ICANN Meeting 60 Abu Dhabi – SSAC Liaison Report
(as at 4Nov17)
1. SSAC MEETING WITH ALAC. The SSAC met with the ALAC on Sunday 29 October and discussed recent SSAC documents including SAC098 which commented on SSAC concerns with the Security, Stability and Resiliency of the DNS Review (SSR2).
2. 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 27 October.
The SSAC was briefed on CCWG-A status and progress in detail during the SSAC Admin Committee Meeting on Saturday 28 October and the full SSAC Meeting on Tuesday 31 October. It was noted that a number of Sub-Groups will have their reports released for Public Comment in the near future.
3. SSAC TASKING BY THE ICANN BOARD. At its Public Meeting on Thursday 2 November, the ICANN Board tasked the SSAC to (not verbatim):
- conduct a study to present data, analysis and points of view, and provide advice to the Board regarding the risks posed to users and end systems if .CORP, .HOME, .MAIL strings were to be delegated in the root, as well as possible courses of action that might mitigate the identified risks.
- conduct a study to present data, analysis and points of view and provide advice to the Board on a range of questions that include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) a proper definition for name collision and the underlying reasons why strings that manifest name collisions are so heavily used;
(2) the role that negative answers currently returned from queries to the root for these strings play in the experience of the end user, including in the operation of existing end systems;
(3) the harm to existing users that may occur if Collision Strings were to be delegated, including harm due to end systems no longer receiving a negative response and additional potential harm if the delegated registry accidentally or purposely exploited subsequent queries from these end systems, and any other types of harm;
(4) possible courses of action that might mitigate harm;
(5) factors that affect potential success of the courses of actions to mitigate harm;
(6) potential residual risks of delegating Collision Strings even after taking actions to mitigate harm;
(7) suggested criteria for determining whether an undelegated string should be considered a string that manifest name collisions, (i.e.) placed in the category of a Collision String;
(8) suggested criteria for determining whether a Collision String should not be delegated, and suggested criteria for determining how remove an undelegated string from the list of Collision Strings; and
(9) measures to protect against intentional or unintentional creation of situations, such as queries for undelegated strings, which might cause such strings to be placed in a Collision String category, and research into risk of possible negative effects, if any, of creation of such a collision string list.
This is a very substantial body of work for the SSAC to undertake and efforts have commenced to try to plan and scope this task.
4. MEETINGS ATTENDED IN ABU DHABI.
SSAC Meetings
ALAC Meetings
Other Sessions and Meetings
Friday 27 October
0900-1800: CCWG-Accountability Working Session
Saturday 28 October
0715-0845: ALT Breakfast
0900-1645: SSAC Admin Committee Meeting
Sunday 29 October
0800-0900: SSAC IoT Work Party Meeting
0900-1500: SSAC Admin Committee Meeting
10300-1115: SSAC Meeting with the ALAC
1500-1800: ALAC and Regional Leaders Working Forum
1900-2100: DNS Women Cocktail Party
Monday 30 October
0900-1000: Welcome Ceremony
1030-1200: CCWG-A WS2 Community Session
1215-1315: ALAC Development – “The Dark Web”
1330-1500: Cross-Community Session- DNS Abuse Reporting for Policymaking & Mitigation
1515-1645: Cross-Community Session- Operating Standards for Specific Reviews
1700-1830: ICANN Public Forum
1900-2130: Local Host Gala Night
Tuesday 31 October
0730-0830: SSAC Leadership Planning Discussions
0900-1830: SSAC Private Meetings
1830-2030: Steve Crocker Tribute
Wednesday 1 November
0900-1030: DNSSEC Workshop
1030-1200: Planning meeting SSAC and SSR2 Leadership
1400-1500: DNSSEC Workshop
1515-1615: SSAC Public Meeting
1700-1800: ALAC Liaison Reports
1830-2000: ICANN Safeguards and DNS Abuse
1900-2100: Joint SSAC/RSSAC/TEG Cocktail Party
Thursday 2 November
0830-1000: ICANN AGM
1030-1130: Joint Meeting – ICANN Board and SSAC
1330-1500: SSAC Wrap-up Meeting
1515-1545: ICANN Community Recognition Program
1545-1830: ICANN Public Forum
1830-2000: ICANN Public Board Meeting
2000-2100: Wrap-up Cocktail Party
Friday 3 November
0800-0900: SSAC Leadership and Staff Planning Discussions
0930-1030: SSR2 Planning Discussions
1100-1830: ALAC Development Workshop
Saturday 4 November
0830-1200: ALT Meeting
