Page History

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• We have three “policy development process” working groups now developing rules for the ICANN community and the Domain Name System. Do any of these interest you? If so, please check one or more of the boxes. 

• • Rights Protection Mechanisms Working Group – the rules that created the Trademark Clearinghouse, Uniform Rapid Suspension and Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (domain name allocation and revocation procedures). This is a good entry point if you have knowledge of or interests in intellectual property.
    
 
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  • Registration Directory Services Working Group – looking at the rules for collection of domain name registration data (which today includes the name, address, phone number, and email address of every registrant), and the future of its collection, publication, and availability to those with a desire and/or need. This is a good entry point if you advocate for or are interested in privacy and data protection.
    
 
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  • New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Working Group – researching and writing the ‘rules of the road’ for the next round of new generic top-levels domains (the new ‘applicant guidebook’ for the next round of new gTLD allocations is expected to open in 2020).

Please forward your responses to this email address: onboarding@lists.ncuc.org. Participation is optional, and a friendly reminder - if you do reply, we will not post your answers publicly.

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NCUC Onboarding Group - email 2

NCUC Onboarding Program

Overview 1

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To get a taste for why people like ICANN’s multistakeholder model and the fun of this new type of policy-making process, please see the video created by NCUC co-founder Kathy Kleiman and Google: What is the Multistakeholder Model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR5csH7tIyc (running time: 3:59).

Additional Reading:

• ICANNWiki – not to be confused with wiki.ICANN.org – is a great resource for finding basic explanations of different concepts, and community member biographies. https://www.icannwiki.org

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Our part of the Internet governance world is the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). The GNSO makes the rules for the registries, registrars, and registrants who operate in generic top-level domains (gTLDs). They are the top-level domains not associated with a special country code, but more generally known and used, e.g., .com, .org, .lawyer, .hotel, and .search, among others. 

In the gTLD world, we operate under a regime of “policy by contract”: 

1. Registries (who run the databases for assigning, routing, and tracking domain names in all gTLDs, including .com, .org, .audio, .mom and .car), sign a Registry Agreement with ICANN to run these gTLDs.
   
   
2. Registrars (who sell domain names in the gTLDs, e.g. NCUC.org) to the public sign Registrar Accreditation Agreements with ICANN.
   
   
3. Registrants (who buy and use second level domain names, e.g. NCSG.org) sign domain name registration agreements with their Registrars that bind them to the rules created by ICANN.

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Registries, registrars, and registrants agree by contract to follow the rules and policies created by ICANN, and these policies can be changed, deleted, revised, and removed.

Accordingly, the Generic Names Supporting Organization is divided into two “Houses” for voting purposes, much like the British Parliament or US Congress:

• One for the Registration Industry – Registries and Registrars – called the Contracted Parties House (for the contracts they sign with ICANN)
• One for the ‘user community’ – of commercial and noncommercial users – called the Non-Contracted Parties House (reflecting the fact that we don’t sign contracts directly with ICANN).

We are part of the Non-Contracted Parties House. Here’s our structure: 

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Each Stakeholder Group has its own Chair: 

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Each Constituency has its own Chair:

Each Stakeholder Group elects its own representatives to the GNSO Council, where representatives for the GNSO gather to manage and oversee the policy-making processes for generic top-level domains. Our current NCSG Councillors, who serve for two year terms, are:

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Note:   These names were accurate as of 31 July 2017, but may have changed since
time of publication.

As we would say in ICANN lingo: The NCUC plays a vital part in the GNSO’s bottom-up, multistakeholder policymaking process by voting for representatives to the GNSO Council and serving on the policy development working groups. We’ll talk about working groups in the next segment. 

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There are multiple kinds of policy within the ICANN ecosystem: 

1. Domain Name System (DNS) Policies are developed through formal policy development processes, as set forth by the ICANN Bylaws. These policies become part of the contracts signed by Registries, Registries and Registrants – part of the rules of the global Domain Name System. Examples include the New gTLD Program, the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy, and the Expired Registration Recovery Policy, among many others. Our work in this area often focuses on protecting privacy, freedom of expression, human rights, fair use, and due process. This is what we are primarily involved with.
   
   
2. Operational Policies define how ICANN works as an organization. These include an array of Cross-Community Working Groups associated with enhancing ICANN’s accountability, transparency, and diversity. In addition, operational policies include those matters not subject to a formal policy development process, but where community input has been sought via public comment or other means in shaping them. Examples include a recent revision to the criteria for awarding an ICANN Fellowship, the language services policy for determining which meetings receive translation, and the conflict of interest policy for Board members.
   
   
3. General Practices. ICANN relies on established practices that ‘just exist’ and have not necessarily gone through a formalised approval process. Examples include acceptable behaviour and conduct from community members when asking questions to Board at a public comment forum.

