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ALAC Draft Accountability Framework and Conflicts of Interest Policy
by Nick Ashton-Hart April 1, 2008

April 1, 2008

Dear Community members: The ALAC decided at their last meeting to request the staff to draft up a comprehensive Accountability Framework, which the ALAC Executive Committee was to review and amend at its meeting this month. The Chair proposed to the ExComm that at the same time a Conflicts of Interest Policy should be prepared as this was a natural accompaniment to the Accountability Framework. he ExComm has reviewed these two texts, and the ALAC is now to review the draft from 1 April until 11th April - comments from the wider At-Large community are of course welcomed. Any comments received are then to be incorporated and the resulting text will be on the agenda for adoption at the next ALAC Teleconference, in May. The URL for the text is as follows. In order to save bandwidth for those who do not have broadband, the text has not been attached to this message: https://st.icann.org/data/workspaces/alac/attachments/8_april_2008:20080331… French and Spanish translation will be available once they are ready. -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director for At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart(a)icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart(a)hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart(a)mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart

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CFP Global Internet Governance Academic Network Symposium 2008 - Please distribute widely
by Max Senges March 28, 2008

March 28, 2008

FYI Call for Papers Third Annual GigaNet Symposium 2 December 2008 - Hyderabad, India Hyderabad International Conference Center (HICC) The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) is a scholarly community that promotes the development of Internet governance as a recognized, interdisciplinary field of study and facilitates informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters between scholars and governments, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society. Each year, GigaNet organizes a one-day research symposium in conjunction with the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and in the same premises. After the first two editions in Athens, Greece (October 2006) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (November 2007), the third GigaNet Annual Symposium will be held on December 2, 2008, in Hyderabad, India, the day before the 3rd IGF meeting. Attendance at the Symposium will be open to all and free of charge. The Symposium will be at the same location as the IGF and registration with the UN as an IGF participant may be necessary to gain entry to the building. This is a call for papers from scholars interested in presenting an original research paper at the conference. Submission topics In addition to papers on methodological aspects of Internet governance-related studies, this year's Symposium particularly encourages submissions on the following themes, which are described in more detail below: 1. Comparing Internet Governance to other Global Governance Domains 2. Networked Governance Theories and the Institutionalization of Internet Governance 3. The Role of NGOs, Social Movements and Civil Society in Internet Governance 4. Year 3 of the UN Internet Governance Forum: Assessing its Structure, Process and Impact 5. Law and Jurisdictions in Internet Governance 6. Copyright Protection, Internet Service Providers and Technical Mechanisms of Control 7. Internationalized Domain Names: Expanding Access or Tower of Babel? Submission requirements Applicants should submit: 1) an abstract of 800-1000 words, in English, of the proposed paper that describes the main research question(s), methods employed, and the paper's relevance and value to the thematic area; and 2) a one page summary curriculum vitae listing in particular the applicant's current institutional affiliation(s), advanced degrees, scholarly publications relevant to Internet governance, and web sites, if available. Submission materials should be emailed directly to the chairperson of the 2008 Program Committee, Dr. Meryem Marzouki, at Meryem.Marzouki(a)lip6.fr by no later than July 15, 2008, midnight GMT. Members of the 2008 program committee will review submissions according to the same criteria. In order to ensure fairness of the evaluation process, submissions that do not conform to the requested format will not be considered. The Program Committee will notify applicants of its decisions via email by September 15, 2008. A full paper upon which oral or poster presentation will be based must be delivered to the same address by October 10, 2008, midnight GMT in order for the author(s) to be included in the program. While GigaNet asserts no copyright to authors' work, it is expected that the version of the paper presented orally or as poster will be made available for posting on the GigaNet website. Travel scholarships for a few outstanding accepted papers may be available for scholars who would otherwise be unable to attend. Applicants who are accepted will be informed of these opportunities after September 15. 