ICANN AT-LARGE MONTHLY ANNOUNCEMENT
In this issue:
- ALAC WELCOMES NEW, RETURNING MEMBERS � ICANN�s Nominating Committee selected Jean Armour Polly, from the U.S.A., for the At-Large Advisory Committee�s open North America seat, and re-appointed ALAC member Roberto Gaetano, from Italy, to serve for another term as a European representative on the ALAC. Their terms will begin at the conclusion of ICANN�s Cape Town meeting (5 December 2004) and conclude at ICANN�s annual meeting for 2006.
- ICANN CAPE TOWN MEETING � ICANN's meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, 1-5 December 2004 will include an At-Large meeting with end-users from the Africa region on Thursday, 2 December, at the Cape Town International Convention Center. Policy discussions and workshops of interest to the At-Large community also will be featured: a Workshop on WSIS and a Workshop on Internationalized Domain Names have been scheduled for Tuesday, 1 December, at the same location. All of these events are free and open to the public and interested individuals are encouraged to attend. The full Cape Town schedule is posted at <http://www.icann.org/meetings/capetown/">.
- AUCTIONING EXPIRED DOMAIN NAMES � GOOD OR BAD FOR CONSUMERS? � Comments thus far on the At-Large forum are running against registrars directly selling or auctioning expired domain registrations (see <http://forum.icann.org/alac-forum/">). For example, Ed Perrone states, �I don't believe registrars should be allowed to own/purchase/traffic in ANY domain names, except perhaps their own name that they use strictly for their own business purposes. Registrars have too much of an advantage, too much �inside information�." The ALAC is interested in hearing At-Large community views on plans by two registrars to begin directly selling or auctioning expired domain registrations. Is this good for registrants? Should registrars have the right to control and auction these names and, if so, what is ICANN�s role? What might this mean for ICANN�s delete policy and Verisign�s proposed wait list service? Send your comments to forum@alac.icann.org.
- .POST and .TRAVEL MOVE FORWARD � ICANN recently announced that it has entered into commercial and technical negotiations with two of the ten candidates applying for new sponsored top-level domain (sTLDs). The status of the additional applicants is still pending (.asia, .cat, .jobs, .mail, .mobi, .tel, .tel, and .xxx). After the application period for new sTLDs closed in March 2004, an independent evaluation team evaluated the applications against specified selection criteria. After the team made their recommendations, ICANN staff entered into contract negotiations with recommended applicants � a process �dictated by the issues surrounding each application and the responsiveness of the applicant.� See <http://www.icann.org/tlds/stld-apps-19mar04/stld-public-comments.htm> for more information and email addresses for public comments.
- ADDITIONAL AT-LARGE EVENTS � Two more events for the Latin America At-Large community have been scheduled in November: an At-Large meeting will be held in conjunction with �V Iberoamerican Independent Congress of Domain Names III,� 8-11 November in Caracas, (see <http://www.iberolatino.com.ve/index.htm>); and an At-Large meeting will be held in conjunction with the �Seminario-Taller Sobre Nombres de Dominio,� 23-25 November in Panama (see <http://www.nic.pa/stsnd.html>).
- ALAC WELCOMES NEW, RETURNING MEMBERS � ICANN�s Nominating Committee selected Jean Armour Polly, from the U.S.A., for the At-Large Advisory Committee�s open North America seat, and re-appointed ALAC member Roberto Gaetano, from Italy, to serve for another term as a European representative on the ALAC. Their terms will begin at the conclusion of ICANN�s Cape Town meeting (5 December 2004) and conclude at ICANN�s annual meeting for 2006.
Jean Armour Polly is a professional librarian employed by the Liverpool (NY) Public Library as Assistant Director and Administrator of Systems and Technology. She is also known as Net-mom� and is the author of six editions of Net-mom's Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages (Osborne McGraw-Hill), a directory to thousands of the best children's Internet resources. Roberto Gaetano has served on the ALAC since June 2003 and has been an active participant in the Internet and ICANN policymaking process since 1997. He has played important roles in ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute), CORE (Council of Internet Registrars), the formation of ICANN's original Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) and early discussions on the formation of ICANN.
Other Nominating Committee appointments include: on the ICANN Board, Vinton G. Cerf (U.S.A. - North America), Joichi Ito (Japan - Asia/Australia/Pacific), and Vanda Scartezini (Brazil - Latin America/Caribbean Islands); on the ccNSO Council, Yassin Mshana (Tanzania - Africa), Eva Fr�lich (Sweden - Europe), and Charles Shaban (Jordan - Asia/Australia/Pacific); and on the GNSO Council, Maureen Cubberley (Canada - North America).
