The ALAC notes that there has yet to be a discussion about whether any new gTLDs are needed. In case of an expansion, first and foremost, (1) strings with geographic connotations should not present harm (eg. risk for confusion) to end-users and (2) end-users, as residents of a given geographic entity, should have a say, through their governments or public authorities, in how its name is used. The ALAC prefers preventative protection mechanisms for country, territory, sub-national place and capital names. In the case of non-capital city names, there is a balanced support within the ALAC for either (1) requiring support or a non-objection letter from the relevant authority only if the applicant intends to use the TLD primarily for purposes associated with the city or (2) requiring support or a non-objection letter in any case. As to the 2012 AGB, ALAC thinks that its final version generally worked well and supports, in general, its treatment of geographic names.

Public Comment for Decision

None

Current Statements (ALAC Advice, Comment or Correspondence)

(Since last NARALO Monthly Meeting)

1st Comment: ICANN Draft FY20 Operating Plan and Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan Update
Of principle concern to the ALAC/At-Large is their ability to achieve the objectives of the At-Large Review Implementation Plan. The comments in the statement relate to particular portfolio or project areas and incorporate specific At-Large concerns, namely: language services, raising stakeholder awareness of ICANN worldwide, engage stakeholders regionally, support policy development, policy related and advisory activities, reinforce stakeholder effectiveness, collaboration and communication capabilities, coordination of ICANN participation in Internet Governance, supporting organizational reviews, and supporting stakeholder participation.

2nd Comment: ICANN Draft FY20 Operating Plan and Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan Update
The ALAC Chair determined to submit an additional ALAC statement on this public comment, in accordance with new rules regarding FY20 Additional Budget Requests (ABRs). As ABRs are no longer intended to request travel support to ICANN meetings, the ALAC decided to submit an additional comment to the FY20 Budget public comment, requesting two travel slots to support the attendance of active At-Large policy/outreach leaders in At-Large work session activities at ICANN meetings.

Comment: ICANN Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021 – 2025
The ALAC stressed the importance of ICANN’s role in the multistakeholder model of Internet Governance (including 6 recommendations to improve its effectiveness), suggested a rebalancing of representation on the ICANN Board to enhance the Internet end user perspective, and noted that more fulsome cost/benefit analyses of programs like the gTLD expansion should be available in order predict the future impact on total resources. The ALAC also commented on strengthening the security of the Domain Name System (DNS) and the DNS Root Server System, evolving the unique identifier systems to continue to serve the needs of the global Internet user base, addressing geopolitical issues impacting ICANN’s mission to ensure a single and globally interoperable Internet, and ensuring ICANN’s long-term financial sustainability.

Comment: First Consultation on a 2-Year Planning Process
The ALAC/At-Large community agrees that more time should be given for additional community involvement, and requests that ICANN Org provide a listing of priorities and statements on the impact of each project within ICANN Org and on each of the unique ACs and SOs. The ALAC also encourages ICANN Org to provide the appropriate level of resources to ICANN IT for continued support of services which are vital for community policy work. The ALAC believes that the additional time from 15 months to 2 years would provide more transparency as the community is becomes more aware of priority ranking of projects or has collaborated with ICANN Org on priority ranking. The At-Large Advisory Committee believes that beyond the priorities of keeping the Internet secure and stable, and maintaining the multistakeholder model, the community should be directly involved in setting other priorities. In addition to policy activity, the ALAC emphasizes that outreach and engagement are integral to the planning cycle, and the benefit of CCWGs and CCEGs in planning activities. The ALAC supports a formalized, dedicated planning phase to plan for SO/AC activities. The ALAC noted it strongly believes that for ICANN to be as inclusive as possible, documents should be translated into multiple languages; important community meetings should be held in different time zones and in different languages, with real time translation (language channels) and captioning / real time transcription (RTT) provided on all calls. Finally, the ALAC strongly believes that for ICANN to be seen to be truly multistakeholder-focused and inclusive, then appropriate resources must be made available to remove barriers that might prevent the full participation of the ICANN community in policy activities.

Comment: Updated Operating Standards for Specific Reviews
It is the view of the ALAC that the level of specificity for specific reviews is necessary to prevent misunderstandings and missteps by any of the parties involved in the review. The ALAC believes scope should be well defined within the confines of bylaws and review teams should be free to pursue their mandate within that scope. Accordingly, the ALAC voiced their strong support for the updates to the Operating Standards for Specific Reviews.

Comment (sent to ICANN Board): ICANN64 Joint GAC-ALAC Statement on EPDP
During ICANN64, the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) drafted and approved a Joint GAC-ALAC Statement on the EPDP. The GAC and ALAC are aligned overall with the EPDP Phase I Report, as it pertains to outstanding concerns as articulated in their respective statements to the report. The two advisory committees are in agreement on the need to distinguish between natural and legal persons. In addition, the GAC and ALAC highlighted the importance of data accuracy, the technical contact field, and protecting the public interest. The statement was drafted jointly with the GAC with input from the ALAC Liaison to the GAC, Yrjö Lansipuro, and GAC representative, Cathrin Bauer-Bulst, as well as the At-Large representatives to the EPDP, Hadia Elminiawi and Alan Greenberg.

Public Comment for Decision

Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement 29 Apr 2019
Proposed Renewal of .info Registry Agreement 29 Apr 2019

Current Statements (ALAC Advice, Comment or Correspondence)

Public Comment Name	Public Comment Close	Status	Penholder(s)
GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Policy Recommendations for ICANN Board Consideration	17 Apr