2008 GigaNet Symposium Program Committee: - Ana Abreu, Labeurb/Unicamp and Paulista University, Campinas (SP), Brazil - Slavka Antonova, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand - Meryem Marzouki, LIP6/PolyTIC-CNRS Laboratory, Paris, France (Chair) - John Mathiason, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse (NY), USA - Milton Mueller, Syracuse University School of Information Studies, Syracuse (NY), USA - Max Senges, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain - Rolf H. Weber, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland Important dates: - 15 July 2008: abstract submission deadline (to be sent to: Meryem.Marzouki(a)lip6.fr) - 15 September 2008: notification to applicants - 10 October 2008: full papers due - 15 October 2008: 2008 GigaNet symposium program finalized - 2 December 2008: 2008 GigaNet symposium, HICC, Hyderabad, India Topics Description 1. Comparing Internet Governance to other Global Governance Domains The concept of global governance has flourished in a number of fields: trade, security, environment, development -- as well as Internet. However, most general analyses of global governance ignore global Internet governance. Conversely, very few Internet governance analyses are conducted through comparative frameworks. Submissions are invited to help frame Internet governance in a broader, global governance perspective. What could be learnt from experiences of global governance in other fields? Are there any general instruments and methods of global governance, irrespective of the domain area it addresses? Could some similarities or invariants of a global governance process be identified? 2. Networked Governance Theories and the Institutionalization of Internet Governance The global policy discourse on Internet governance involves more diverse actors and newly created institutions. There is a need to explore the dynamics of this changing institutionalization process through theoretical and empirical analysis. Recent work explores network forms of organization in political and governance contexts, at national and international levels, most notably with the concept of "transgovernmental networks" to solve sector-specific problems. We call for papers that apply, test and criticize ideas of "networked governance" in the context of global Internet governance. We encourage submissions that analyze collaborative policy-making in related institutions and interactions between them. We are especially interested in papers that critically analyze these forms of governance in terms of fairness and accountability and their relationship to democratic principles. Can presently excluded or minority communities enhance their participation? Beyond the expert discourse and the interplay amongst dedicated stakeholders, can networked governance represent people, rather than just established interests and agencies? What are the available tools and practices to facilitate their participation and deliberation, in terms of discourse, collaboration and decision-making? 3. Role of NGOs, Social Movements and Civil Society in Internet Governance Important but subtle transformations have occurred in the role and participation of non-governmental and non-business actors in the 6 years since the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). WSIS witnessed a somewhat usual situation, where organized social actors participated from inside the process through structured non- governmental organizations, and social movements exercised some more radical pressure from the outside. Since the creation of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF), this mode of participation has turned into a "consensus-based cooperation", where civil society actors are supposed to contribute on equal footing with governments and business actors, in most cases in their individual capacity and rather disconnected from social movements. We seek papers that analyze the evolution of involved social actors and their structuring, especially with regards to the historical evolution of the concept of civil society, and to explore in which ways and to what extent these transformations may be related to the move from government to governance. 4. Year 3 of the UN Internet Governance Forum: Assessing its Structure, Process and Impact The WSIS created and mandated the IGF to address critical, value- adding global Internet governance functions that cannot be entirely performed by any existing institution. This includes: highlighting emerging issues, assessing the embodiment of WSIS principles, and strengthening the participation of stakeholders in Internet governance mechanisms. Furthermore, the IGF was defined as "multilateral, multi-stakeholder, democratic and transparent" body; it has been structured through a Secretariat, a multi-stakeholder advisory group (MAG), and a special advisory group to the MAG's chair; and for 3 years, it has been operating as an open discursive space, prepared through open consultation sessions. Submissions are invited to explore whether the IGF has fulfilled its mandate at this step, which difficulties can be identified and how they could be solved. Has the IGF structure, management and advisory mechanisms proven to be adequate and compliant with the WSIS Tunis Agenda requirements? What strengths could be reinforced and weaknesses overcome? 