Notes from 19 November 2020 APAC Space Web Conference

Overview

This APAC Space session was a readout of the ICANN69 virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM). In addition to an overview by Jia-Rong Low (ICANN), eight community leaders/members shared their key perspectives and takeaways, and ICANN Board member Akinori Maemura provided reading notes on Board perspectives in his absence (under “Appendix” in the presentation slides).

Edmon Chung (DotAsia) facilitated the open community sharing/discussion. For AOB, Sabrina Lim (ICANN) briefly shared about the upcoming community poll on Zoom security measures for APAC Space webinars.

Details of Session

ICANN69 Overview: Jia-Rong Low, ICANN APAC

ICANN69 saw nearly 20% attendance from APAC (15.5% from Asia, 3.2% from Australia/Pacific Islands). Over 100 sessions covered PDP work and major AGM themes such as the evolution of ICANN’s multistakeholder model, DNSSEC security, DNS abuse, and Universal Acceptance (UA). There were also three cross-community plenaries:

• The Domain Name Business: Everything You Want to Know, Ask or Discuss
• DNS Abuse: Consideration of the Issues
• WHOIS Changes under GDPR: Impact to End Users and Public Safety

Chris Disspain ended 9 years of service on the ICANN Board, while 44 community leaders, such as Rafik Dammak from our APAC region, were also recognized for their service. The inaugural Dr. Tarek Kamel Capacity Building Award was presented to Ramanou Biaou for his significant capacity building efforts related to ICANN's mission. Jia-Rong encouraged nominations from APAC for the next awardee.

There was also a Board-Community Forum held on organising future ICANN Public Meetings, and further discussions would be held based on responses to a recent community survey. Elliott Mann (Youth4IG) asked during the Readout open discussion if there were any updates on a return to physical meetings. Pam Little (GNSO Council) and Maureen Hilyard (ALAC) added that SO/ACs were requested to submit a consolidated position each for an upcoming cross-community discussion on the matter.

Review of Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPM) PDP: Heather Forrest, RPM PDP Working Group (WG)

Following discussions on outstanding issues during ICANN69, all 35 Phase 1 final recommendations were finalized and received consensus, of which 34 of them obtained full consensus. Other than helping to address impact from the GDPR, Heather Forrest said four particular areas of the recommendations might be helpful for the APAC community--

1. Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS): The language of the Registration Agreement would be the default language for URS proceedings unless otherwise specified. Where Registration Agreements are not in English, as is common in APAC, URS Providers are to transmit a translated Notice of Complaint in the Registration Agreement language in addition to the English version. A uniform set of educational materials/tools would also be developed for common understanding of proceedings.
2. Trademark Claims Notice: To include a link to the ICANN website with translated notices in the six official United Nations (UN) languages.
3. Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) as a “library of trademarks”: Recommendations provided greater clarity on trademarks that qualify for the TMCH repository since different understandings of trademark definitions existed regionally.
4. Sunrise Service: Allowing trademark holders to register domain names prior to public registrations, this service will continue in the next round of new gTLDs, with an added requirement for future new gTLD operations to not circumvent the Sunrise Service.

Subsequent Procedures (SubPro) PDP Discussions: Cheryl Langdon-Orr, SubPro PDP Co-Chair

An extended WG session at ICANN69 reviewed public comments to two high interest topics of the SubPro PDP Draft Final Report – Applicant Support and Community Applications. Continuing after ICANN69, the WG also focused on Auctions as a third high interest topic, and a small team was formed to find a way forward on private resolution processes.

To Edmon’s query during the community discussion on issues pending consensus, Cheryl Langdon-Orr indicated that Auctions, in particular the sealed bid option proposal, had resulted in two strongly divided groups. If the WG failed to provide an updated recommendation after the small team’s work, the process would revert to the 2012 round recommendations for ICANN Board’s further review.

All three high interest topics were also the same top issues Cheryl had highlighted for the community in the last APAC Space session. All other public comments received were being reviewed according to a work plan, and the WG was on target to provide its Final Report to the GNSO Council before the end of 2020. 

At ICANN69, the WG Co-Chairs also attended the GAC discussions on SubPro, and Cheryl noted that the early work the GAC had given the WG was starting to pay off with better modelling and greater understanding of different positions.  

UA/IDN Discussions: Dr Ajay Data, UASG Chair

Three sessions were held during ICANN69:

1. Outreach for Addressing UA — On outreach efforts in the past year and to come.
2. Remediating UA Issues — On current gaps and solutions to address UA challenges.
3. Community Update on UA Readiness — UA readiness project updates from UASG WGs.

UA remained important in APAC due to the region’s language diversity. As only India and China currently had UA ambassadors, and both countries together with Thailand had Local Initiatives (LIs), Dr Ajay Data called for more UA ambassadors and LIs to come from APAC.

RSSAC & RSS GWG Discussions: Hiro Hotta, RSSAC Member

Hiro Hotta shared some background on Domain Name System (DNS) root servers. DNS root servers are currently operated by 12 Root Server Operators (RSO) with 1340 server instances globally. Root servers store information about Top Level Domains (TLDs), including TLD names and IP addresses of name servers. DNS resolvers, such as those operated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), resolve URL queries into IP addresses by obtaining such information from root servers.

Around ICANN69, the RSSAC discussed three main topics:

1. The contract framework between each RSO and the overseer (which could be the community or ICANN org etc.);
2. How to measure RSS service quality from locations around the world; and
3. Definition of rogue RSOs.  

Consisting of the 12 RSOs, the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) had developed RSSAC037 – a model for how root servers could be governed in a stable, accountable, and resilient manner. The model also proposed performance monitoring and measurement of RSO resolving speed, as well as designation and removal functions should an RSO become unable to function (e.g. due to bankruptcy).

