Dear Community members: There has been considerable activity in recent weeks on various community lists (as well as in online news forums) relating to domain registration, accreditation of registrars, proposed initiatives intended to create better safety nets for registrants and related issues. At the same time, the ICANN community as a whole is engaged in a consultative process related to the key agreement (the Registrar Accreditiation Agreement (³RAA²) that governs many aspects of domain registration and the rights and responsibilities of registrants and registrars, as well as ICANN since it is one of the two contracting parties to the agreement. As you all know, many of these these issues are complex. At the same time, several proposals and issues raised, especially in the NARALO of late, seem to me to have elements which are interrelated (especially as regards the fundamental objective they seek to produce). What I would like to propose is that a couple of briefings be arranged to help further the understanding of these and related issues in the community. I would propose two sessions, of an hour to 90 minutes each, as per usual with simultaneous interpretation: 1. The Registrant/Registrar Relationship * What safeguards are available to registrants? * How are they implemented? * What compliance activities could, or already do, help ensure their implementation? * What proposals are being discussed to increase the protection available to registrants? 2. The RAA and the Internet User * Does the RAA impact the non-registrant user of the internet? * If so, how does it impact them, and are there different impacts for different types of users? * What if any changes being discussed would (or could) affect the non-registrant end-user, and how? It seems to me that these two sessions would likely help everyone have a much increased understanding of the issues and lead to a very productive debate. I would suggest that the sessions specifically involve various constituencies in presenting to help everyone understand the perspectives of the key parties. -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director for At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA DD: +1 (310) 578-8637 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart