Pre-ICANN59 Policy Report – At-Large Community
What to Expect at ICANN59
At ICANN59, the At-Large Community will hold 25 sessions, including outreach activities and meetings with other stakeholders. The community will generally focus on three areas:
- ICANN Policy Discussions – At-Large will discuss public interest issues pertinent to the end user community, including New Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) consumer safeguards and Domain Name System (DNS) abuse. At-Large members are also encouraged to attend the cross-community discussions.
- Organizational Matters – Entering the next phase of an organizational review, the At-Large Community leaders will use the focused, face-to-face working sessions to start developing the At-Large Review Recommendations Feasibility Assessment and Implementation Plan. Additionally, the initial discussions of the Third At-Large Summit (ATLAS III), which is expected to take place during ICANN64, will also get started in Johannesburg.
- African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO) Activities – AFRALO will leverage ICANN59 to engage with its At-Large Structures (ALSes), as well as the local African end user community. A General Assembly (GA) plenary and a series of events – including capacity development sessions, local outreach event, and showcase – are organized with nearly 50 ALS representatives expected to participate.
ICANN Policy Discussions
The At-Large Community has been a strong advocate for the public interest at ICANN. In addition to establishing a Public Interest Working Group, the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) submitted a number of policy advice statements to the ICANN Board on the topic of Public Interest Commitments for New gTLDs.
At-Large welcomes the recent development at ICANN, including the hiring of Bryan Schilling, ICANN’s first Consumer Safeguard Director, and the creation of the Domain Abuse Reporting Tool (DART).
At ICANN59, At-Large will host tutorials in collaboration with subject matter experts to educate its members on consumer safeguards and DNS abuse issues. These experts include Senior Staff from ICANN’s Contractual Compliance Department, ICANN’s Dave Piscitello, and iThreat Cyber Group’s Greg Aaron.
During the ICANN59 Policy Forum, At-Large members are expected to actively participate in the cross-community discussions, particularly the ones on the next-generation gTLD registration directory services (RDS) policy requirements and the geographic names at the top-level. These topics will also be discussed during the At-Large Leadership sessions. The intent is to ensure that At-Large members are all conversant on the hot policy issues within ICANN in order to contribute substantially to the discussions.
Organizational Matters
In February 2017, ITEMS International, the independent examiner, published its Draft Report on the Review of the At-Large Community. The ALAC and the At-Large Review Working Party (WP) submitted one comprehensive response as an ALAC Statement immediately after ICANN58. The ALAC fully supports eight of the sixteen Recommendations proposed by ITEMS, partly supports five, and rejects three. The Recommendations that the ALAC supports are generally about the ALAC’s roles in outreach, awareness raising, and participation in ICANN policy and processes. ALAC believes many of these recommendations are already in progress being implemented. A strong focus of ITEMS’ Recommendations and Implementation suggestions involve significant structural changes to the At-Large Community. The ALAC believes that these proposals do not recognize existing policies that allow and support individual members. Holding similar views as the ALAC and the WP, the five Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs) jointly submitted a separate Statement focused on the issues and recommendations particularly relevant to the RALOs. Both Statements incorporate extensive, bottom-up input from across the At-Large Community via teleconferences, face-to-face meetings, and various collaboration and communications channels. Notably, 73 ALSes directly participated in online ratification votes on the RALO Statement, which resulted in overwhelming amount of support.
In May 2017, ITEMS published its Final Report. This has moved the At-Large Community into the next phase of the review process, focusing on developing the Feasibility Assessment and Implementation Plan of each recommendation. This analysis will be submitted to the ICANN Board Organizational Effectiveness Committee before the Board acts on the ITEMS Recommendations. During ICANN59, At-Large will have a dedicated working session to discuss the method to carry out this analysis. The ALAC and RALO Statements have laid much of the groundwork for this document.