5. Law and Jurisdictions in Internet Governance The Internet must now be considered a major factor when elaborating regulatory principles to deal with the circulation of content and data and with the protection of the general communications infrastructure. This is not an easy task because of its implications on the respect for universal human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, where States differ widely on their implementation of these international standards, even among coherent regional entities. The task becomes even more complex due to conflicts of competences among overlapping jurisdictions. We seek papers that identify and explore conflicts among national laws and attempts to harmonize them. We also seek papers that explore the relevance to the global Internet of public and private international law currently in force or being considered in ongoing international negotiations. Submissions analyzing the role and positions of various players in these processes are also encouraged. 6. Copyright Protection, Internet Service Providers and Technical Mechanisms of Control We encourage papers that examine attempts to impose copyright protection on the Internet through the intermediary of Internet service providers. This theme bridges the topics of network neutrality and intellectual property, inspired by recent incidents, such as a Belgian ISP's order by a court to use deep packet inspection to catch copyright infringement in transit, and Comcast's notorious interference with BitTorrent, which also was probably stimulated in part by copyright protection concerns. Papers can explore the feasibility and "state of the art" of packet inspection and other relevant techniques, analyze copyright industry and ISP industry interactions from a political economy standpoint, or examine appropriate policy responses to new and powerful packet inspection techniques. 7. Internationalized Domain Names: Expanding Access or Tower of Babel? We encourage papers on the economic, cultural and compatibility issues raised by the migration to a new standard for Internet domain names that allows them to reflect non-Roman scripts such as Chinese or Cyrillic. Internationalized domain names (IDNs) have a double- edged effect: they widen access for non-English or ASCII readers by making domain names easier to use, but they also introduce compatibility problems among people communicating across language boundaries, as one party may not know how to read or input the address of the other party. There are also interesting questions of competition policy, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) must decide whether to give new generic top level domains (TLDs) in IDN scripts to incumbents operating ASCII TLDs with similar meanings, or to new competitors. Issues of consumer confusion and cross-linguistic disputes can also arise. -- Private discussion list of 2008 GigaNet Program Committee. Archived. List homepage: http://www-rp.lip6.fr/wws/info/giganet-pc2008 -- ------------------------------------------------- "I meant to tell mankind . . . to attempt a quixotic adventure with no resources beyond their native strength and sagacity. I had done it myself and found not only that the pearl of great price was worth far more than I possessed, but that the very perils and privations of the Quest were themselves my dearest memories. I was certain of this at least: that nothing in the world except this was worth doing." - Aleister Crowley, The Confessions ------------------------------------------------- Dr. Max Senges Stanford Post-Doc Visiting Scholar UOC Research Associate Freelance Consultant 98 Loyola Ave., Menlo Park, California 94025 US-Phone: (001) 650 714 9826 www.maxsenges.com http://entrepreneur.jot.com https://www.openbc.com/hp/Max_Senges/ ------------------------------------------------------------ -- ------------------------------------------------- "I meant to tell mankind . . . to attempt a quixotic adventure with no resources beyond their native strength and sagacity. I had done it myself and found not only that the pearl of great price was worth far more than I possessed, but that the very perils and privations of the Quest were themselves my dearest memories. I was certain of this at least: that nothing in the world except this was worth doing." - Aleister Crowley, The Confessions ------------------------------------------------- Dr. Max Senges Stanford Post-Doc Visiting Scholar UOC Research Associate Freelance Consultant 98 Loyola Ave., Menlo Park, California 94025 US-Phone: (001) 650 714 9826 www.maxsenges.com http://entrepreneur.jot.com https://www.openbc.com/hp/Max_Senges/ ------------------------------------------------------------

