John DemcoICANN Makes Case for More Autonomy – In making its submission in response to the midterm review of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce, ICANN has made the case that it is meeting its responsibilities under the JPA and that the JPA should be concluded. This would represent a major step towards private sector coordination of the DNS. However, accountability to the U.S. government would continue in a number of areas including membership in ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee and especially via the IANA contract by which ICANN is authorized to insert domain names into the root zone. The U.S. government is soliciting public input on the JPA review until February 15.
CIRA Seeks New Members for Nomination Committee – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has issued a call for new members for its Nomination Committee. The committee’s role is to identify a roster of candidates for CIRA’s Board of Directors elections. Applications for the Nomination Committee close on January 25.
ICANN and Root Server Operator Reach Agreement – ICANN and Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), operator of the “F” root nameserver, have announced the signing of a Mutual Responsibilities Agreement. The agreement is “the first formalization of mutual responsibilities between a root server operator and ICANN”, and “outlines a structure and description of duties and expectations, dispute resolution, and interchange of technical information”. Paul Vixie, President of ISC, was the primary author of the popular nameserver software BIND.
Report on Domain Tasting Posted – ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) council has posted an initial report on domain tasting. The council has voted to begin exploration of specific policy changes that should be made to curb domain tasting. Comments on the report are being sought until January 28.
Picks To Click
- Alberta premier Ed Stelmach pursues edstelmach.ca.
- A profile of ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush.
- France’s .fr domain reaches one million names.
- The .mobi registry is postponing the rerunning of its nullified December auction.
- A new ‘dashboard‘ offers measurements of ICANN’s performance.
- ICANN releases a final draft of the document “ICANN Accountability & Transparency Frameworks and Principles”.
- ICANN’s GNSO continues to study the WHOIS system.
- Genzyme Corporation wins a dispute over synvisc.ca.
Timeline
- Thu, Jan 17: implementation date for ICANN procedure for handling WHOIS conflicts with privacy law
- Fri, Jan 25: last day for applications for CIRA’s Nomination Committee.
- Fri, Jan 25: last day for comments on policy development process for IDN ccTLDs.
- Mon, Jan 28: last day for comments on initial report on domain tasting.
- Thu, Jan 31: last day of .asia registry sunrise for marks, extended marks, entity names
- Sun, Feb 10 – Fri, Feb 15: ICANN meetings in New Delhi, India
- Fri, Feb 15: last day for submissions to midpoint review of NTIA/ICANN agreement
- Tue, Feb 20 – Mon, Mar 12: .asia domain landrush
- Mon, Mar 26: .asia domain first-come-first-served registrations begin
- Sun, Jun 22 – Fri, Jun 27: ICANN meetings in Paris, France