In our world, we are mostly involved in DNS policy. These are the recommendations that are developed and refined by the ICANN community through the various Supporting Organizations and influenced by the Advisory Committees.

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• If the recommendations are adopted, the GNSO Council will submit the Final Report to the ICANN Board.

-             The ICANN Board will then consult with various Advisory Committees, and will generally put the recommendations out for comment from the wider Internet community. Taking into account the advice received, the ICANN Board will vote on the Final Report recommendations.

They key thing to note, here, is that policy development in the GNSO takes place at the working group level – so that’s where you need to be to get involved!

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There are many ways in which you can become involved in ICANN’s multistakeholder, bottom-up, consensus-driven model for policy development. 

The most effective way in which you can voice your position about an issue is to shape the dialogue and the deliberations of the policy topic. You can do this by joining a Working Group created by the GNSO Council. 

These working groups are formally chartered within the ICANN structure to address policies and other issues facing the Internet community and the various stakeholders. They are composed of interested community volunteers with various types of interests and expertise.

Most working groups have a membership which is geographically dispersed, so the primary means of meeting is via teleconferences and online resources two to four times per month. The phone calls use toll-free audiobridge numbers to many countries, or the Secretariat can dial out to you. Many use the Adobe Connect platform, which is free, to participate in the meetings online.

If you are new to the community, it is generally easiest to join a working group as it is forming, but you can also join a working group that is already in progress. Doing so requires that you catch up with the work, research, and discussion that the group has already covered. You can do so by going through the recordings, briefing and transcripts of the previous meetings. You can also reach out to an NCUC focal point who can tell you more about how to get engaged.

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If you wish to join a working group, email the GNSO Secretariat at gnso-secs@icann.org to indicate your interest in doing so. You must include your full name, time zone, preferred email address for correspondence, and indicate whether you wish to be a member or observer of the working group (you can change this status at any time).

You will then be invited to complete a short 90-minute course with ICANN staff to learn how to use the different online resources. In this tutorial you will be introduced to ICANN Learn, an e-learning platform with a growing number of tutorials on different community topics. 

Shortly thereafter, you will be asked to complete a Statement of Interest (SOI) form. In this document, you publicly disclose who you work for and any other business relationships that might affect how you influence the working group. You cannot be disqualified from the group based on your SOI. It is posted so that others in the working group can understand what factors may influence your viewpoint. You will also be able to see the SOI of every other person in the working group.

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Working groups address challenging and complex issues, and require a high level of collaboration with people from all types of backgrounds and different cultures. You will probably enjoy the work more if you stick to areas of particular interest, and seek to participate actively in only one or two working groups (at least at first). 

No one can force you to take on more work than you choose to – we are a community of volunteers – but for maximum impact, you will need to participate in as many of the conference calls as possible. Attendance on calls is taken by ICANN staff and is publicly posted. In addition to attending meetings, you may be asked to assist in specific tasks such as: 

• Developing and drafting working group documents,
• Contributing ideas and knowledge to working group discussions on the mailing list,
• Acting as a liaison between the working group and the NCUC and NCSG,
• Ensuring that NCSG statements are developed in an informed and timely way,
• Actively and constructively participating in the consensus decision making process

You should be aware that working groups are normally expected to operate under the principles of transparency and openness, which means that mailing list conversations are publicly archived, meetings are normally recorded and transcribed, and the public will be able to listen to or read your contribution. This is how the public can hold the ICANN community accountable for its work.

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Many in the community who are short on time voice their positions about issues when a working group or operational matter has a call open for public comment.

The Public Comments page on the ICANN website lists every issue that is currently open for input from any Internet user around the world. It also has a calendar where you can find a list of upcoming issues that will be available for comment in the near future. Here you will find instructions on how to submit comments and read other comments that other stakeholders have already submitted. 

The NCSG, on behalf of the members of the NCUC and NPOC, work hard to prepare comments that faithfully represent our joint concerns and recommendations. In order for the comment to be endorsed as the position of the NCSG, there should first be consultation with NCSG members, and it must be approved by the NCSG’s Policy Committee. Often there is discussion on the NCSG list on the different issues, but if there is not or there is a comment that you would like to help coordinate, please let the Chair know. 

Throughout ICANN’s history, policy recommendations have been modified in order to incorporate the feedback received through public comments. As a recent example, the Applicant Guidebook that explains how to apply for a new gTLD was posted multiple times and drew more than 1,000 comments across six revisions, until the ICANN community reached consensus on it. It is crucially important that we weigh in on issues great and small.

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Generally speaking, civil society organizations and interested noncommercial individual users in the NCUC represent the public interest in Internet governance discussions related to domain name policy.

