Motion on the IDN ccTLD User Confusion Issue

Whereas:

• The ALAC believes that the avoidance of user confusion in the use of domain names is of paramount importance;
• The ALAC believes that the deployment of IDN TLDs should be expedited;
• On 24 August 2016, the ALAC issued Statement AL-ALAC-ST-0816-01-00-EN supporting the recommendations of the ccNSO Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) Working Group (see https://community.icann.org/x/Ag6bAw);
• On 31 August 2016, the SSAC released its Advisory SAC084 ( https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/sac-084-en.pdf) raising security and stability concerns based on potential user confusability with the proposed process;
• During ICANN58 in Copenhagen, the ALAC met with both the SSAC and the ccNSO to discuss the issue;
• The ALAC was made aware of a possible methodology to resolve the issue – specifically, accept that a two character IDN string may be confusingly similar in its own right, but that the impact on end-users could be mitigated by registry policy;
• If such mitigation is committed to by the registry and is considered as part of the evaluation process, the issue of user confusion can be reduced;

Therefore:

• The ALAC rescinds its statement AL-ALAC-ST-0816-01-00-EN.
• The ALAC encourages all concerned bodies to find a path forward that will not compromise security and stability or the rigour of confusability evaluation processes while ensuring timely deployment of IDN TLDs.

- Yes (11): Alan Greenberg, Alberto Soto, Harold Arcos, Holly Raiche, Leon Sanchez, Maureen Hilyard, Sebastien Bachollet, Tijani Ben Jemaa, Kaili Kan, Javier Rúa-Jovet, Bastiaan Goslings

- No (0)

- Abstain (3): Seun Ojedeji, Wafa Dahmani Zaafouri, Andrey Kolesnikov

- Didn't vote (1): Garth Bruen