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New Community Website - conversion done, new site online!
by Nick Ashton-Hart March 25, 2008

March 25, 2008

Dear members of the community: I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that the conversion has been completed and the new website is up and running at www.atlarge.icann.org! There's still much to do though: 1. We will begin to change the menu structure on both the sides and the top to make things more intuitive. A number of documents also need to be changed from one long piece of text (like the main page) to individual 'pieces' of standalone text. The integration of forums and mailing lists for a two-way link between them is also pending. As those things are done we will also: 2. start migration a lot of the wiki content over to the main site - and also migrate the calendar from Google calendar 3. We'll create the regional sub-sites, so that it will become possible to allow community contribution of material to the site. 4. We'll start to 'turn on' features such as: RSS-feeds of blogs of members of the community related to ICANN (we will put out a call for those of you with blogs to send your URLs in - but hang on; we're not ready quite yet. I hope that you are all as excited by this milestone as I am. It has been a year in the making, and it may still look a bit like the old site - but we've now got a solid foundation to build a truly collaborative future! -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director for At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart(a)icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart(a)hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart(a)mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart

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Draft GNSO Improvements Statement from At-Large: Comments due by 31st March 1200 UTC
by At-Large Staff March 25, 2008

March 25, 2008

Dear Members of the At-Large Community: I have the pleasure to provide you with the attached draft statement of the ALAC Ad-Hoc Working Group on GNSO Improvements. It is intended that the statement should be transmitted by the At-Large Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors of ICANN as a formal statement on behalf of the At-Large community. In order to do this, the following timeline has been established by the Working Group: 1. At-Large community views on the document are requested to be received not later than 31st March at 1200 UTC; 2. The Working Group will meet on 31st March to revise the statement as necessary to reflect the views of the community; 3. The Chair of the ALAC will transmit the finalised statement to the Board of Directors directly after it is finalised. We are requested to point out to you that the consultation on the GNSO Improvements proposal has been extended to 25th April 2008. As a result, the attached statement once finalised will also be transmitted to that public consultation. The consultation is open to all concerned and it is the hope of the ALAC that many members of the community will take this opportunity to comment directly. The consultation can be found at: http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#gnso-improvements-report-2008. Comments may be sent directly to gnso-improvements-report-2008(a)icann.org. The comments of others may be found at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-improvements-report-2008/ -- Regards, ICANN At-Large Staff email: staff(a)atlarge.icann.org

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AT-LARGE ANNOUNCEMENT: Resignation of ALAC Vice-Chair
by At-Large Staff March 18, 2008

March 18, 2008

Dear Community: The Chair of the ALAC has requested that the At-Large Staff notify you that Robert Guerra has resigned his office as Vice-Chair of the At-Large Advisory Committee for personal reasons. The ALAC wishes to convey its thanks for his work in this position until his resignation. Robert remains an elected Member of the ALAC from North America and the representative of At-Large to the Security and Stability Advisory Committee. This situation is provided for in Rule 9.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the ALAC as adopted in October 2007: ³If for any reason whatsoever (including lack of quorum, lack or loss of eligibility requirements, resignation, or recall) an officer position becomes vacant before the end of the term, the Chair will promptly start an election to fill it, by sending an ³election call² message and starting the procedure from rule 9.1² In conformity with Rule 9.1 an election call message from the Chair will be forthcoming, which will provide the relevant details of the process to elect a replacement co-Vice-Chair. -- Regards, ICANN At-Large Staff email: staff(a)atlarge.icann.org

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URGENT: Statement on Domain Name Front Running
by At-Large Staff March 13, 2008

March 13, 2008

Dear Members: The statement reproduced below on the practice known as ³Domain Name Front Running² was approved by the NARALO on 10 March 2008. The ALAC reviewed this statement on 11th March 2008, and by decision of the ALAC you are kindly asked to register any objections to this statement not later than Monday 17 March at 1200 UTC after it will be considered approved by the ALAC and transmitted to the Board by the Chair at her convenience. The statement may be found at the following URL in addition to being reproduced below: https://st.icann.org/naralo/index.cgi?statement_to_the_icann_board_on_domain _front_running Statement on Domain Name Front Running Presented to NARALO by electronic Mail, 1 March 2008 Dear ICANN board directors: While we are aware that you have been monitoring the public outrage in response to registrar activities that have been variously described as "front-running" and/or "domain reservation" or "cart-hold" or "cart-reserve" activities, we are of the view that the obligation to safeguard the operational stability of Registrar Services now requires the immediate temporary establishment of a consensus policy curtailing such practices to be taken in accordance with the board's authority under the provisions set out in section 4.3.4 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement, that states: "A specification or policy established by the ICANN Board of Directors on a temporary basis, without a prior recommendation by the council of an ICANN Supporting Organization, shall also be considered to be a Consensus Policy if adopted by the ICANN Board of Directors by a vote of at least two-thirds of its members, so long as the Board reasonably determines that immediate temporary establishment of a specification or policy on the subject is necessary to maintain the operational stability of Registrar Services, Registry Services, the DNS, or the Internet, and that the proposed specification or policy is as narrowly tailored as feasible to achieve those objectives." Please be advised that we have reached this conclusion based in part upon the following considerations: 1. The use of "cart-hold" or "cart-reserve" systems has been actively under discussion within the registrars constituency since early October 2007 when three different registrars first advanced the concept within the context of a straw poll on the impact to registrants were the AGP to be eliminated in its entirety (see footnote 1 at the bottom of the page) 2. The use of this domain name reservation practice next came to be adopted by a large-volume registrar (Network Solutions) on or about 8 January 2008, and the practice was immediately condemned by the community at large (with extensive coverage in the Tech media, the general press, in blogs world wide, on domain name forums, and on community discussion lists). 3. The actions of Network Solutions has now spawned a similar project on the part of another large-volume registrar (register.com) and we have no reason to believe that other large-volume registrars will refrain from rapidly setting up comparable efforts. (see Footnote 2). While we recognize that we are unable to point to an ICANN-approved definition of "operational stability of Registrar Services" (as no such definition exists within either current ICANN contracts or supporting materials), we take guidance from the ICANN Policy Document ICP-3 which posits that activities that do not interfere with the operation of the DNS are, generally speaking, those that operate within community-established norms. Such norms tend to respect a set of long-established principles such as the principle of least astonishment. When registrants currently search for a domain name at these registrars using normative search practices, they are clearly astonished by that which results from their efforts: the inability to readily register the domain name of their choice with a more competitive registrar and/or the domain name that they have selected appearing in the WHOIS with the name of the registrar as the registrant of record. (Footnote 3 The community's trust in ICANN's ability to manage the Domain Name System is at stake. It is inappropriate for such registrar activities to proceed unabated in a policy vaccuum. Accordingly we call upon the ICANN board to establish a temporary narrowly-tailored policy as a stopgap until such time as the relevant policy-recommending ICANN Supporting Organizations can provide a comprehensive consensus policy solution. -- Regards, ICANN At-Large Staff email: staff(a)atlarge.icann.org