We organise bottom-up input and represent the interests of noncommercial Internet users who would otherwise be marginalised in the face of governmental and private sector priorities.

We have fought for the principles of free expression, privacy and data protection, fair use, freedom of association, and due process in ICANN activities. If these are issues you too care about, we invite you to join us! We need your input, ideas, expertise, and energy.

That said, given the diversity of opinion within our stakeholder group, we have a hard path to consensus. There are understandably often dissonant voices. But our lack of proper coordination can harm us at times. As a result, we thought it would be helpful to share with you some of the issues we have worked on, and some of the ideas we have tried so hard to inculcate in ICANN, in the hopes that collectively we might be able to band together more.

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The Executive Committee of the NCUC, in collaboration with NCUC members, has endorsed the following positions: 

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Overview 6

Public ICANN Meetings

ICANN meetings are held three times each year in different regions of the globe to enable attendees from around the world to meet in person and to develop and implement Internet policies. There are three formats of ICANN meetings - A, B, and C - which affect the meeting’s duration and agenda. You can find information on the differences between the meeting types here: https://meetings.icann.org/en/future-meeting-strategy. All meetings are free to attend, but registration is required.

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ICANN offers travel assistance to some members of its supporting organizations and advisory committees. The NextGen@ICANN and Fellowship programs also provide travel support to bring new voices into the ICANN community.

Furthermore, thanks to the generosity of the NCUC’s donours, the NCUC is able to offer limited travel support to our members to enable participation in ICANN meetings and other, relevant conferences such as the Internet Governance Forum – more information on the travel policy can be found on our website: http://www.NCUC.org.

NCUC Onboarding Group - email 8

NCUC Onboarding Program

Overview 7

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• The best thing you can do is join a working group – either as an observer (where you watch the email but cannot participate in the deliberations) or, even better, as a member and get the invitation to the join in the meetings of the working group.
• You can change your status from being an observer to a member at any time; but if you become a member, you will need to fill out the Statement of Internet (SOI) form. Feel free to ask for assistance!
• Most of our conversations at the NCUC-level happen on the mailing list. The volume of correspondence you receive might be intimidating – it is advisable to create a dedicated email address only for ICANN communications so that your personal or work email accounts do not become overwhelmed.
• Listen first, type second. Learning mailing list etiquette (“netiquette”) is an art. ICANN Staff have produced a quick and useful tutorial here. You have to register to view the module, but registration is free:  http://learn.icann.org/courses/newcomer-toolkit.
• You’ll find there are Skype channels which different participants use for informal, on-the-fly discussions. Ask around to find out which channels are currently being used.
• The ICANN YouTube channel is an excellent resource. Take a look at the short videos which ICANN staff have produced and subscribe to the channel. This way, you'll periodically come across bite-sized introductions to timely developments in the ICANN ecosystem.
• Keep an eye out for invitations from ICANN staff to participate in the pre-meeting policy update webinars. These webinars last for 90 minutes and will give you a timely, high-level update as to what the community is up to. They happen three times per year. Periodically, leaders within the NCUC will organise a series of policy webinars to brief the membership on the latest policy developments of key topics that we are engaged in – we’ll announce these on the mailing list so you can plan ahead and join in, if you can.
• Commentary on ICANN is regularly published by other community members on CircleID, and in the media on The Register, DomainIncite, DomainPulse, DomainMondo, and the Internet Governance Project. There’s also a range of accounts on Twitter (including those of the NCUC and NCSG) which circulate interesting perspectives on different issues. Don’t believe everything you read, but it’s not a bad idea to check in on these sources occasionally to see what is being said about the working group you’re participating in or the issues you care about – or on the work that others are up to.
• Once a month, the NCSG Policy Committee will have a teleconference. This is open to all NCUC and NPOC members and other NCSG members, and is well worth listening in on.
• Find a mentor informally; look for someone else in our constituency who is active, interested in the same issues as you are, and making a difference. Come at them with structured questions and chances are they’ll be happy to help you find your place in our fun little world. If you are finding it difficult to find a mentor, you can ask the NCUC Chair or your regional Executive Committee representative for a recommendation.
• We have a number of focal points who can answer your questions on different policy issues. You can find them on our website: http://www.ncuc.org/focal-points/

We are thrilled that you have joined the NCUC, and hope that this document has helped to demystify some of the complexity within the ICANN world. We want to give you the tools and resources that you need to become an effective participant in our constituency, and are so pleased you are here to help us in serving the interests of the noncommercial community. If you have any questions around how you can get involved, please do get in contact with us! We very much welcome you to find your interest areas and contribute your skills, knowledge, and expertise to our endeavours!