curiosities. In that world, what will matter even more is brand equity via the keywords that define a site or collection of sites. Search engines are just one step along that path, as many (most?) simply type things they think are related to the site and click on the recommended links.

A few ideas for thought …

From: owner-council@gnso.icann.org [mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Robinson
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 2:37 PM
To: council@gnso.icann.org
Subject: [council] FW: SO-AC-SG HIGH INTEREST TOPIC SESSION @ ICANN 51 in Los Angeles - A Reminder

All,

Please be aware that ICANN is seeking (urgent) input on selection of content for a “high interest” topic session in LA.

Thanks,

Jonathan

From: David Olive [mailto:david.olive@icann.org]
Sent: 26 August 2014 03:04
To: Byron Holland; heather.dryden@ic.gc.ca; Jonathan Robinson; Louie Lee; Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond; Patrik Fältström; Jun Murai; Lars-Johan Liman; Elisa Cooper; tony holmes; krosette@cov.com; rafik dammak; William Drake; Michele Neylon :: Blacknight; Drazek, Keith; Rudi Vansnick; Fadi Chehade; Cassia Oliveira; Tina Shelebian; Lynn Lipinski; Lynn Gravel; Gisella Gruber; Global Leadership; William Drake; Robert Hoggarth; Duncan Burns
Subject: Re: SO-AC-SG HIGH INTEREST TOPIC SESSION @ ICANN 51 in Los Angeles - A Reminder

Dear Community Leaders:

It’s been an unusually busy August so far and, understandably, I have not received much feedback from you all on prospective topics for your SO-AC High-Interest topic at the ICANN51 Public Meeting in Los Angeles.

Certain topics, such as ICANN Accountability, the IANA Stewardship Transition, and new gTLD Directory Services (WHOIS), appear to be covered by other session programming on Monday or elsewhere during the week, so, additional topics are now needed for the potential session discussion.

The staff meeting and programming team is giving me some more time to collaborate with you on this session, and we should start identifying some specific topics so that you have time to lead some conversations within your communities over the next month in preparation for the LA session discussion.

I’ve been able to extend the topic-brainstorming deadline to COB this Thursday. Please share any thoughts or ideas with me at your earliest convenience.

Best,

David

David A. Olive

Vice President, Policy Development Support
General Manager, ICANN Regional Headquarters –Istanbul

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Direct Line: +90.212.381.8727

Mobile: + 1. 202.341.3611

Email: david.olive@icann.org

www.icann.org

From: David Olive <david.olive@icann.org>
Date: Thursday, August 14, 2014 7:49 PM
To: Byron Holland <byron.holland@cira.ca>, Heather Dryden <Heather.Dryden@ic.gc.ca>, Jonathan Robinson <jonathan.robinson@ipracon.com>, Louie Lee <louie@louie.net>, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com>, Patrik Fältström <paf@netnod.se>, Jun Murai <junsec@wide.ad.jp>, Lars-Johan Liman <liman@netnod.se>, Elisa Cooper <Elisa.Cooper@markmonitor.com>, tony holmes <tonyarholmes@btinternet.com>, "krosette@cov.com" <krosette@cov.com>, Rafik Dammak <rafik.dammak@gmail.com>, William Drake <william.drake@uzh.ch>, "Michele Neylon :: Blacknight" <michele@blacknight.com>, "Drazek, Keith" <kdrazek@verisign.com>, Rudi Vansnick <rudi.vansnick@isoc.be>, Fadi Chehade <fadi.chehade@icann.org>, Cassia Oliveira <cassia.oliveira@icann.org>, Tina Shelebian <tina.shelebian@icann.org>, Lynn Lipinski <lynn.lipinski@icann.org>, Lynn Gravel <lynn.gravel@cira.ca>, Gisella Gruber <Gisella.Gruber@icann.org>, Global Leadership <global_leadership@icann.org>, William Drake <wjdrake@gmail.com>, Rob Hoggarth <robert.hoggarth@icann.org>, Duncan Burns <duncan.burns@icann.org>
Subject: SO-AC-SG HIGH INTEREST TOPIC SESSION @ ICANN 51 in Los Angeles

Dear SO/AC/SG Leaders:

Thank you all for confirming your interest in proceeding with the planning for an SO-AC High Interest Session in Los Angeles. Working with our staff Meeting Team colleagues, it appears that Monday in LA will again offer the best window for the session. I have informed the ICANN 51 Steering Committee of the need for the session and we have discussed the following scenario.

Monday programming will offer opportunities for community discussion on a range of topics of high interest to the community. We can count on their being at least one session addressing the IANA Stewardship Transition and another session addressing the ICANN Accountability matter. Heather has also noted the likelihood of a GAC request for a session on Registration Data (WHOIS) issues.

As a result of this overall concept, we suggest planning to conduct a session that highlights one or two topics of high community interest that are different from these three main topic areas. It would be helpful to have you share topic suggestion on this list over the next week or so. Staff will compile the list of all suggestion received by 25 August and then I’ll circulate the list of possibilities to all of you for winnowing down. My hope is that, via email, we can quickly reach consensus on a couple of topics so that all of you will have the opportunity to glean your community views to share during the session.

Logistically, we will plan to run the session largely like the previous hot-topic session in Buenos Aires – recall the Brad White-led format. I am happy to get feedback from you on any improvements we can introduce to that format previous format.

Looking forward to hearing your suggestion of topics.