ICANN AT-LARGE MONTHLY ANNOUNCEMENT
In this issue:
- FUTURE DIRECTION OF ICANN – Opportunities to influence ICANN’s long-term strategic plan are available in February, by submitting comments on-line and by attending a meeting on the strategic plan in Amsterdam. Two months ago, ICANN released for public comment a draft three-year “ICANN Strategic Plan” (see <http://www.icann.org/strategic-plan/strategic-plan.html>) and has extended the public comment period for it until 28 February 2005. Email your comments (for public posting) to <strategic-plan-comments@icann.org>. To “ provide an opportunity for participatory consultation” on the plan, the GNSO Council members are organizing a meeting in Amsterdam on 7-8 February 2005. The meeting will feature p resentations and discussions of the plan and is open to interested parties. The ALAC will be represented at this meeting and encourages input – email comments to <forum@alac.icann.org> (for public posting). Questions regarding this meeting should be sent to <gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org>.
- WHO SHOULD OPERATE .NET? – Applications to operate the .NET top-level domain were submitted to ICANN from Afilias, CORE++, DENIC, Sentan, and VeriSign. ICANN recently opened a public forum to solicit comments on the applications. More information and links to applications are posted at <http://www.icann.org/tlds/net-rfp/net-rfp-public-comments.htm>. Email your views to <net-rfp-general@icann.org> (for public posting) by 4 February 2005.
- SHARE YOUR DOMAIN NAME TRANSFER EXPERIENCE � ICANN is seeking input from registrants on whether the �Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy� is working. The policy, which went into effect in November 2004, is supposed to provide strong protections against unauthorised domain name transfers and help facilitate choice in domain name registration. The policy includes several safeguards, including a requirement that all ICANN-accredited registrars (see http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html) use certain forms and processes to enable registrants to easily transfer their domains between registrars, and also to prevent their domains from being transferred, if they so choose. More information is included below and posted at <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-12jan05.htm>. Send emails detailing your experiences to the emails listed on this webpage.
- WWW.AFRALO.ORG LAUNCHED – A new website has been launched to host the At-Large (individual Internet user community) portal for the Africa region. <www.afralo.org> will provide news, key resources, and interactive features for information sharing for individuals and end-user groups in the African region interested in ICANN and shaping the future of the Internet. The portal is part of ICANN At-Large’songoing effort to be more inclusive and responsive to end-users, and includes an email address to handle questions – <info@afralo.org>.
- FEBRUARY AT-LARGE EVENTS IN AFRICA, ASIA, EUROPE, LATIN AMERICA – ALAC members and At-Large community leaders invite you to meet them at/participate in events scheduled in February to share information and expand user involvement in ICANN and other international fora. In the Africa region, ALAC members Pierre Dandjinou, Clement Dzidonu, and Sunday Folayan will participate in the “ Africa Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) ” and there will be an ICANN/At-Large booth at the adjoining “WSIS Conference Exhibition,” 31 January – 4 February at the Accra International Conference Center. Tommy Matsumoto, Hong Xue and Izumi Aizu will participate in an Asia-Pacific At-Large meeting at “APRICOT 2005” (Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies) in Kyoto, Japan, 8-25 February 2005. Vittorio Bertola will participate in the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Meeting, 14–16 February 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland. Erick Iriarte will speak at Republica del Salvador Domain Names Workshop on February 10. To meet-up with an ALAC member at these events, send an email to <committee@alac.icann.org >. See <http://www.alac.icann.org/calendar.htm> for more information and a list of additional events of interest to the At-Large community.
- FUTURE DIRECTION OF ICANN – Opportunities to influence ICANN’s long-term strategic plan are available in February, by submitting comments on-line and by attending a meeting on the strategic plan in Amsterdam. Two months ago, ICANN released for public comment a draft three-year “ICANN Strategic Plan” (see <http://www.icann.org/strategic-plan/strategic-plan.html>) and has extended the public comment period for it until 28 February 2005. Email your comments (for public posting) to <strategic-plan-comments@icann.org>. To “ provide an opportunity for participatory consultation” on the plan, the GNSO Council members are organizing a meeting in Amsterdam on 7-8 February 2005. The meeting will feature p resentations and discussions of the plan and is open to interested parties. The ALAC will be represented at this meeting and encourages input – email comments to <forum@alac.icann.org> (for public posting). Questions regarding this meeting should be sent to <gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org>.
ICANN proposed this three year plan covering fiscal years 2004-2007 as a tool for guiding ICANN's use of its resources to best enable ICANN's mission. ICANN is encouraging public comment to help ensure that community concerns are addressed and accounted for in the plan. The plan proposes a variety of initiatives to fulfill ICANN�s �strategic and operational priorities,� including, for example): a new special restricted fund to advance Internet security; a new plan to respond more effectively to domain name registrant needs (as they relate to ICANN�s mission); establishing ICANN regional presences to better support countries and local stakeholders on ICANN issues and ensure participation by all stakeholders in all regions; and a new special restricted fund for developing country Internet communities.