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FW: Transmittal of SAC 025 to ALAC
by At-Large Staff March 11, 2008

March 11, 2008

Dear At-Large community members: We have the pleasure of providing the attached for your review. ------ Forwarded Message From: Dave Piscitello <dave.piscitello(a)icann.org> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:00:49 -0700 To: Nick Ashton-Hart <Nick.Ashton-Hart(a)icann.org>, <rguerra(a)privaterra.ca>, <vanda(a)uol.com.br>, <cheryl(a)hotek.com.au> Cc: Steve Crocker <steve(a)shinkuro.com> Subject: Transmittal of SAC 025 to ALAC 12 March 2008 Transmittal of SAC025: Fast Flux Hosting and DNS to the ALAC At the direction of the ICANN Board of Directors, the Security and Stability Advisory Committee invites the ALAC to consider the accompanying Advisory, SAC 025: Fast Flux Hosting and DNS. A PDF of the Advisory may be downloaded from the ICANN web site at http://www.icann.org/committees/security/sac025.pdf Cyber-criminals and Internet miscreants use Fast Flux hosting to frustrate anticrime efforts aimed at locating and shutting down web sites used for illegal purposes. Fast flux hosting supports a wide variety of cyber-crime activities (fraud, identity theft, online scams) and is considered one of the most serious threats to online activities today. One variant of fast flux hosting, "double flux", exploits the domain name registration and name resolution services. SAC 025 describes the technical aspects of fast flux hosting and fast flux service networks and explains how the DNS is exploited to abet criminal activities that employ fast flux hosting. The Advisory discusses current and possible methods of mitigating fast flux hosting at various points in the Internet and identifies those methods that SSAC considers practical and sensible. SSAC asks that the ALAC consider in particular the Section entitled Shut Down the fast flux hosts, where measures to reduce the number of hosts that attackers can compromise and use in fast flux attacks are discussed. While these measures alone cannot eliminate fast flux hosting, they can greatly improve the overall Internet security baseline if implemented broadly and uniformly. We thank you in advance for your time and consideration. David Piscitello ICANN Senior Security Technologist, On behalf of the SSAC ------ End of Forwarded Message

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Report on OneDay Workshop for ALAC/AtLarge in New Delhi
by Veronica Cretu March 10, 2008

