ICA Blog

In an afternoon keynote address presented to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) USA meeting (http://www.igf-usa.us/) held July 18th at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, DC, Larry Strickling, the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the Department of Commerce, indicated a much more favorable view of ICANN in the wake of its adoption …

This Spring ICANN staff released a Preliminary Issue Report on the Current State of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy, and followed up with a webinar featuring presentations by experts involved with all aspects of UDRP administration and representation. While the Report was of high quality, ICA was disappointed that the staff recommended that the GNSO refrain from authorizing further steps …

On Wednesday, June 22nd a session was held at the Singapore ICANN meeting regarding “The Current State of the UDRP”, including the recently issued Preliminary Issues Report on the UDRP which is open for public comment until July 15th. That Report generally recommends that a Policy Development Process (PDP) should not be initiated on the UDRP — but that if …

In a historic June 20th vote of thirteen yays to two nays, with two abstentions, ICANN’s Board of Directors voted in Singapore to approve the opening of the domain name system (DNS) to unlimited applications for new generic top level domains (gTLDs). The application period for the initial round will open on January 12, 2012 and close three months later …

After a daylong air journey from Washington to Singapore we spent the weekend ensconced in the Raffles Convention Center observing the workings of ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policymaking body and trading news and rumors in the air conditioned hallways that provide shelter from the sweltering heat outside. Upon arrival we learned of two new communications that will likely …

When ICANN’s Board meets in Singapore in two weeks to consider approving the launch of new gTLDs it will mark the third anniversary of its 2008 vote in Paris to initiate the new gTLD project. The seemingly interminable process that has ensued over the past 36 months has brought many disturbing new ideas to fruition – including new ‘rights protections’ …

On June 1st an ICANN comment period ended in regard to the process for terminating registry/registrar separation at incumbent gTLDs like .Com and .Net (announcement at http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-02may11-en.htm ). ICANN’s Board has decided that any new gTLDs will not be subject to such a separation requirement and will rely on other restrictions as well as national competition authorities to curb any …

Responding to a strongly worded ICA comment letter filed on May 15th, ICANN has deleted applicant evaluation criteria from the Final Applicant Guidebook (AG) for new gTLDs that would have encouraged applicants to constrain parked websites offering advertising links. ICANN has just issued what it hopes will be the Final version of the AG (available at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-7-en.htm). ICA’s May 15th …

Last Friday, May 20, the ICANN Board and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), held a joint teleconference to discuss remaining differences on the proposed final Applicant Guidebook AG)  for the new gTLD program.  Two days later they issued a Joint Statement regarding what transpired and how the process will go forward. The Joint Statement consists of the sort of vague …

ICA has just submitted its sixth comment letter to ICANN in regard to the ever-evolving Applicant Guidebook (AG) for the new gTLD program. The latest version of the AG contains a new provision, tucked away in the evaluation questions for new gTLD applicants, that asks whether they will adopt policies to eliminate or minimize “social costs” and “negative consequences”, and …