Vol. 4: Update on IANA Stewardship Discussions: Special Edition of the Names Function Proposal

Download PDF version of Vol. 4: IANA Stewardship Transition Discussions: Special Edition on the Names Function Proposal here [PDF, 404 KB]

CWG-Stewardship proposal now open for public comment

On 22 April, the Cross-Community Working Group to Develop an IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related Functions (CWG-Stewardship) published its second draft proposal on the naming related portion of the IANA Stewardship Transition for 28 days of public comments. The final push to develop the draft included a two-day face-to-face meeting in Istanbul, 26-27 March, two days of High Intensity Meetings, 13-14 April, and a further six hours of teleconferences between 15 and 21 April. The first version of the draft proposal was published for public comment on 1 December 2014.

Overview of the proposal

The draft proposal was developed in order to pave the way for a response (the Final Proposal) to the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group (ICG) request for proposals. This proposal is based on the premise that there is current satisfaction with ICANN's IANA department performance and that ICANN should remain the IANA Functions Operator. As a result, the CWG-Stewardship proposal includes six core elements, and several correlating actions to achieve those elements. To review the proposal, please visit the links below.

Key links

1. Draft proposal – 35 pages [no annexes]
2. Draft proposal & annexes – 90 pages
3. Chairs' Foreword: “Towards a Final Proposal” [informational document on the history of the development of the draft proposal]
4. Announcement of call for public comments
5. (Optional) Public Comment Template [.doc | .pdf]
6. Archive of public comments received

How to submit a public comment

Comment on the draft proposal, with or without annexes, by 20 May 2015, 23:59 UTC (convert to your time zone):

1. Use the optional template to organize your comments, and fill in as many or few sections of the template as you need.

OR
Send comments in a format of your choosing (Note, however, that use of the template will assist CWG-Stewardship in analyzing and comparing community responses to the draft proposal).


2. Send your comments, attaching the completed template if you have used it, to:

comments-cwg-stewardship-draft-proposal-22apr15@icann.org

3. When you receive an automatically generated email asking you to confirm your submission, please follow the instructions in the email to ensure your comments are submitted to the archive of public comments.

To help better understand the contents and context of the draft proposal, you may wish to join one of the two following webinars live:

• 24 April from 06:00 – 07:30 UTC (time zone converter here)
• 24 April from 14:00 – 15:30 UTC (time zone converter here)

The webinars will also be transcribed and published from this CWG-Stewardship webpage in the six UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).

What happens following the publication of the second draft names proposal

Below is a summary of upcoming key meetings and processes specifically related to the naming related portion of the IANA Stewardship Transition proposal. A list of dates associated with a wider range of stewardship transition related activities is included near the end of this report.

22 Apr-20 May 2015	CWG-Stewardship suspends further drafting on the proposal.
20-31 May 2015	ICANN staff compiles a report of the public comments received.
30-31 May 2015	CWG-Stewardship meets for an Intensive Work Weekend based on feedback from the public comment period.
1 Jun 2015	ICANN publishes report of public comments on the CWG-Stewardship's second draft proposal.
8 Jun 2015	CWG-Stewardship presents revised version of the proposal to its chartering members (Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees) for review and adoption.
8-25 Jun 2015	ALAC, ccNSO, GAC and GNSO review and consider adoption of CWG-Stewardship's revised proposal.
21-25 Jun 2015	All ICANN communities and other parties interested in the IANA Stewardship Transition meet during ICANN 53 in Buenos Aires, and online via remote participation, to discuss the IANA Stewardship Transition in a number of cross-community as well as stakeholder-specific sessions. (See preliminary schedule).
25 Jun 2015	CWG-Stewardship delivers the final proposal on the naming related portion of the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG).

Updates on other transition-related activities

IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG)

In the interest of a more expedient review, the ICG may begin its evaluation of the CWG-Stewardship's proposal before it formally receives the proposal from the CWG-Stewardship on 25 June 2015. The ICG does not plan to make any formal decisions about the CWG-Stewardship proposal during ICANN 53 in Buenos Aires, but will be holding a two-day face-to-face meeting on 18-19 June prior to the meeting.

Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability)

On 15 April, the CCWG-Accountability was contacted by the CWG-Stewardship Chairs to reinforce how important the CWG considers the CCWG's Work Stream 1 activities to its own work on the naming-related portion of the IANA Stewardship Transition proposal. The two groups have been coordinating closely and all the CWG's priorities are already on the CCWG's list of key deliverables. Although the CCWG-Accountability decided on a packed calendar of teleconferences to complete its Work Stream 1 activities in time for CWG-Stewardship's own work during its Istanbul meeting, there was robust discussion on the CCWG-Accountability's mailing list about whether the planned series of teleconferences was too ambitious and time consuming for participants, and the CCWG-Accountability decided to proceed with the call schedule. The structure of the CCWG-Accountability's draft report, with links to section that have been drafted to date, is available. A public comment period is anticipated to launch at the beginning of May. 

U.S. Senate hearings

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation

On 13 April 2015, ICANN published responses to Questions for the Record received from members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation following the hearing, Preserving the Multistakeholder Model of Internet Governance. The hearing focused on the IANA Stewardship Transition and the changes to ICANN accountability needed to facilitate that transition. The follow-up questions were related to ICANN accountability, the role of the community in ICANN policy and decision-making, ICANN's jurisdiction in relation to the Affirmation of Commitments, a specific new gTLD application, and the role of ICANN in regard to how registrars and registries deter illegal activity in domain names under their management. ICANN also published a response to a separate Question for the Record from Senator Klobuchar about stress testing the accountability proposals. 

Upcoming key dates

Note: The ICG does not plan to hold regular teleconferences during May 2015.

23 Apr 2015	CCWG-Accountability Intensive Working Day 1, 4:00-6:00; 11:00-12:00; 19:00-22:00 UTC
24 Apr 2015	CCWG-Accountability Intensive Working Day 2, 8:00-10:00; 13:00-14:00; 16:00-19:00 UTC
30 Apr 2015	CWG-Stewardship Meeting #43, 11:00-13:00 UTC
5 May 2015	CWG-Stewardship Meeting #44, 17:00-19:00 UTC
7 May 2015	CWG-Stewardship Meeting #45, 11:00-13:00 UTC
12 May 2015	CWG-Stewardship Meeting #46, 17:00-19:00 UTC
14 May 2015	CWG-Stewardship Meeting #47, 11:00-13:00 UTC
18-19 Jun 2015	ICG Face-to-Face Meeting, ICANN 53, Buenos Aires, all day
21-25 Jun 2015	ICANN 53, Buenos Aires

Latest documents and drafts

21 Apr 2015	CCWG-Accountability – Legal Assessment - Proposed Accountability Mechanisms, a preliminary response from Sidley Austin
18 Apr 2015	CCWG-Accountability – Legal Assessment - Governance Chart, a revision by Sidley Austin
16 Apr 2015	CCWG-Accountability – Compilation of all Legal Questions asked to date and status of discussion on each question.
15 Apr 2015	CCWG-Accountability – Governance Models & Community Powers.pdf

IANA stewardship in the news

23 Apr 2015	ICANN Accountability – What's on the Table, Really?, Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University Delhi [EN]
20 Apr 2015	抓住域名“移权”契机，唱响国际互联网治理的“中国好声音”, CNII [CN] IANA Protocol Parameters Explained, IETF [EN]
17 Apr 2015	Washington peu disposée à renoncer au contrôle d'Internet, EurActiv.fr, [FR]

You can play a role in IANA's future…

Anyone can participate in discussions about the future of IANA's stewardship and ICANN accountability. For information on joining CWG-Stewardship, contact grace.abuhamad@icann.org. For information on joining CCWG-Accountability, contact accountability-staff@icann.org.

Compiled on behalf of ICANN by Samantha Dickinson 24 April 2015