What We Can Take to the Seoul ICANN Meeting

Posted October 7th, 2009

The last ICANN meeting in Sydney, Australia was like a great network variety show. There were celebrity guest stars, exotic animals (the gala had a petting zoo) and a big finish (Okay, so it didn’t come at the end but the naming of the new CEO Rod Beckstrom constitutes a big finish). In true variety show form, there were a lot of fireworks, but not much actually happened. Attendees expecting major announcements on any of the hot button topics were not satiated. It was, compared to where things could have gone given deadlines and rollouts, a light meeting.

In the months following ICANN #35, a frenzied chain of events has unfolded. The great drama of the new gTLD rollout has gained speed with scuffle amongst multiple parties pursuing the same TLDs, the projected date of the application process pushed back and the ICA has refused to endorse a letter from registrars and hopeful new gTLD operators urging that the process move forward. The US Government has backed off of ICANN and new CEO Rod Beckstrom has released the Affirmation of Commitments. Domain tasting has essentially ended and IDN ccTLD Fast Tracking looks like its ready to go. It is these events more so than the events of the last meeting that will lead us to what may well be a VERY interesting meeting in Seoul, South Korea.

So what will happen when we get to Seoul?

Several things can happen at the Seoul meeting. We will see new ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom in action. The meeting will be one of many proving grounds for Beckstrom, coming on to helm ICANN at a critical point. Thus far it appears that Beckstrom is pleasing the community, however that is not to say that a critical eye is not being cast upon him from all sides of the new gTLD debate and from those concerned about whether ICANN will indeed improve institutional confidence. This meeting will be an important juncture for him particularly in the way he handles questions about the delayed roll out of new gTLDs.

The way things look now; the meeting’s discussion will focus largely on IDNs, particularly the IDN ccTLD Fast Track. The proposed final plan is scheduled for ICANN Board consideration at the October meeting and there are several sessions devoted to it. The current IDN ccTLD Fast Track launch date is November 16, 2009. As for the new gTLD initiative, with version 3 of the draft applicant guidebook not yet available, the dialog will be most likely continue to revolve around struggle between those with intellectual property interest and those who want to move forward. It is everyone’s hope that there will be announcements made that will curtail speculation as to how and when the process will ultimately unfold.

We urge anyone who has not previously attended a meeting to attend any introductory sessions ICANN may be offering in the first few days of the meeting. They are incredibly helpful. ICANN can be difficult to navigate and with a barrage of acronyms and institutions within institutions to familiarize oneself with it won’t hurt to drop in on one of these sessions. We also recommend attending the IANA IPV6 showcase if you aren’t familiar with IPV6 or are just curious about what is developing. Becoming as familiar as possible with IPV6 will be extremely helpful as the domain space continues to expand. The DNS Abuse forum is also highly recommended.

If you are on the fence about whether to attend this meeting, we would recommend being present. With such major changes to the DNS approaching it is important to be as informed as possible and to participate in the process through which these massive changes are being implemented. At the end of the Sydney meeting we polled ICANN attendees on what they took away from the meeting. Here’s what they had to say:

“The most surprising and uplifting thing was to see the large registrars and the Registry Constituency coming to agreement with trademark interests on most major points of the IRT recommendations”. Mike Rodenbaugh, Rodenbaugh Law

“Something really incredible happened during the Sydney ICANN meeting. ICANN had managed the formidable feat of getting a group of lawyers to work gratis for 8 weeks and come up with a bunch of proposals to help protect trademarks in the face of a potentially unlimited number of new Internet top-level domains. And you know what? No one picked up on this! No-one marveled at how these lawyers’ accumulated hourly fees would have run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars had they been billing their time like they do on every other day of the week. No one thought for a minute that the Implementation Recommendation Team these lawyers gave so much of their free time towards stands as a rare example of a seemingly selfless act by a profession who isn’t exactly known for its altruistic nature. No. Instead, everyone focused on the IRT recommendations themselves, either criticizing or praising. They looked at the actual issues. And the lawyers’ unprecedented act of investing their time for the common good went unnoticed. The ultimate proof that the ICANN system might actually be working?” Stéphane Van Gelder, www.stephane-vangelder.com

“ I would say that from my perspective obviously the most interesting topic is the ongoing discussion on new gTLDs. On one side it was quite amusing to see potential applicants promoting their TLD ideas, even though to be honest so far I haven’t really seen anything that stroke me as particularly innovative.

I personally think it will be interesting to see IDN TLDs (both cc and gTLDs) in the root, but in general my impression is that the whole process is driven too much by business interests and not enough by the greater good of the community: this applies in both directions, and I think the IRT report is a good example of how the interest of those with the bigger pockets weigh more also on the other side of the fence. Finally, I was pleased to see Rod Beckström as new CEO of ICANN, and I really hope he can make a difference rather than simply being sucked in by the machine”. Francesco Cetraro, .Mobi

“I’ll say this: Sydney was my 20th ICANN meeting and by far the busiest. Not because I’m now chairing the Registrar Constituency — what I observe is ICANN is trying to do too many things at one time and it’s overwhelming the community’s ability to thoughtfully consider all the issues. I’m very concerned if ICANN doesn’t find a way to prioritize, its work will suffer”. Mason Cole, Oversee.net

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Posted in CCTLD's, Conferences, ICANN, IDNs, gTLDS by Kelly Hardy