March 10, 2008

Dear ALAC/AtLarge colleagues! Warmest Greetings from Moldova! Back in LA meeting ALAC has launched a "OneDay" workshop initiative. "OneDay" initiative is part of the Organizational Development @ ALAC. With the formation of all five RALOs, ALAC/AtLarge Organizational Development represents the single most important parameter when considering the sustainability of any changes that may have been put in place during the process. Because the results of the LA meeting have proven the need to continue the initiative, the second phase of the "OneDay" has been organized on February 10, 2008 in New Delhi. Today, the “OneDay” Workshop team is happy to provide you with a report on that meeting. Millions of thanks for all those who participated in the event and made it happen, and more importantly, to all those who have provided their feedback: comments, suggestions, recommendations on the OneDay in New Delhi. Don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any questions, comments, etc. related to the Report. Wishing you all a great week ahead! On behalf of the OneDay Workshop team, As ever, Veronica Cretu Veronica Cretu President, "CMB" Training Center (www.cmb.md ) Phone: 373 22 55 68 64, 27 45 04, Fax: 27 31 96 ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) At Large Advisory Committee Member from Eastern Europe, LA, USA http://www.icann.org/committees/alac/cretu.html

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INVITATION TO COMMENT AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE INDEPENDENT REVIEW
by At-Large Staff March 10, 2008

March 10, 2008

Westlake Consulting Limited (http://www.westlakenz.com/) (WCL) has been selected by ICANN's Board of Directors to conduct an independent review of the At-Large Advisory Committee (http://alac.icann.org/) (ALAC). WCL's review team is gathering information from many different sources including a range of people who have an interest, directly or indirectly, in the ALAC. The objectives of the Review are principally: * [To determine] whether the ALAC has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure; and, * If so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness. The Review Terms of Reference (http://www.icann.org/reviews/alac/alac-review-final-tor-20jun07.pdf) note that: ³It will be important to consider different perspectives relevant to the ALAC, including the views of individual Internet users, the ALSs, the RALOs, past and current Members of the ALAC, and many others within (and perhaps outside of) the ICANN community.² Accordingly, WCL invites individuals or organisations, who wish to contribute observations or information about any aspect of the role, structure or operation of the ALAC, to email their comments to alacreview(a)westlakenz.com, no later than 18 April 2008. -- Regards, ICANN At-Large Staff email: staff(a)atlarge.icann.org

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GNSO Solicits Public Comments on Draft Resolution to Curb Domain Tasting
by At-Large Staff March 9, 2008

March 9, 2008

http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#domain-tasting ICANN¹s GNSO Solicits Public Comments on Draft Resolution to Curb Domain Tasting Comment period 7 March 2008 to 28 March 2008 Please submit comments to: <domain-tasting-motion(a)icann.org> Comments may be viewed at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/domain-tasting-motion/ Explanation: The GNSO Council is considering the issue of "domain tasting", a term used to describe the case when someone registers a domain name and then tests to see if the name has sufficient traffic to provide more income than the annual registration fee (usually through pay-per-click advertising). If the name is deemed sufficiently profitable, it is kept. If not, the current "add grace period" (AGP) - where domains can be returned within five days without cost - is used to return the domain at no net cost to the registrant. Recently there has been a significant increase in the number of domains registered and returned within the AGP. ICANN staff prepared an Issues Report in June 2007 http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/domain-tasting/gnso-domain-tasting-report-1 4jun07.pdf and subsequently a GNSO working group published an Outcomes Report in October 2007. http://www.gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-domain-tasting-adhoc-outcomes-report-f inal.pdf The GNSO Council decided on 31 October 2007 to launch a policy development process (PDP) on domain tasting. An Initial Report http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/domain-tasting/gnso-initial-report-domain-t asting-07jan08.pdf was produced for public comment, outlining the policy development process, possible actions that might be taken, and the arguments put forward for and against such actions. Public comments were incorporated into a draft Final Report (posted 8 February) http://www.gnso.icann.org/drafts/draft-final-report-domain-tasting-08feb08.p df for GNSO Council review and action. Members of the Council subsequently drafted this motion http://gnso.icann.org/issues/domain-tasting/dnt-motion-6mar08.shtml to curb domain tasting. It would prohibit any gTLD operator that has implemented an add grace period from offering a refund for any domain name deleted during the AGP that exceeds 10% of its net new registrations in that month, or fifty domain names, whichever is greater. An exemption may be sought for a particular month, upon the documented showing of extraordinary circumstances, as detailed in the motion. The GNSO Council will consider public comments and constituency impact statements regarding the draft motion and incorporate them into a further draft for Council consideration at its scheduled 17 April meeting. -- Regards, ICANN At-Large Staff email: staff(a)atlarge.icann.org --

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