Saturday, 11 March 2023
At-Large RALO Coordination Session
Summary:
The At-Large Regional Leaders met to discuss cross-RALO issues and work on how best to collaborate, where possible.
- Looking forward, the RALOs to consider how they can do more capacity building for their working groups and for outreach and engagement.
- Further discussion is needed to see if they can come up with topics to possibly enhance cross-RALO community collaboration.
- Noting that specific regional considerations need to be prioritized and taken into account.
Action Items:
- RALO leaders to work on more coordinated capacity building and O/E and ICANN GSE; but not add additional work.
At-Large Leadership ICANN76 Welcome Session
Summary:
This session marked Jonathan Zuck’s first meeting as newly-appointed ALAC Chair. He welcomed Leon Sanchez, At-Large Director selected by At-Large, who answered members’ questions and provided updates from the Board: namely that it will be making decisions soon concerning many of the recommendations on new gTLD Subsequent Procedures, and that it will also be seeking community input toward its search for a new ICANN CEO. At-Large members discussed Talking Points for various topics of interest across the community, and members volunteered to attend/participate in relevant ICANN76 sessions and report back to the group any potential action items for At-Large to consider. Finally, Prof. Jan Aart Scholte and Prof. Hortense Jongen presented an overview of their report about legitimacy and ICANN, identifying why legitimacy is important, the levels of legitimacy, the drivers of legitimacy beliefs, and the implication of their findings for policy action.
Action Items:
- Attend and participate in ICANN76 sessions of other community groups, and report back any information or action items worth At-Large consideration.
- When participating in sessions, take the opportunity to remember and note that At-Large is the voice of end users and is an integral part of the multi-stakeholder model.
- Prof. Jan Aart Scholte’s suggestions to promote ICANN's legitimacy include:
- Where possible, highlighting ICANN’s purpose, its deliverables, its transparency and accountability, and its unbiased way of making decisions. Additionally, increase participation from non-western and non-northern regions, help people realize how they are benefiting from ICANN, and do not let ICANN appear to be driven by business and profit.
At-Large Internal Session on Subsequent Procedures (SubPro)
Summary: During this session, Jonathan Zuck, ALAC Chair, spoke to the need for conversation about what positive consequences At-Large wants to maximize from a new round of gTLDs, as well as what unintended consequences At-Large may want to mitigate in a new round. Cheryl Langdon-Orr presented an overview of the OFB Working Group small team’s ALAC prioritization assessment tool, prompting discussion about whether to prioritize certain SubPro recommendations such as DNS abuse and data gathering. At-Large members widely acknowledged the importance of having metrics and data on DNS abuse, but did not yet reach consensus on which metrics are necessary or whether provision of this data must be a prerequisite before any initiation of the next round of gTLDs.
Action Items:
- Those who are passionate about the topics of DNS abuse, New gTLD Subsequent Procedures, or prioritization are invited to join the Prioritization Working Group, a small team of the Operations, Finance, Budget (OFB) Working Group. Weekly meetings will be starting soon.
- Consider polling in your regional meetings and/or distribution lists, as a means to gather diverse inputs about where the At-Large community’s priorities are with regard to the next round of new gTLDs.
Summary:
Jonathan Zuck, ALAC Chair, expressed that his overall objective for the At-Large community is to increase its influence within the ICANN community. He spoke to the various ways that At-Large stands apart as a community, dedicatedly identifying and amplifying the interests of end users. He then introduced his proposal of an “At-Large loop”, which aims to provide more structured communication within At-Large’s current infrastructure, in order to help improve collaboration and increase At-Large's credibility as a trustworthy advisor on behalf of end users.
Action Items:
- None
Sunday, 12 March 2023
Summary:
- ALAC questions:
- BC/IPC/ALAC correspondence to the ICANN Board: Improvements to 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and Current Registry Agreement (RA)
- Contract issues will remain to be an issue as we get closer to the new round.
b. ALAC correspondence to the ICANN Board: Comments and Concerns on the SubPro Operational Design Assessment (ODA)
c. DNS Abuse - (ALAC/SSAC item)
Rod Rasmussen - not much data to go on. People change prices. We might need to look into this. There is some interesting research.
