July 2016 – SSAC Liaison Report
(as at 26 July 16)
1. SSAC MEETINGS. The SSAC held a meeting on 21 July during which the main discussion was on Namespace Work Party
2. SSAC WORK PARTIES. I am currently participating in one SSAC Work Party which is planning the program for the Annual SSAC Workshop in September.
3. SSAC REPORTS. One SSAC Report has been published since the ICANN Meeting in Helsinki on 11 July 2016:
SAC083: SSAC Comment on Proposed Amendments to Base New gTLD Registry Agreement
This Report notes that Section 1.2 of Exhibit A (Approved Services) introduces new text related to the potential provision of non-delegation records in a TLD's apex, thereby introducing unnecessary ambiguity regarding the permissibly of dotless domains. In August 2013, the ICANN Board's New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) voted to prohibit dotless domains in new gTLDs. The proposed amendments, which relocates existing text within the document, appropriately states that dotless domains are not allowed, however, they inadvertently imply that there exists a new path for approval of dotless domains via the Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP). SAC083 affirms that there has been no relevant change in circumstances to affect the validity of the advice provided in SAC053 to prohibit dotless domains. The Report advised that the current relevant text in Exhibit A under “Approved Services” should be deleted to remove this unintended ambiguity and replaced with a straight-forward declaration that dotless domains are prohibited in new gTLDs.
4. SSAC REPRESENTATION ON CCWG ACCOUNTABILITY. Following Helsinki, I attended a CCWG Meeting on 12 July to discuss CCWG comments on the Articles of Incorporation. There have been no other CCWG Meetings since.
