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ICANN Update Session, APRICOT 2014

24 February 2014, 1045-1245hrs

The presentation slide can be downloaded here: ICANN Update_ APRICOT 2014 FINAL.pdf 

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We hope to conduct another update session on the sidelines of other regional events in the future, and welcome suggestions on where these types of sessions can be held as well.


Universal Acceptance

Brief: Constraints imposed in software on what is allowed as a valid domain name (such as limiting domains to specific endings like ".com", or incompatibility with Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)) are artificially constraining the growth and utility of the Internet. Rejection of some TLD strings due to outdated length parameters or other erroneous formatting criteria can be avoided by reliance on authoritative information. This is not an ICANN-only problem; cooperation among registry operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), software developers, vendors, and others who deal with domain names on a regular basis is critical to ensuring the continued realization of the Internet's potential for commerce and communications. 

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  • There are plans to discuss this issue at the upcoming ICANN49 meeting in Singapore.
  • A participant requested that in preparation for the discussion, as the issue crosses various communities and stakeholder groups, it will be helpful for the team in ICANN that is preparing for this topic to map out the stakeholders and parties across the entire value chain (i.e. registry operators, ISPs, software developers, vendors etc) that are crucial in addressing this issue. It will be useful for these stakeholder groups be invited to discuss this issue at ICANN.


Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) Variants

 Brief: Some character sets (such as Chinese, Arabic, Tamil) have IDN Variant TLDs. A potential example is: ".顶级域名" vs ".頂級域名". To support IDN variants in the root zone, ICANN and the ICANN community undertook several projects to study and make recommendations on their viability, sustainability and delegation. We are now more than two years into the project and are in the third phase of the IDN Variant TLD Program. One of the current projects is the "Implementation of the Label Generation Ruleset Procedure (Project 2.2)” which looks at the development of the Label Generation Rules (LGR) for Internationalised Domain Name in Applications (IDNA) Labels for the Root Zone. The work being carried out involves a set of Generation Panels, each for a specific script, an Integration Panel to integrate the work of the Generation Panels, and a set of Advisors to all Panels.

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  • Another participant highlighted that it was difficult for interested parties to ‘get started’ and participate not only in LGR work, which requires specific expertise, but also in ICANN work in general. The ICANN Asia Pacific Hub was asked to facilitate mechanisms for our community to obtain the necessary information, to help them get started.

 

Refining and replacing WHOIS

Brief: In December 2012 ICANN’s CEO convened an Expert Working Group (EWG) to help explore how the well-established WHOIS system – which enables global public access to gTLD domain name registration data – can be improved and possibly replaced by a “next generation” solution that would better serve the needs of a changing Internet community. Other efforts are underway at ICANN to analyze and implement changes to specific aspects of WHOIS, including the development of a formal accreditation program for privacy and proxy registration service providers and possible standardization for the translation and transliteration of WHOIS contact information.

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  • As WHOIS deals with work on standardization, a participant suggested for ICANN to work with IETF on this issue.
  • With regard to the issue of standardization for the translation and transliteration of WHOIS contact information, the participant stated his preference for transliteration.
  • For future update sessions, the ICANN team can share more information about other efforts across ICANN, including the Expert Working Group’s findings and recommendations and the work on Internationalised Registration Data. Care should be taken to ensure that how these efforts feed into one another and are coordinated is communicated to the audience.


New gTLD update

Brief: ICANN’s new gTLD Program was launched in January 2012 and attracted over 1900 applications. As of late January 2014, over 100 new strings have been delegated into the root zone, to join the incumbent list of 22 gTLDs, ushering in the most massive transformation of the domain name system in the history of the Internet. Of the new gTLD applications, ICANN received 116 applications for IDNs in a total of 12 scripts; and the first 4 new gTLDs approved for delegation were all IDNs – in Arabic, Chinese and Russian. As more new gTLDs are approved and delegated, potential registrants will have to navigate multiple “sunrise” and “landrush” periods before each new gTLD is finally released by its registry operator for general availability. The first general release of new gTLDs took place in late January 2014.

The session provided updates on the new gTLD programme, as well as links to further information (see presentation slides in the link at the top of the page).

 

Wrap up

In sum, we noted the following:

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