ICANN Meeting 58 Copenhagen – SSAC Liaison Report
(as at 18Mar17)
1. SSAC MEETING WITH ALAC. The SSAC met with the ALAC on Sunday 12 March and spent the session discussing the current difference of views between the SSAC and the ccNSO on the ccNSO EPSRP Working Group’s Proposed Guidelines, released on 23 June 2016, for the evaluation of confusing similarity in IDN ccTLDs. This topic is covered in detail in the following paragraphs.
2. EXTENDED PROCESS SIMILARITY REVIEW PANEL. The ccNSO released its report for the evaluation of confusing similarity in IDN ccTLDs on 23 June 2016 in the document EPSRP Working Group’s Proposed Guidelines. On 24 August 2016, the ALAC released a Public Comment in support of the proposed ccNSO guidelines. On 31 August 2016, the SSAC released SAC084 highlighting security and stability concerns with the proposed process based on user confusability. The SSAC leadership subsequently met with the ccNSO leadership at ICANN57 following which SAC088 (6 November 2016) and SAC089 (12 December 2016) responded to specific comments by the ccNSO on SAC084. Additional discussions have been held between the SSAC and the ICANN Board.
During its meeting with the ALAC, the SSAC Chair summarized the SSAC concern about the proposed process in three points:
- The proposed EPSRP guidelines suggest that where there may be confusability between either upper or lower case, then the upper case situation should be used to decide whether the string is confusingly similar or not. The SSAC contends that if either upper case or lower case is confusingly similar, then the delegation should not proceed.
- The ccNSO is interpreting RFC6912 in a particular way, and the SSAC interprets this document differently. The different interpretations result in different conclusions regarding string similarity. The SSAC contends that only the IAB should interpret the meaning of this RFC and clarification should be sought from the IAB. (The ICANN Board has written to the IAB seeking such clarification.)
- The evaluation of risk associated with confusingly similar strings managed by the same registry can only be correctly evaluated in conjunction with the proposed mitigation strategies that the registry intends to introduce. Risk cannot be evaluated prior to knowing those mitigation strategies.
This matter is expected to be discussed by the Board at its May meeting.
3. SSAC INVOLVEMENT IN CCWG ACCOUNTABILITY. As one of the two SSAC Representatives on the CCWG-A, I attended the scheduled Working Session from 0900-1800 on Friday 10 March.
The SSAC was briefed on CCWG-A status and progress in detail during the SSAC Admin Committee Meeting on Saturday 11 March and more briefly during Private Meetings on Tuesday 14 March and noted that a questionnaire is being developed by the Diversity Sub-Team seeking information about diversity practices within each constituency
4. MEETINGS ATTENDED IN COPENHAGEN.
SSAC Meetings
ALAC Meetings
Other Sessions and Meetings
Wednesday 8 March
0900-1730: ICANN Academy Leadership Program
Thursday 9 March
0900-1730: ICANN Academy Leadership Program
Friday 10 March
0900-1800: CCWG-Accountability Working Session
Saturday 11 March
0945-1015: At-Large Leadership Working Session Part 1
1015-1215: SSAC Admin Committee Meeting
1330-1700: SSAC Admin Committee Meeting
1945-2200: ALT Dinner
Sunday 12 March
0900-1030: At-Large Leadership Working Session Part 5
1115-1500: SSAC Admin Committee Meeting
1515-1545: SSAC Meeting with the ALAC
1600-1700: SSAC Admin Committee Meeting
Monday 13 March
0900-1030: ICANN58 Opening Ceremony
1100-1230: How It Works – Internet Networking (Hall B3)
1345-1500: Cross-Community Session – Towards Effective DNS Abuse
Mitigation, Prevention, Mitigation and Response
1515-1600: RDS Public Consultation (Hall C1.4)
1700-1830: ICANN Public Forum 1
1830-2100: ICANN 58 Gala Evening
Tuesday 14 March
0900-1230: SSAC Private Meetings
1345-1830: SSAC Private Meetings
Wednesday 15 March
0900-1215: DNSSEC Workshop Parts 1 and 2
1215-1345: End Users in ICANN: A Topical Discussion with At-Large
1345-1500: DNSSEC Workshop Part 3
1515-1615: SSAC Public Meeting
1830-1930: DNS Women’s Cocktail Event
Thursday 16 March
0900-1030: SSAC Wrap-up Meeting
1100-1200: SSAC Meeting with the Board
1200-1245: ALAC Wrap-up Session
1345-1645: ICANN Public Forum 2
1700-1800: ICANN Public Board Meeting
1800-2000: Community Wrap-up Cocktail Party
2000-2200: ALAC and RALO Chairs Dinner
Friday 17 March
0830-1200: ALT Meeting