AFRALO Activities
The AFRALO GA plenary will be held on Wednesday, 28 June, with the participation of representatives from nearly 50 ALSes across 30 African countries and territories. AFRALO will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with AFRNIC during the GA. ICANN Executives and a Board Director will speak at the event, and the ALSes will discuss several topics, including the AFRALO Operating Principles, FY18 Outreach Strategy, and ways to improve ALSes’ participation at ICANN. A cultural showcase and networking event will be held later in the day of the GA, featuring keynote address by Steve Croker and Göran Marby, a presentation of AFRALO ALSes, and a Gumboots dance performance.
Additionally, AFRALO ALSes will have the opportunity to participate in the full ICANN59 Meeting, benefiting from daily capacity development session focused on ICANN policy. Seasoned AFRALO members will serve as mentors, helping newcomers understand how to participate in GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) and draft ALAC advice statements, as well as learn about security trends impacting registrants, ICANN Empowered Community, and the Next-Generation RDS. ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby will also engage in a discussion with AFRALO ALSes about connectivity challenges facing many rural areas in Africa.
Furthermore, 30 students from the University of Johannesburg, as well as young members from the university’s Innovation Hub Management Company will be joining AFRALO ALSes at the Meeting venue on Monday, 26 June. They will have a dialogue on information and communication technologies and Internet policy issues relevant to end users.
Session Details
Please see the ICANN59 Workspace for details about At-Large sessions.
Policy Discussions
ALAC and Regional Leaders Working Session Part 2
Monday, 26 June | 10:30-12:00 | Ballroom 4
ALAC and Regional Leaders Working Session Part 3
Monday, 26 June | 13:30-15:00 | Ballroom 4
ALAC and Regional Leaders Working Session Part 5
Wednesday, 28 June | 13:30-15:00 | Ballroom 4
Organizational Matters
ALAC and Regional Leaders Working Session Part 2
Tuesday, 27 June | 09:15-10:15 | Ballroom 4
ALAC and Regional Leaders Wrap Up Part 2
Thursday, 29 June | 13:30-15:00 | Ballroom 4
AFRALO Activities
AFRALO Local Community Engagement
Monday, 26 June | 09:30-12:00 | Bill Gallagher Room
AFRALO Capacity Building Session 1
Monday, 26 June | 12:15-13:15 | Ballroom 4
AFRALO Capacity Building Session 2
Tuesday, 27 June | 08:00-09:00 | Ballroom 4
AFRALO Capacity Building Session 3
Wednesday, 28 June | 08:00-09:00 | Ballroom 4
AFRALO GA Part 1
Wednesday, 28 June | 09:15-10:15 | Ballroom 4
AFRALO GA Part 2
Wednesday, 28 June | 10:30-12:00 | Ballroom 4
AFRALO Showcase and Community Cocktail
Wednesday, 28 June | 18:30-20:00 | Ballroom 4 & Level 4 Foyer
AFRALO Capacity Building Session 4
Thursday, 29 June | 08:00-09:00 | Ballroom
AFRALO ICANN59 Activities Wrap Up
Thursday, 29 June | 12:15-13:15 | Ballroom 4
Meeting with Other Stakeholders
ALAC and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Meeting
Tuesday, 27 June | 10:30-11:15 | Ballroom 1
ALAC and Regional Leaders Wrap Up Part 1 (Discussion with the Security and Stability Advisory Committee - SSAC)
Thursday, 29 June | 10:30-12:00 | Ballroom 4
Working Group Meetings
ALAC Subcommittee on Outreach and Engagement
Tuesday, 27 June | 11:30-12:30 | Ballroom 4
At-Large Technology Taskforce
Wednesday, 28 June | 09:15-10:15 | Committee 2
At-Large Public Interest Working Group
Wednesday, 28 June | 17:00-18:00 | Ballroom 4
At-Large Capacity Building Working Group
Thursday, 29 June | 09:15-10:15 | Ballroom 4