ICANN AT-LARGE MONTHLY ANNOUNCEMENT
In this issue:
- ICANN TO DETERMINE THE NEXT .NET REGISTRY – The At-Large Advisory Committee has urged the ICANN Board to “acknowledge, consider, and respond to the many thoughtful comments submitted during the public comment period” before deciding which company will be the .NET registry after next month. The current .NET registry contract between ICANN and VeriSign expires on 30 June 2005. ICANN launched a process last year to designate a successor. Five companies submitted applications to the run registry, and the independent firm hired to evaluate the applicants ranked VeriSign as the top applicant. Citing matters of public interest, such as the stable operation of the .NET registry, the ALAC asserted that “the most important comments are those of the registrants who ultimately will be served by the registry operator, not the commercial bidders competing for the award.” As of this writing, responses have been posted to applicants’ comments, but not to public comments. See <http://www.icann.org/tlds/dotnet-reassignment/dotnet-general.htm> for more information. Share your views by posting comments at <forum@alac.icann.org> and <net-rfp-general@icann.org>.
- DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? – If you are (or someone you know is) interested in helping to lead ICANN, now is the time to apply for a position on ICANN’s Board, the ALAC, or a Supporting Organizations’ Council. Recommendations and statements of interest are being sought by ICANN’s Nominating Committee. Applications for the following positions are due by 15 June 2005: two members of ICANN’s Board of Directors; two members of the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO); one member of the Council of the Country-Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO); and three members of the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). More information and application forms are available at <http://www.icann.org/committees/nom-comm/formalcall-22apr05.htm>.
- PRIVACY OF PERSONAL DATA IN WHOIS – The ALAC is recommending changes to improve notification and consent for the use of individuals’ contact data in the WHOIS system. Responding to a report issued by the Generic Names Supporting Organization’s (GNSO’s) “WHOIS task forces,” the ALAC is suggesting ways of making the proposed WHOIS policy more clear, enhancing registrants’ experience, and strengthening mandatory disclosure on how individuals’ information will be used. The task forces’ report is posted at <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-tf123-final-rpt-22apr05.shtml>. Send your comments for public posting to <gnso-whois-tf-rpt@icann.org> and <forum@alac.icann.org>.
- AT-LARGE CONTINUES TO GROW – Twenty organizations have registered as “At-Large Structures” and applications are pending from 12 more groups worldwide that want to involve individual Internet users in ICANN. Join a group or form a new one. Information is posted at <http://www.alac.icann.org/applications/>.
- ICANN TO DETERMINE THE NEXT .NET REGISTRY – The At-Large Advisory Committee has urged the ICANN Board to “acknowledge, consider, and respond to the many thoughtful comments submitted during the public comment period” before deciding which company will be the .NET registry after next month. The current .NET registry contract between ICANN and VeriSign expires on 30 June 2005. ICANN launched a process last year to designate a successor. Five companies submitted applications to the run registry, and the independent firm hired to evaluate the applicants ranked VeriSign as the top applicant. Citing matters of public interest, such as the stable operation of the .NET registry, the ALAC asserted that “the most important comments are those of the registrants who ultimately will be served by the registry operator, not the commercial bidders competing for the award.” As of this writing, responses have been posted to applicants’ comments, but not to public comments. See <http://www.icann.org/tlds/dotnet-reassignment/dotnet-general.htm> for more information. Share your views by posting comments at <forum@alac.icann.org> and <net-rfp-general@icann.org>.
After Telecordia, the independent firm hired to evaluate applications, ranked VeriSign at the top (see their report at <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-28mar05.htm>), ICANN requested comments on the report from the public and the applicants, which included (in addition to VeriSign) Afilias, CORE++, DENIC, and Sentan. Public comments were posted online (at <http://www.icann.org/tlds/net-rfp/net-rfp-public-comments.htm>), and delivered at the public forums held during ICANN’s Mar del Plata meeting last month (<http://www.icann.org/meetings/mardelplata/>). While the ALAC has not made any recommendation to ICANN about which registry operator ultimately should be awarded the .NET contract, it has urged that “the selection process should be open and transparent” and that “all public comments solicited by ICANN and submitted in a timely manner by concerned persons, including the ALAC, should be reviewed and considered in the .NET evaluation.”
