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First, I would like to thank you for reading! It has been nearly two years since we launched the North America Regional Newsletter. I hope that you have found this quarterly update an informative and useful means of keeping up with the ICANN Community.
You'll notice that the newsletter has undergone a makeover. Along with aesthetic upgrades, the redesign makes navigation easier, so you can get to the news you care about faster, whether you're a civil society stakeholder interested in the latest WHOIS policy development, a business stakeholder looking for the latest new generic Top-Level-Domains that were delegated, or an engineer looking for the latest news on security and stability.
Internationalization, diversity, and inclusion have been a key focus of ICANN over the past several years. Although most of these conversations center on outreach to countries outside North America, the reality is this is just as much a regional issue as it is a global one. Though we've been able to welcome new North America-based organizations to the ICANN Community, more needs to be done. Too many times we hear that not enough voices are represented at ICANN, and that a few individuals pull much of the weight, leading to volunteer burnout. This issue will be front and center for us as Regional Staff in 2016, and we look forward to your active participation in helping us make the ICANN Community stronger.
Christopher Mondini VP, Stakeholder Engagement, North America
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Make Your Voice Heard! Take the North America Stakeholder Survey
Are you a regular at ICANN meetings, or just a casual consumer of ICANN news? Do you prefer to get your ICANN news from emails like these or on social media? No matter how you engage with ICANN, your opinion is important. Your response to the North America Stakeholder Survey will help us serve you best in the coming year. Take the survey.
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My ICANN Journey with Chris Dillon
Everyone is welcome at ICANN! You don't need to be an expert to participate (hint: most aren't when they start out). See one person's journey from beginner to Working Group Chair for a look inside this unique organization. Watch the video.
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ICANN Community Collaborates to Increase Global Civil Society Engagement
Toward the end of July 2015, we began a new approach to how civil society engages with ICANN.
While civil society is already firmly anchored within the ICANN community, this new initiative recognizes the need to strengthen and broaden the participation and role of global civil society in ICANN's processes and discussions.
The strategy acknowledges the valuable contributions of the current civil society community, aims to make their work easier and more rewarding while encouraging new participants to join and support the work already underway. This will be achieved, in part, by making information more accessible, through community-led development of new tailored content and communications, and through capacity building and skills development. The strategy is currently being developed in consultation with civil society organizations and ICANN's multistakeholder community. Within ICANN, the regional Global Stakeholder Engagement teams and staff supporting the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) will promote the various initiatives aimed at bolstering civil society participation. We encourage you to get involved and reach out to them to learn more. Your region's local contact is provided below: - Yaovi Atohoun (Africa)
- Fahd Batayneh (Middle-East)
- Joe Catapano (North America)
- Rodrigo de la Parra (Latin America and Caribbean)
- Kelvin Wong (Asia Pacific)
- Heidi Ullrich (At-Large)
- Adam Peake (Global Coordinator)
- Jean-Jacques Sahel (Global lead / Europe)
Information about calls and webinars regarding this new strategy will also be available on the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) site and ALAC mailing lists. The initial phase will be finalized by the end of 2015, but the strategy will continue to evolve and respond to developments within ICANN and to the changing needs of the global civil society community. For questions or requests, please email civilsociety@icann.org.
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Update on the IANA Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability
The IANA Stewardship Coordination Group (ICG) and Cross-Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) met in Dublin during ICANN54 to continue work on their proposals in wake of the feedback received during the two public comment periods that ended in September. The ICG was successful in completing its Consolidated IANA Stewardship Proposal and is now awaiting the finalization of the CCWG-Accountability's Work Stream 1 Recommendations.
The CCWG-Accountability Third Draft Proposal on Work Stream 1 Recommendations was posted for a 21-day public comment from November 30 to December 21, 2015. Further to detailing 11 recommendations to enhance ICANN's accountability, the proposal also outlines how the community arrived at the recommendations and the options considered, and ultimately rejected, in development of the proposal.
It is expected that in addition to public comment, the CCWG-Accountability will gather insightful feedback and consideration from its 6 Chartering Organizations. Pending no major concerns by the Chartering Organizations, the group anticipates delivery of its recommendations to the ICANN Board in mid-late January.
