ICANN 81 readout

The most recent meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN81) was held on 9-14 November. It marked the company’s Annual General Meeting for 2024, meaning that alongside the usual policy development work, the community welcomed new directors and farewelled departing ones.

auDA hosted a webinar to share news and key insights from ICANN81 with the Australian community, where we heard from:

• Justine Chew, At-Large community, reporting from the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC)
• Ian Sheldon, Australian Government, reporting from the Government Advisory Committee (GAC)
• Ram Mohan, Identity Digital, reporting from Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC)
• Ashley Heineman, GoDaddy, reporting from the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO)
• Annaliese Williams, auDA, reporting from the Country Code Name Supporting Organization (ccNSO), (webinar moderator)

Below we share one or two key highlights from each part of the ICANN community.

Justine highlighted the development of the Applicant Support Program as a key topic of discussion for ALAC. The program provides practical support to organisations applying for new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs). A new round of gTLD additions is planned for 2026. The goal of the program is to make sure the next round of applicants represent a broad range of communities, especially from currently underserved regions and from less developed countries

Another issue of interest and discussion within ALAC was how new gTLDs with Latin script diacritics (Latin letters with additions, e.g. ç) are managed, for example, whether an applicant for .francais should be automatically additionally entitled to .français as well. The ALAC’s view is that ICANN should have policy in place for this by 2026, at least in part to avoid the risk of confusion if different operators become responsible for running similar gTLDs.

As Ian explained, the GAC’s discussions covered a number of issues at ICANN81, many of which were set out at length in the Communiqué. One topic of interest was how the community should manage urgent requests for data about domain name registrations such as contact details requested by law enforcement. There are mixed opinions as to how quickly enforcement agencies would like receive such data, and how quickly registries and registrars are able to assure themselves requests are valid.

Ian also discussed the GAC’s interest in the Address Supporting Organisation’s review of Internet Coordination Policy 2 (the review). This review looks at the policy related to the creation, obligations of and potential removal of regional internet registries from their roles if they are not able to fulfil their responsibilities.. This policy deals with the IP addressing community and sits outside the usual domain name system issues that form GAC’s focus. Ian noted that African GAC members are working closely together to provide input due to recent challenges being faced by AFRINIC, the regional internet registry for Africa, which helped to trigger the review.

Ram outlined two issues in the SSAC’s work at ICANN81, which are of broad interest.

Firstly, that cyber criminals are increasingly using AI as a tool for DNS abuse, increasing abuse volumes and frequency. They use it to improve the customisation of phishing communications. This is not a new form of DNS abuse, but rather a change in its extent and potentially its impact. In turn, those combatting DNS abuse are learning new ways to use AI to more accurately identify phishing messages compared with traditional filtering techniques, to help deal with this challenge.

Secondly, Ram noted that while SSAC issued a report on DNS blocking and filtering some years ago, it is developing updated thinking. DNS blocking involves use of the DNS to block malicious websites and filter out harmful or inappropriate content. In the past, DNS blocking was seen as problematic by many in the ICANN community. Policymakers and others recognise that DNS blocking is here to stay. SSAC’s role is to help those who intend to implement it to understand the pros and cons - and understand that most of the time when resorting to DNS blocking, it is disproportionate, because the collateral damage and harm can be quite significant. An updated report from SSAC will be released in 2025.

Ashley raised the GNSO’s interest in the validation process to ensure accurate domain name registration data. Contact numbers and email addresses are checked to be syntactically correct on registration, and registrars check that the contact details provided work. Some parts of the ICANN community have called for registrars to be checking identification documents, or to use automated address tools. However, the DNS, and gTLD registrations are global in nature, which creates a challenge. What works in some countries, may not in others. Given there are no global solutions available, this topic is likely to remain a contentious one due to the conflicting goals of the different constituencies.

Another topic of interest across the GNSO’s contracted parties is ICANN’s newly released draft ethics policy, designed to improve the accuracy and comprehensiveness of Statement of Interest disclosures by community participants. These are meant to provide transparency of interests in the policy development process. The intention is that if people can’t say who they are representing, they should not be able to participate in policy development. This is an important requirement to support the integrity of ICANN policymaking.

Annaliese explained that DNS Abuse was high on the agenda for the ccNSO. The ccNSO’s Domain Name Abuse Standing Committee (DASC) presented its second survey’s findings, focusing on member experiences with DNS Abuse. A key finding from this year’s survey was that awareness of DNS abuse among ccTLD managers has increased. The proportion that “did not know” what their level of DNS abuse is fell from 35 per cent to 21 per cent. The reported incidence of DNS abuse in ccTLDs is low and is decreasing.

Annaliese also noted that the ccNSO is conducting work to identify and potentially solve gaps in the global policies that determine how ICANN deals with ccTLD managers. A new Working Group was established in this area in August 2024. The group shared its first output, a ccTLD Policy Overview that sets out the various policies, procedures and guidance that determine how ICANN deals with ccTLDs. This provides a one-stop shop for people to see all the applicable policies in one place. It is open for community input until mid-January 2025. Information about how to provide input is available on the ccNSO website.