The Root Server System Governance Working Group (RSS GWG) formed the core of the community-driven process to develop a RSS governance model. Before and during ICANN69, the GWG discussed the design of an organizational structure to implement RSSAC037, and how RSOs could be funded if needed.

During the open discussion, Jia-Rong enquired on the community’s interest for additional in-depth RSS GWG briefings from Hiro – an idea which generally received support on the call. Pam Little (GNSO Council Vice Chair) suggested that the community could also share their feedback through China’s Hanyu Yang (CAICT) who is also in the RSS GWG. Edmon noted that beyond technical aspects, the RSS GWG focused on resiliency and business continuity which would be of interest to the non-technical community as well.

At-Large Perspectives: Maureen Hilyard, ALAC Chair

In its regular joint meetings at ICANN69, the ALAC met:

• With the GAC — On Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data (EPDP), SubPro PDP, and DNS abuse.
• With the ICANN Board — On ALAC’s views on evolving the multistakeholder model.

Of highlight, the ALAC held several policy sessions covering a wide range of topics from human rights impact assessments to impact from the United Nations (UN) Cybercrime Treaty, as well as coordinating unique identifiers, community engagement during COVID-19, and Internet Governance discussions related to regulations. The ALAC also discussed how it could prioritize its work through a “recommendation thresher”, while capacity building on DNS abuse would remain a key focus area in the coming year.

GNSO Council Perspectives: Pam Little, GNSO Council Vice Chair

A new GNSO Council was seated at the end of ICANN69 with changes to eight of its 21 members and a new Chair, Philippe Fouquart. Current Councillors from APAC were Pam, Tom Dale (NomCom appointee), Tomslin Samme-Nlar (from NCSG) and Sebastien Ducos (from RySG). Pam encouraged APAC community members to succeed her in the Council after her term ends next year.

For EPDP Phase 2, due to the vast amount of minority statements and diverging views received, the Council decided on a more unusual approach in its recommendations submission to the ICANN Board – it added a request for a dialogue with the Board to discuss the financial sustainability, i.e. cost-benefit analysis, for developing the System for Standardized Access/Disclosure (SSAD) of non-public gTLD registration data. Meanwhile, EPDP was continuing with Phase 2A to focus on unresolved Phase 2 topics (e.g. differentiating legal vs. natural persons, anonymizing email contacts etc.). Phase 2A was expected to take about three to six months, and Pam called for nominations for a new Chair for this phase.

The Council also called for volunteers to draft the Charter for a new PDP on IDN variants. A scoping team on the topic chaired by Edmon had earlier recommended for the PDP to be conducted as an EPDP. During the community discussion, Edmon encouraged the community to participate in this work, which would include APAC languages such as simplified and traditional Chinese. 

As the manager of the overall PDP process, the GNSO Council was additionally expecting Final Reports from both RPM and SubPro PDPs. Pam also shared how various concurrent work was currently tracked under the Council’s Action Decision Radar, Project Management Tool, Project List and Action Items lists.

GAC Perspectives: Pua Hunter, GAC Vice Chair

At ICANN69, the GAC received various updates from its WGs:

• The Public Safety WG (PSWG) will develop a concrete proposal on DNS abuse mitigation steps for ICANN70. It also provided updates on common interests with other stakeholder groups for the EPDP’s SSAD.  
• The Human Rights International Law WG shared its progress on an inventory tool to facilitate development of GAC review plans and tracking of implementation efforts.
• The Underserved Regions WG reviewed 2017 GAC travel support rules to be consistent with new ICANN travel guidelines. Proposed 2020 travel support rules are pending GAC endorsement.

The GAC also discussed in its joint meetings on several major topics:

• With the ICANN Board — On SubPro PDP, EPDP Phase 2, and ICANN org’s new Operational Design Phase (ODP). They also discussed the GAC Advice from ICANN66 on the Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice (CCT) Review, and the third Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT3) Final Report recommendations.
• With the ALAC — On common views, synergies and possible collaborations around SubPro PDP, EPDP Phase 2, and DNS abuse public education.

After ICANN69, the GAC would continue focusing on many of its expected key areas such as SubPro PDP, DNS abuse mitigation, and ODP. For terms beginning after ICANN70, Manal Ismail (Egypt) was re-elected as the GAC Chair. From APAC, Pua Hunter (Cook Islands) would continue as a GAC Vice-Chair, together with newly elected Pär Brumark (Niue). GAC attendees from the Pacific region at ICANN69 were Cook Islands and Australia. Pua observed that APAC participation in international online forums was generally low and urged for greater active participation from the region.

Youth Perspectives: Manju Chen, Youth4IG

Despite not being able to meet onsite, Manju Chen said ICANN Fellows like herself appreciated the effort to make the Fellowship as enriching as possible with activities such as a virtual PDP roleplay albeit the roleplay itself had much room for improvement. During ICANN69, ICANN Fellows and NextGen also had a closed-door dialogue with the ICANN Board, which was particularly important because virtual ICANN Meetings were extremely hard for newcomers to follow.   

On virtual meeting pros and cons, Manju felt that chat functions in video conferencing platforms were a major benefit as youths were more used to commenting by typing. By first getting comfortable this way, they could be encouraged to progress to speaking up. The usual main downsides remained, however, such as time zone challenges and webinar formats of limited interactivity.  

During the community discussion, Edmon added his observation that virtual meetings appeared to have resulted in fewer people speaking up, while those who did spoke longer. He agreed with Manju that the chat was a good feature and hope its benefits could be extended to physical meetings when they resumed.