Once the CCWG-Accountability finalizes its Work Stream 1 recommendations and the Community Working Group to Develop an IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal (CWG-Stewardship) confirms that the recommendations meet its requirements, the ICG can consider its proposal complete and begin the process of submitting it to NTIA. Read the latest blog from ICANN's Theresa Swinehart for more information.
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Nominate Your Peers for the Multistakeholder Ethos Award
The award recognizes ICANN participants who have deeply invested in consensus-based solutions, acknowledged ICANN's multistakeholder model of Internet governance, and contributed in a substantive way to the higher interests of ICANN's organization and community. Nominate your colleague today.
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NARALO News: Keeping the Region Informed
The North America Regional At-Large Organization (NARALO) newsletter contains all of the latest and greatest from the group's At-Large Structures and individual contributors. Read the latest edition.
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Apply Now for ICANN Leadership Positions
ICANN's Nominating Committee invites interested individuals to submit applications and/or to recommend candidates for ICANN's key leadership positions. Apply Today.
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GNSO Council Adopts Data and Metrics for Policymaking Working Group Recommendations
The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council unanimously approved the Data and Metrics for Policymaking Working Group's consensus recommendations. The Working Group developed final recommendations and submitted them to the GNSO Council for its consideration, which are documented in its Final Report after a review of public comments. Support staff has begun implementation of the adopted recommendations and implementation status can be viewed on the Projects List.
ALAC Activities at ICANN54
GAC Public Safety Working Group Upcoming priorities for the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Public Safety Working Group (PSWG) include contributing to the new gTLD Competition, Consumer Choice and Consumer Trust Review as well as to the GNSO Policy Development Process on Next-Generation gTLD Registration Directory Services.
The PSWG actively encourages participation from more countries, notably developing countries, and from additional experts on data protection, consumer protection, and other relevant specialties, to represent a full range of governmental public safety actors worldwide. SSAC Publishes Advisory on Registrant Protection
The Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) recently published SAC074, SSAC Advisory on Registrant Protection: Best Practices for Preserving Security and Stability in the Credential Management Lifecycle. The advisory provides specific best practice guidelines that will help registrars and registries enhance the security of domain names and the systems that support them. |
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Issues Currently Open for Public Comment
Public comment proceedings are currently open on issues of interest to the ICANN community.
At any time, the full list of issues open for public comment plus recently closed and archived public comment proceedings can be found on the Public Comment web page.
ICANN staff also populates a web page to help preview potential upcoming public comment proceedings. The Upcoming Public Comment page provides information about potential future public comment opportunities. The page is updated after every ICANN public meeting to help individuals and the community set priorities and plan future workloads.
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News from the Global Domains Division
Universal Acceptance is a foundational requirement for a truly multilingual Internet, one in which users around the world can navigate entirely in local languages. It is also the key to unlocking the potential of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) to foster competition, consumer choice and innovation in the domain name industry. To achieve Universal Acceptance, Internet applications and systems must treat all TLDs in a consistent manner, including new gTLDs and internationalized TLDs. The Universal Acceptance Steering Group is a community-based team working to share this vision for the Internet of the future with those who construct this space: coders. The group's primary objective is to help system owners and independent coders understand how Universal Acceptance will enable the next billion users to interact and build their own spaces online.
Learn more and get involved: https://www.icann.org/universalacceptance.
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Twenty-five new gTLDs were delegated in November
sfr
vip
audi
verisign
bugatti
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lamborghini
playstation
rocher
xn--qxam
Beats
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bostik
boehringer
broadway
comsec
fairwinds
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grainger
lifestyle
vana
creditunion
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cityeats
ferrero
Aarp
xn--mgbtx2b
Apple
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| Courtney Radsch, Committee to Protect Journalists
Photo credit: Klaus Stoll |
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Stakeholders Convene to Discuss Internet Capacity for Nonprofits
Individuals from ICANN's Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency and North America Regional At-Large Organization recently joined forces to host an event on privacy and security in Washington. Watch the full event video.
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