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Newly Elected Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Chair Manal Ismail on Her New Role
The GAC Underserved Regions Working Group has begun undertaking capacity-development workshops for members and observers this past year. What is your take on that, and specifically, on the recent workshop in Abu Dhabi, parallel to ICANN60?
Capacity-building workshops are very useful in bringing not only new members, but also new voices to GAC discussions. Lowering barriers to participation is one of our objectives, and this is just one aspect of our work. Continuous evaluation and enhancement of such workshops, as well as providing the material in different languages, are crucial for achieving broader interactions and discussions in the GAC.
What is on the GAC agenda for the next 12 months?
We have urgent matters such as .amazon and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), WHOIS, and Registration Directory Services (RDS). There are also hot topics such as ICANN jurisdiction and geographic names, the important diverse topic of New gTLD Subsequent Procedures, and the long-standing discussions on intergovernmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations. This is in addition to the High Level Governmental Meeting scheduled for Barcelona in October 2018. Administratively, priorities include the review of the GAC Operating Principles and lowering barriers to participation.
How do you see the role of the GAC chair?
The main role of the chair is facilitating the work of the GAC in an accountable and transparent way, in order to provide timely consensus advice to the Board or input to the community. The chair should also work on reaching out to enhance engagement in and of the GAC, and work on building bridges of mutual understanding, respect, and trust between the GAC and the Board, as well as the GAC and the wider community, including all Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees.
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ICANN Visits Belarus for the Second Eastern European DNS Forum
On 12-13 October 2017, ICANN organized the second Eastern European Domain Name System (DNS) Forum (EEDNSF) in Minsk, Belarus, hosted by Belarusian country code top-level domain (ccTLD) technical administrator hoster.by. With over 160 participants from more than 10 neighboring countries and beyond, this event was a great sequel to the regional initiative kicked off last year.
Find out about the evolution of the EEDNSF in Alexandra Kulikova's blog.
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ICANN Supports First Central European Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Poland
21 November was an important date for Internet governance in Central Europe. This first Central European IGF was held in Warsaw, Poland.
After organizing a successful first Polish IGF in 2016, the Polish Ministry for Digital Affairs expanded the initiative to include other countries from the region. Along with partners from academia, nongovernmental organizations, business, and the technical community, ICANN was a strong supporter of this initiative and played a crucial role in broadening the event to include the entire Central European region.
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Looking Back on Our Youth and Academia Outreach Efforts in Africa in 2017
As 2017 is almost over, we'd like to take a moment to reflect on our engagement journey with the youth and academic communities in Africa.
One of our fundamental objectives has been to create awareness that will lead to meaningful participation of the African community in ICANN and in the wider Internet governance ecosystem. According to the Africa Union, 65 percent of Africans are below the age of 35. The World Economic Forum states that the 10 youngest populations of the world are all in Africa. This reality makes it imperative that we put youth at the center of our regional engagement agenda.
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ICANN Engages with the Israeli Internet Community
In early November, John Crain from ICANN's Security, Stability, and Resiliency (SSR) Team was invited to Israel by the Israel Internet Association, the operator of the .il country code top-level domain (ccTLD). It is worth noting that in Israel, the ccTLD is categorized as national critical infrastructure, meaning that the registry must meet certain security criteria.
Crain met with the Israeli Internet community, law enforcement agencies, and government representatives to discuss issues related to Domain Name System (DNS)security. He gave training sessions and delivered speeches at various conferences, with a focus on DNS abuse and DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC). Crain also visited the national Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
We would like to thank our host for the warm welcome and opportunities to meet with Israeli stakeholders. We look forward to furthering our cooperation.
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ICANN Participates in World Hosting Days in Moscow
On 9 November, ICANN's Alexandra Kulikova, Global Stakeholder Engagement Senior Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, delivered a keynote speech at World Hosting Days in Moscow (WHD.moscow). ICANN has participated in WHD conferences in other locations, but never before in Moscow. Kulikova covered a variety of ICANN policy-related topics. View the presentation slides and photos from the event.
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ICANN Strategic Framework Session for the EECA Takes Place at ICANN60
The second session on the ICANN regional strategy framework in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) took place at ICANN60 in Abu Dhabi. The session was a success, with diverse participation from 40 attendees.
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Carlos Alvarez from SSR Team Joins DNS Abuse Roadshow in Kiev
From 15-17 November, Carlos Alvarez, ICANN Director of Security, Stability, and Resiliency Engagement, delivered a series of lectures in Kiev, Ukraine. This was the first time ICANN organized a "roadshow" of lectures, united under common topics but adapted for diverse stakeholder groups. The agenda included an SSR enforcement training and lectures on DNS fundamentals, DNS abuse, and its implications from legal, investigative, and business perspectives.
We're happy to report that the capacity-development lectures were a great success among participants, who demanded more in the future.
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ICANN Holds a DNS Business Workshop at
FENUD 2017
ICANN organized a DNS Business Workshop attended by 20 female participants on November 15. This workshop was a pre-event leading up to the International Conference on "Women, Digital and Development" (FENUD 2017), which took place from November 16-17 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. FENUD aims to empower and bring together women in ICT.
ARTCI, the new Côte d 'Ivoire ccTLD registry, updated participants on registrar accreditation. Apart from the DNS business aspect, ICANN also held sessions on the Internet ecosystem and ICANN multistakeholder model.
FENUD 2017 was the first edition of a regional event. Participants came from neighboring countries such as Chad, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Algeria. We look forward to the next edition of this event!