Need to exploare all aspects of mitigating DNS abuse including proactive approaches, community standards, shared e xpectations and overall goals.
a. Baselines need to need to be developed.
Need to align existing recommendation from the SSAC, ALAC and GAC, CCT RT.
Rod Rasmussen said community input is important.
Bill Jouris - collaboration with other groups is always good. Suggested a joint statement on DNS abuse.
Joanna Kulesca - Agreed with Bill. Pointed out that there is a DNS Small Group Steering Group. Any way to zoom in on that issue will be useful.
Rod Rasmussen - SSAC has spoken about practical issues related to DNS Abuse. We are able to see registration patterns. etc.
AI: ALAC/SSAC to consider forming a cross community group on DNS Abuse. Might bring in some outside experts.
2. SSAC Questions.
a. NCAP - Matthew Thomas presented an update, including several studies.
b. Evolution of DNS Resolution - Barry Leiba - Noted a report will be out shortly. One item is that domain names are less relevant to end users over using a search function. Goal is to community target the community At-Large.
c. DNSSEC DS Automation - Peter and Steve -
d. Registrar Name Management - Rod provided an update.
e. SSAC New Member Outreach - Julie Hammer - Described the plans and timing for stakeholder outreach.
Action Items:
- None
Monday, 13 March
Joint Session ICANN Board and ALAC
Summary:
The session focused on the ICANN Board's questions to the ALAC and ALAC's positions related to Subsequent Procedures (SubPro). The Board and ALAC discussed what the Board could do to better appreciate their volunteer work, including the difficult decisions At-Large has in determining how to travel slots (i.e., strategically using them for experienced and active participants versus using them to engage newer members). The ALAC also highlighted the need to evolve the technical tools and resources available to the community (e.g., Slack, etc.). The ALAC also presented its positions on a few key areas related to Subsequent Procedures.
Action Items:
- ICANN org to work with At-Large on identifying one or two tools for the community to engage new people and re-engage existing volunteers to participate.
Tuesday, 14 March
Summary:
The session opened with a welcome to the incoming At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) chair and a thank you to the outgoing Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) chair. The panelists then presented an update on the 2017 joint GAC-ALAC Advice, which focused on ways to improve accessibility to ICANN documents for the benefit of volunteers and newcomers. There was also an update on the ICANN76 plenary session and an in-depth discussion on topics of mutual interest related to Domain Name System (DNS) abuse.
Highlights:
- The objective of the 2017 Advice is to foster inclusive and informed participation. While ICANN org’s use of the Information Transparency Initiative (ITI) is the preferred implementation method for the joint Advice, the GAC and ALAC believe that further work must be done. They look forward to continuing discussions with the ICANN Board and org.
- The ICANN76 plenary session will look at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS Forum). The ICANN community should find ways to participate in broader discussions related to Internet governance through WSIS.
- DNS abuse should have a working definition that includes what types of security threats ICANN org considers within its remit. Security threats must be addressed through contractual and compliance mechanisms, and it should be clear to the community as to what ICANN org understands to be outside of its remit.
- The ALAC believes that implementation of several relevant consensus policies as well as the completion of community work like Applicant Support need to finish before the launch of the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program. The ALAC community has begun a prioritization exercise to review outstanding recommendations such as the Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team (CCTRT) recommendations related to metrics and the relevant DNS abuse approved policy development process recommendations.
- The GAC sees current contract negotiations initiated by the Contracted Parties as a positive and unprecedented step to improve actions against DNS abuse. The GAC and ALAC both understand that this is a first step on the journey to mitigate DNS abuse. The more precision and focus given to areas of DNS abuse the higher the probability for success.
Action Items:
- The GAC and the ALAC to continue discussions regarding the joint 2017 Advice and aligned views on DNS abuse between now and ICANN77.
Wednesday, 15 March
Joint AFRALO AfrICANN Session: Best practices for DNS operations in Africa
Action Items:
- Sally Costerton to look into ensuring there are more staff to support the African travelers who need assistance with visas.
- Pierre Dandijnou Gisella Gruber, Heidi Ullrich to work with Travel Support to ensure required letters for visas are sent as early for ICANN77.
- Statement to be polished and sent to staff to send to the Board for info.
Thursday, 16 March
ALAC Hosted Community Session: Unfinished Business and the Role of the ODP