- ICANN CAPE TOWN MEETING � ICANN's meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, 1-5 December 2004 will include an At-Large meeting with end-users from the Africa region on Thursday, 2 December, at the Cape Town International Convention Center. Policy discussions and workshops of interest to the At-Large community also will be featured: a Workshop on WSIS and a Workshop on Internationalized Domain Names have been scheduled for Tuesday, 1 December, at the same location. All of these events are free and open to the public and interested individuals are encouraged to attend. The full Cape Town schedule is posted at <http://www.icann.org/meetings/capetown/">.
- AUCTIONING EXPIRED DOMAIN NAMES � GOOD OR BAD FOR CONSUMERS? � Comments thus far on the At-Large forum are running against registrars directly selling or auctioning expired domain registrations (see <http://forum.icann.org/alac-forum/">). For example, Ed Perrone states, �I don't believe registrars should be allowed to own/purchase/traffic in ANY domain names, except perhaps their own name that they use strictly for their own business purposes. Registrars have too much of an advantage, too much �inside information�." The ALAC is interested in hearing At-Large community views on plans by two registrars to begin directly selling or auctioning expired domain registrations. Is this good for registrants? Should registrars have the right to control and auction these names and, if so, what is ICANN�s role? What might this mean for ICANN�s delete policy and Verisign�s proposed wait list service? Send your comments to forum@alac.icann.org.
On 20 September 2004, Network Solutions announced the introduction of a "New, Enhanced Backorder Service that Provides Preferred Access to Expired Domain Names," (See link at http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-21sep04-1.htm). This followed Tucows' announcement on 7 September 2004 of a similar, new "Auction Service for Expiring Domain Names," (see link at http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-21sep04-1.htm). If registrants fail to renew their domain names at the conclusion of an expiration grace period, NSI and Tucows plan to auction the rights to these domain names, instead of allowing them to �drop back into the pool� of names available for re-registration on a first-come, first-served basis, as is currently the process. Both registrars plan to give part of the auction price to the prior registrant (NSI plans to give 20% or less, Tucows plans to give about 80%).
ALAC members would like to explore how this might effect implementation of the current ICANN �Expired Domain Deletion Policy� http://www.icann.org/registrars/eddp.htm and Verisign�s proposed �Wait List Service� http://www.icann.org/minutes/report-vgrs-wls-22aug02.htm, as well as basic questions about registrars� �rights� to domain names, and ICANN�s role regarding these auctions. Please share your views via email to forum@alac.icann.org.
- .POST and .TRAVEL MOVE FORWARD � ICANN recently announced that it has entered into commercial and technical negotiations with two of the ten candidates applying for new sponsored top-level domain (sTLDs). The status of the additional applicants is still pending (.asia, .cat, .jobs, .mail, .mobi, .tel, .tel, and .xxx). After the application period for new sTLDs closed in March 2004, an independent evaluation team evaluated the applications against specified selection criteria. After the team made their recommendations, ICANN staff entered into contract negotiations with recommended applicants � a process �dictated by the issues surrounding each application and the responsiveness of the applicant.� See <http://www.icann.org/tlds/stld-apps-19mar04/stld-public-comments.htm> for more information and email addresses for public comments.
As the process for selecting new sponsored top-level domain (sTLDs) moves forward, ICANN announced that it is �pleased that the independent evaluation process, which began earlier this year, has already provided the basis to now enter into commercial and technical negotiations with these two registry applicants.� The independent review process, headed by an independent project manager, consisted of three panels of experts to measure the applications against the criteria posted in the RFP. Those three panels tested the applications against the criteria in the areas of: technical competence; business and financial sufficiency; and whether the TLD belonged to a sponsored community.
Each panel submitted a report determining whether each applicant met the criteria and describing the reasoning behind the conclusion. These reports were forwarded to each applicant. In cases where the applicant had not met all three sets of criteria, the reports were accompanied by an offer to the applicant to respond in writing to the findings of the independent panels. At this stage in the process many of the applicants have now responded and the path each applicant now takes varies according to which sets of criteria were or were not met. An update on the status and progress of the additional applicants will be made as they proceed further through the process.
- ADDITIONAL AT-LARGE EVENTS � Two more events for the Latin America At-Large community have been scheduled in November: an At-Large meeting will be held in conjunction with �V Iberoamerican Independent Congress of Domain Names III,� 8-11 November in Caracas, (see <http://www.iberolatino.com.ve/index.htm>); and an At-Large meeting will be held in conjunction with the �Seminario-Taller Sobre Nombres de Dominio,� 23-25 November in Panama (see <http://www.nic.pa/stsnd.html>).
The Interim At-Large Advisory Committee