The GNSO Council (<http://gnso.icann.org/>) has approved the organization of a meeting to develop comments on the proposed Strategic Plan by interested attendees from the constituencies (and At-Large, other Supporting Organizations, and the community who have indicated an interest in attending). The purpose of the meeting is to ensure that the constituencies of the GNSO and its liaisons have an opportunity to review, analyze, and develop comments on the plan, in addition to individuals and constituencies posting comments during the ICANN public comment process. The meeting will be held on 7-8 February, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at the Airport Sheraton.
- WHO SHOULD OPERATE .NET? – Applications to operate the .NET top-level domain were submitted to ICANN from Afilias, CORE++, DENIC, Sentan, and VeriSign. ICANN recently opened a public forum to solicit comments on the applications. More information and links to applications are posted at <http://www.icann.org/tlds/net-rfp/net-rfp-public-comments.htm>. Email your views to <net-rfp-general@icann.org> (for public posting) by 4 February 2005.
The current .NET Registry Agreement between ICANN and VeriSign, Inc. was signed in May 2001 and will expire on 30 June 2005. The procedure for selecting the successor registry operator was developed with public review and comment at multiple stages. The criteria for evaluation were posted with the request for proposals (RFP) (see <http://www.icann.org/tlds/dotnet-reassignment/net-rfp-final-10dec04.pdf>). The final procedure was approved by ICANN's Board in June 2004 and is a continuation of the process of bringing competition to the legacy generic top-level domains (gTLDs). The non-confidential portions of the proposals will be posted soon on the ICANN website. The applications will be evaluated by an independent firm retained specifically for the purpose. A final report, including public comment, will be provided to the ICANN Board of Directors in time to make a selection in March 2005. - SHARE YOUR DOMAIN NAME TRANSFER EXPERIENCE – ICANN is seeking input from registrants on whether the “Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy” is working. The policy, which went into effect in November 2004, is supposed to provide strong protections against unauthorised domain name transfers and help facilitate choice in domain name registration. The policy includes several safeguards, including a requirement that all ICANN-accredited registrars (see <http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html>) use certain forms and processes to enable registrants to easily transfer their domains between registrars, and also to prevent their domains from being transferred, if they so choose. More information is included below and posted at <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-12jan05.htm>. Send emails detailing your experiences to the emails listed on this webpage.
The Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy, which is posted at <http://www.icann.org/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm>, was developed through the ICANN policy development process and went into effect on 12 November 2004 after a four-month implementation phase. All ICANN-accredited registrars and un-sponsored gTLD registry operators are required to follow this policy. As recommended by the GNSO Council�s Transfers Task Force, ICANN staff will report to the Council at three, six and twelve month intervals after implementation with the goal of determining: how effectively and to what extent the policies have been implemented and adopted by Registrars, Registries and Registrants; whether or not modifications to these policies should be considered as a result of the experiences gained during the implementation and monitoring stages; and the effectiveness of the dispute resolution processes and a summary of the filings that have been resolved through the process. ICANN is encouraging any comments from the community on experiences with the policy, including any suggested modifications to be considered.
- WWW.AFRALO.ORG LAUNCHED – A new website has been launched to host the At-Large (individual Internet user community) portal for the Africa region. <www.afralo.org> will provide news, key resources, and interactive features for information sharing for individuals and end-user groups in the African region interested in ICANN and shaping the future of the Internet. The portal is part of ICANN At-Large’songoing effort to be more inclusive and responsive to end-users, and includes an email address to handle questions – <info@afralo.org>.
- FEBRUARY AT-LARGE EVENTS IN AFRICA, ASIA, EUROPE, LATIN AMERICA – ALAC members and At-Large community leaders invite you to meet them at/participate in events scheduled in February to share information and expand user involvement in ICANN and other international fora. In the Africa region, ALAC members Pierre Dandjinou, Clement Dzidonu, and Sunday Folayan will participate in the “ Africa Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) ” and there will be an ICANN/At-Large booth at the adjoining “WSIS Conference Exhibition,” 31 January – 4 February at the Accra International Conference Center. Tommy Matsumoto, Hong Xue and Izumi Aizu will participate in an Asia-Pacific At-Large meeting at “APRICOT 2005” (Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies) in Kyoto, Japan, 8-25 February 2005. Vittorio Bertola will participate in the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Meeting, 14–16 February 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland. Erick Iriarte will speak at Republica del Salvador Domain Names Workshop on February 10. To meet-up with an ALAC member at these events, send an email to <committee@alac.icann.org >. See <http://www.alac.icann.org/calendar.htm> for more information and a list of additional events of interest to the At-Large community.
The Interim At-Large Advisory Committee