ICANN Dispatch from Singapore - 4 March 99

[Sean Garrett <icanncomm@go.com>]

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
 
Initial Board of Directors Determines Guidelines at Singapore Meeting

Summary

SINGAPORE, March 4, 1999 -- The initial Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) moved forward today on two important decisions:  determining the requirements for accreditation of domain name registrars in the .com, .net and .org top-level domains (TLDs); and determining the structure for its Domain Name Supporting Organization.  

Meeting in Singapore, the Board adopted a domain name registrar accreditation policy, with changes from the draft guidelines reflecting public comments that the guidelines should be as lightweight as possible.  

The Board also adopted the attached document outlining the concepts and structure on which the Domain Name Supporting Organization will be based.  

The DNSO will be an advisory group within ICANN responsible for recommending policies concerning the Domain Name System and for selecting three of ICANN,s 19 directors.  The Board considered a wide range of comments and views, including two applications for DNSO recognition, and concluded that the most appropriate approach would be to use the best features of both in the new document.

“We made some major progress today towards creating a truly competitive environment in the .com, .net and .org domain naming system,” said Esther Dyson, Interim Chairman of ICANN’s Initial Board of Directors. “We also showed the consensus process in operation by changing our initial proposals to reflect the community’s feedback.” 

The Board also adopted a conflict-of-interest policy and established procedures for reconsideration of ICANN decisions.
The Board held its meeting in Singapore in conjunction with the annual APRICOT conference, an Asia-Pacific-wide Internet conference, reflecting ICANN,s international nature.

Adoption of Registrar Accreditation Guidelines

The Board adopted a policy by which competing registrars will be accredited to process registrations in the .com, .org, and .net generic top level domains.  

The Board also approved accompanying contracts, and directed the ICANN President to implement the policy and begin accepting registrar applications by Monday, March 15.  

The policy approved today reflects a number of changes reflecting public comment, including adjustments to make the requirements clearer and less burdensome, reduce uncertainty for registrars and registrants, strengthen data escrow provisions, and clarify the legal liabilities of registrants that license names to anonymous third parties.

Creation of an ICANN Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO)

The Board reviewed the two applications for recognition as the ICANN Domain Name Supporting Organization, along with written comments received and comments made at its public forum held in Singapore on March 3, 1999, including a document submitted in Singapore by the CENTR organization. 

The Board believes that it now possesses adequate information from the domain names community to proceed with the formation of a DNSO.  

While not accepting in full either of the proposals submitted, it has adopted a statement of DNSO formation concepts drawn from both proposals, the consensus principles identified in the CENTR document, and other comments.  

The Board has directed staff to draft proposed changes to the ICANN Bylaws to be publicly posted in advance of consideration by the Board.  

In taking this action, the Board believes that it is proceeding on the basis of a broad consensus within the domain names community regarding the DNSO.

Other Actions

The Board of Directors adopted a conflicts of interest policy and a reconsideration policy, as required by the ICANN bylaws.  The Board also discussed ongoing fundraising efforts, preliminary budget planning, and other operational matters.  


Domain Name Supporting Organization Formation Concepts
March 4, 1999

To be used by the ICANN staff in preparation of draft Bylaw provisions detailing the structure and mechanisms of the Domain Name Supporting Organization.

The Role of the DNSO

The Domain Name Supporting Organization (&DNSO8) should be a consensus-based policy advisory body within ICANN.


General Participation in the DNSO

The DNSO structure should include a General Assembly open to any individual or entity willing to contribute effort to the work of the DNSO.  


Constituency Groups Within the DNSO

The DNSO structure should include self-organized constituency groups of organizations and/or individuals with interest and expertise in DNSO matters.  The initial DNSO constituency groups should be (in alphabetical order):

ccTLD registries
Commercial and business entities gTLD registries
ISPs and connectivity providers
Non-commercial domain name holders 
Registrars
Trademark, intellectual property, anti-counterfeiting interests

Individual domain name holders should be able to participate in constituencies for which they qualify.

There should be no limitation on the number of constituency groups in which an entity may participate, as participants may have interests that align with multiple constituency groups.  However, given the consensus that the DNSO should represent a broad and diverse range of interests, no more than one employee of any one organization should be permitted to serve on the Names Council at one time.

Self-organized groups other than the initial groups set forth above may be recognized by the ICANN Board as DNSO constituency groups upon a proper showing pursuant to criteria to be determined.  The ICANN Board should periodically review the status of the constituency groups to determine whether all DNSO interests are adequately represented.


The Names Council

The Names Council should act as a steering committee for the DNSO and should be responsible for managing consensus and making recommendations to the ICANN Board regarding TLDs, including operation, assignment and management of the domain name system and other related subjects.

The Names Council should be elected by the DNSO constituency groups, each of which will elect three Names Council members.  


Development of Substantive Recommendations

The Names Council recommendations should be developed through a bottom-up process in which participants in the General Assembly take part.  Recommendations approved by a majority of the Names Council shall be forwarded to the ICANN Board, accompanied by expressions of minority views (including explanations of the potential impact of a recommendation on a specific constituency or constituencies).


Selection of ICANN Directors

The DNSO Names Council should seek nominations from the General Assembly for individuals to serve on the ICANN Board.  The Names Council shall vote from among those nominees to select directors to be submitted to the ICANN Board of Directors for election under Article IV, Section 9(b) of the ICANN Bylaws.


Open Processes

The DNSO should be governed by provisions for open and transparent non-discriminatory processes that are at least comparable with those that apply to the ICANN Board.  Further provisions may be established to ensure that the full record of the formation of each recommendation is available.


Funding

Administrative and operational costs of the DNSO should be funded by DNSO participants in a manner to be determined.

# # #

__
http://www.go.com


____________________________________________________________
Get your Free GO Network Email address at http://mail.go.com