ICANN has entered into negotiations with VeriSign, and “ICANN and VeriSign have reached agreement in principle on all substantive terms” for a new .NET Registry Agreement. The matter now goes to ICANN’s Board for approval of a new .NET Registry Agreement. - DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? – If you are (or someone you know is) interested in helping to lead ICANN, now is the time to apply for a position on ICANN’s Board, the ALAC, or a Supporting Organizations’ Council. Recommendations and statements of interest are being sought by ICANN’s Nominating Committee. Applications for the following positions are due by 15 June 2005: two members of ICANN’s Board of Directors; two members of the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO); one member of the Council of the Country-Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO); and three members of the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). More information and application forms are available at <http://www.icann.org/committees/nom-comm/formalcall-22apr05.htm>.
ICANN’s first Nominating Committee appointed 17 members to various key positions; and the 2004 Committee appointed 8 members. The process for 2005 is underway and interested individuals are invited to submit a Statement of Interest to this year's Committee which, as always, includes five delegates from At-Large (one from each geographic region) (see <http://www.alac.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-25feb05.htm>.
ICANN's Nominating Committee (NomCom) is an independent committee tasked with selecting a majority of the members of ICANN's Board and other positions within ICANN. The Nominating Committee states that Individuals it selects “will have a unique opportunity to work with accomplished colleagues from around the globe, address the Internet's intriguing technical coordination problems and policy development challenges with diverse functional, cultural, and geographic dimensions, and gain valuable insights and experience from working across boundaries of knowledge, responsibility and perspective. Additionally, those selected will gain the satisfaction of making a valuable public service contribution.”
More information on the positions to be filled is posted at <http://www.icann.org/committees/nom-comm/formalcall-22apr05.htm>. - PRIVACY OF PERSONAL DATA IN WHOIS – The ALAC is recommending changes to improve notification and consent for the use of individuals’ contact data in the WHOIS system. Responding to a report issued by the Generic Names Supporting Organization’s (GNSO’s) “WHOIS task forces,” the ALAC is suggesting ways of making the proposed WHOIS policy more clear, enhancing registrants’ experience, and strengthening mandatory disclosure on how individuals’ information will be used. The task forces’ report is posted at <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-tf123-final-rpt-22apr05.shtml>. Send your comments for public posting to <gnso-whois-tf-rpt@icann.org> and <forum@alac.icann.org>.
The GNSO initiated a process to develop new policy on use of contact data in the WHOIS system in October 2003. Three separate task forces – each with an At-Large liaison – were addressing these issues, and the ALAC has provided advice on: restricting access to WHOIS data for marketing purposes; review of data collected and displayed; and improving accuracy of collected data (see <http://www.alac.icann.org/whois/>).
The three task forces issued a “Combined Whois Task Force Preliminary Report” for public comment on 23 April 2005. The report includes r ecommendations on improving notification and consent for the use of contact data in the WHOIS system, including disclosures to registrants regarding availability and third-party access to personal data associated with domain names. Specifically, the report recommends:
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Registrars must ensure that disclosures regarding availability and third-party access to personal data associated with domain names actually be presented to registrants during the registration process. Linking to an external web page is not sufficient.
- Registrars must ensure that these disclosures are set aside from other provisions of the registration agreement if they are presented to registrants together with that agreement. Alternatively, registrars may present data access disclosures separate from the registration agreement. The wording of the notice provided by registrars should, to the extent feasible, be uniform.
- Registrars must obtain a separate acknowledgement from registrants that they have read and understand these disclosures. This provision does not affect registrars' existing obligations to obtain registrant consent to the use of their contact information in the WHOIS system.
The ALAC is expressing support for the concept of mandatory disclosure that underlies the task forces’ recommendations and is suggesting specific ways to improve it.
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- AT-LARGE CONTINUES TO GROW – Twenty organizations have registered as “At-Large Structures” and applications are pending from 12 more groups worldwide that want to involve individual Internet users in ICANN. Join a group or form a new one. Information is posted at <http://www.alac.icann.org/applications/>.
If you (or a group you are involved with) want to influence decisions that shape the Internet, register as an "At-Large Structure" and participate in ICANN decisions critical to the Internet's end users. “At-Large Structure” registration is free, easy, and done via email. Groups interested participating in ICANN At-Large are encouraged to send an email to <als@alac.icann.org> or get more information and an application online at <www.alac.icann.org/applications/>.
The Interim At-Large Advisory Committee