ICANN Meeting 45 Toronto October 2012 – SSAC Liaison Report
(as at 19Oct12)
1. ROLE OF SSAC LIAISON. My role, as I see it, is to provide a conduit whereby ALAC can provide the SSAC with input to and feedback on SSAC Reports, and suggest and influence the selection of topics that the SSAC might study. Additionally, I seek to ensure that SSAC reports are written in a way that is understandable and meaningful to the ALAC audience. Like all other liaisons, this role means that I not only need to keep up to date with all SSAC topics that are being worked on (whether I am a member of the Working Group or not), but also need to keep a watching eye on topics being discussed in the ALAC. This is a challenging task as the volume of email traffic is very high, and not all issues are relevant to my role. It is also the case that much of the work that SSAC is doing cannot be discussed in open forum, and so my reporting cannot usually be as detailed as other liaisons.
2. MEETINGS ATTENDED IN TORONTO. Unfortunately I was unable to travel to Toronto for this ICANN Meeting because of commitments in Australia that week, and so I have attended as many SSAC Sessions as possible through remote participation:
SSAC Meetings
Sunday, 14 Oct
2:00-2:45 pm — SSAC Meeting with the ALAC — Regatta, Hotel Main Lobby Level
Tuesday 16 Oct
8:00 am-6:30 pm -- SSAC Private Meetings - Dockside 5, Hotel Lower Level;
Thursday, 18 Oct
8:30-9:30 am -- SSAC Public Meeting – Harbour C, Convention Level
ALAC Meetings
Tuesday 16 Oct
8:30-9:30 am -- ALAC Meeting with the ICANN Board – Regatta, Hotel Main Lobby Level
Friday 19 Oct
8:00-10:00 am -- ALAC & Regional Leadership Wrap-Up Meeting 2 – Regatta, Hotel Main Lobby Level
10:00-12:00 am -- ALAC Executive Committee – Regatta, Hotel Main Lobby Level
Other Meetings
Thursday, 18 Oct
10:15-11:15 am -- Board DNS Risk Management WG – Harbour C, Convention Level
11:15 am-12:45 pm — DNS Security and Stability Analysis Working Group (DSSA-WG) -- Harbour C, Convention Level
3. SSAC MEETING WITH ALAC. The briefing provided by Patrik Fältström, the SSAC Chair, on Sunday 14th October provided updates on recently released SSAC Reports:
SAC053 SSAC Report on Dotless Domains
SAC055 SSAC Comment on the WhoIs Review Team Final Report
SAC056 SSAC Advisory on the Impacts of DNS Blocking (requested by the GAC)
Patrik also advised of the current active Working Parties within SSAC:
Registration Data Validation Work Party
Identifier Abuse Metrics Work Party
Root Key Rollover Work Party
4. IDENTIFIER ABUSE METRICS WORK PARTY. I would like to specifically mention this work party as I feel its focus will be of particular interest to ALAC. It has been in the ‘formation process’ for some time, as it was grappling with the difficult task of clearly defining its focus. It was originally called the Domain Name Holding Pen, but this title was deemed inappropriate as the scope of the task evolved. It has recently settled on its scope which initially is to gather data and metrics to analyse and better understand the extent of and issues related to use-based abusive domains. The aim is to eventually define and explain the types of use-based abuse to facilitate unambiguous discussions, to describe in quantitative terms how frequently such abuse is encountered, and to offer ‘best practice’ advice for dealing with the abuse.
I expect that this Work Party will take quite some time and progress through a number of stages in tackling this massive problem, and the form of its deliverable(s) is not yet clear. Because I believe there is keen interest within ALAC on these issues, I have volunteered to be on this Work Party and will keep you informed of its progress.
