​Hi Everyone, Please see below. ​ *Please circulate to your members* https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2018-02-08-en *Register Now: Pre-ICANN61 Policy Open House – 1 March 2018* The Policy Development Support Team is pleased to announce two sessions for an upcoming webinar: *Pre-ICANN61 Policy Open House Thursday, 1 March 2018 10:00 and 19:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)* The webinar will run in English and will be conducted in Adobe Connect along with a dial-in conference bridge for audio. Recordings of the sessions will be made available here <https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/presentations-2012-08-27-en>. *Please register via **this form* <https://goo.gl/vZw8kM>* by 26 February 2018!* In this interactive 60-minute open house, the focus will be an active question and answer session with the Policy Development Support Team. To ensure that your questions about policy activities are addressed during the session, the Policy Team invites you to submit your questions through the registration form <https://goo.gl/forms/dVbmhQOT8sakSsmg2> or email them to policyinfo@icann.org. To assist with your preparation for this webinar and for ICANN61, the "Pre-ICANN61 Policy Report" and "Generic Names Supporting Organization Policy Briefing: ICANN61 Edition" will be published by Monday, 26 February 2018. Please be sure to download and review these materials beforehand for helpful background on policy activities and topics that the Policy Development Support Team will discuss during the open house, such as: - An overview of the cross-community discussions that will take place at ICANN61: - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): WHOIS Compliance Models - A Walk in the Shoes of a New Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Registry Operator - Name Collisions - Open Data at ICANN - Policy development processes underway in the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and the Address Supporting Organization (ASO): - Retirement of Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) - Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs - Next-Generation Registration Directory Service to Replace WHOIS - International Governmental Organizations and International Non-Governmental Organizations Access to Curative Rights Dispute Resolution Mechanisms - Protections for Red Cross National Society Names in the Domain Name System - New gTLD Subsequent Procedures - Regional Internet Registry policy development activities - Advisory Committee activities within the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) and Security & Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC): - Organizational Review of the At-Large community - At-Large Summit (ATLAS) III - GAC discussion on the .amazon Independent Review Process - GAC discussion on evolving relationships with ICANN Board and ICANN Org - RSSAC statement on entries in DNS Root Sources - RSSAC & SSAC Response to the GNSO's New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Working Group on Root Scaling - SSAC Response to the ICANN Internationalized Domain Name Guidelines Working Group - SSAC work concerning the use of emoji in domain names - Other topics of note: - Organizational Review of the ASO - ccNSO Rejection Action Procedure as a Decisional Participant in the ICANN Empowered Community - Impact of ICANN's Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on ccTLDs The Policy Development Support Team looks forward to helping the ICANN community prepare for ICANN61! *Please register via **this form* <https://goo.gl/vZw8kM>* by 26 February 2018!* *About ICANN* ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with a community of participants from all over the world. -- Joan Kerr, Entrepreneur, Artist, Humanitarian T: +1 (416) 907-0783 Skype: joankerr_fbsc fbsc.org, www.fbsc.eco Lead Organizer, SDG Training Events Chair: Victory Garden Leadership Implementation Team Chair: IEEE Smart Villages Project, Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Chair: ICANN Not for Profit Operational Concerns Constituency Advisor, IEEE Humanitarian Initiatives Committee Advisor, Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network, (CSAYN) Global Coordination Unit