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ICANN Supports and Participates in the Third Benin DNS Forum
From November 21-25, ICANN was in Cotonou, Benin, for Benin DNS Forum, a local version of the Africa DNS Forum. It is worth noting that Benin is the first country in the region to adapt a regional DNS forum at the national level. This year's theme was "Quality of Service DNS in Benin." ICANN participated in three sessions at the event, discussing DNSSEC protocol implementation for Africa ccTLDs, new gTLDs, and the KSK rollover.
The event aims to contribute to the development of local DNS industry and effective management of the .bj ccTLD.
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Universal Acceptance Around the World
At ICANN60, community members discussed why Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and Email Address Internationalization (EAI) are essential to enabling users to communicate and navigate the Internet entirely in their local languages.
Watch this video to hear their stories and learn how Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) members are helping make the vision of a truly multilingual Internet a reality.
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ICANN Office of the Ombudsman 2017 Annual Report
Herb Waye, ICANN Ombudsman, is pleased to announce the publication of the ICANN Office of the Ombudsman 2017 Annual Report.The report is available in English, and will soon be posted in all official ICANN languages. View the report.
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ICANN Community Onboarding Pilot Program Call for Nominations by SOs/ACs
On 20 November, ICANN issued a call for nominations by the Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs) to the Community Onboarding Pilot (COP) Program for ICANN61. The COP seeks to improve ICANN community newcomer engagement and retention rates through mentorship and knowledge and experience sharing. Nominations are due no later than Friday, 15 December 2017, 23:59 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Additional details can be found here. |
| Transparency of Security Efforts in ICANN
Terry Manderson, Senior Director, Network Engineering and Security, ICANN
Security vulnerabilities in systems are an unfortunate fact of life. The Engineering and Information Technology team in the ICANN organization is working hard on many fronts to protect and enhance the security of our systems. From time to time events occur that result in specific and focused security-related activity that can impact the ICANN org and/or community. Because of our commitment to openness and transparency, we are disclosing the following two events to the community. To our current knowledge, neither of these incidents resulted in any compromise of ICANN data.
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Data Protection/Privacy Activity Recap
Akram Atallah, President, Global Domains Division; Theresa Swinehart, Senior VP of Multistakeholder Strategy and Strategic Initiatives
We have just returned from a very busy ICANN60 meeting in Abu Dhabi, where there were many productive community discussions focused on the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We want to provide you with a brief recap of these dialogues, recent developments and what's next in terms of the legal analysis. As you'll recall from previous blogs on this topic, we are taking the following steps to determine the GDPR's scope of impact: We published a Personal Data Use Matrix based on contributions from stakeholders, and we commissioned a legal analysis from European law firm Hamilton to assess the data in the matrix and answer other questions related to the legislation's impact.
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How effectively do you feel the Root Server Advisory Committee (RSSAC) is fulfilling its role? Share your input in this community survey that will inform the RSSAC2 Review.
Bookmark the wiki landing pages to follow the progress of and opportunities to participate in Specific Reviews:
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ccNSO Elects Nigel Roberts to ICANN Board Seat 12
On Thursday, 30 November, the ccNSO elected Nigel Roberts to ICANN Board Seat 12. Nigel Roberts will begin his term at ICANN63, replacing Mike Silber, who will be concluding his third term.
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GNSO Council Updates
- Councilors of the 21-member Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council, as well as liaisons from the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), began their terms at the end of ICANN60. Learn more.
- The GNSO Council appointed Julf Helsingius as the GNSO Liaison to the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) through the end of ICANN63. This appointment is expected to be reconfirmed annually.
- The "Introduction to the GNSO" ICANN Learn course was updated last month. The course is aimed mostly at newcomers, but also helps veterans refresh their knowledge. Topics include GNSO stakeholder groups and constituencies, the GNSO policy development process, and ways to keep current with the GNSO.
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At-Large Community Activities
- During ICANN60, the At-Large community's accomplishments included a joint advice statement with the GAC and a successful General Assembly of the Asian, Australasian, and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO). The joint statement advises ICANN to develop a simple and efficient document management system and to produce easy-to-understand executive summaries for all relevant issues. For details, read the Post-ICANN60 Policy Report.
- New ALAC members and liaisons and RALO leaders and Nominating Committee delegates began their terms at the end of ICANN60. The five-member ALAC leadership team has been formed with Alan Greenberg as chair, and Maureen Hilyard and Bastiaan Goslings as vice chairs.
- At-Large members will participate in the Internet Governance Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, scheduled for 18-21 December. They will contribute as speakers and participants in various workshops and will conduct outreach activities at the At-Large booth. Learn more.
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Transferring Your Domain Name
Are you up to date on how to transfer your domain name? Let us help you learn the five things every domain name registrant should know about ICANN's transfer policy, including the rules and specific steps registrants must follow to ensure a proper transfer. Read more.
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Identifying Natural Disasters as Extenuating Circumstances
You never know when or how dramatically a natural disaster will impact your business or your ability to maintain day-to-day business operations. We have recently learned that registrants affected by Hurricane Maria may not be able to renew their domain names due to ongoing power and telecommunications issues.
In light of these events, ICANN has identified Hurricane Maria as an extenuating circumstance as part of RAA section 3.7.5.1. This event highlights the potential need for a policy initiative to protect registrants in the event of natural disasters. Read more in this blog.
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No New gTLDs Were Delegated in October and November 2017
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Join us at these upcoming events in the EMEA region:
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