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Why a Business Digest? This Digest is designed to serve as a non-exhaustive review of highlights of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Public Meeting relevant to a variety of businesses stakeholders affected by ICANN’s work, presented in business friendly language. Please provide feedback and comments to the ICANN business engagement team at businessengagement@icann.org. To help businesses stay informed about ICANN’s work, Internet governance and the business world’s participation, this Business Digest is complemented by online spaces meant to inform and exchange ideas on an ongoing basis with interested business leaders: our website icann.org/forbusiness and the Twitter feed @ICANN4biz. You can also listen to the pre-ICANN 53 webinar for business newcomers, designed to explain what happens at an ICANN public meeting and the role of business sector constituencies, here. Feel free to join, participate, engage, and provide feedback.

Are you new to ICANN?

Take a look at the ICANN Newcomer Program

Live the experience of the newcomers at ICANN meetings with the recordings and presentations from the ICANN 53 Newcomer Welcome Session

Take an introductory course on our Online Learning Platform: ICANN Learn

Having a hard time with all the acronyms? Consult the ICANN Glossary to find what they mean and their definition

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Executive Summary

The ICANN 53 public meeting took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 21-25 June 2015. With more than 10 sessions organized by ICANN’s vibrant community from the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, this was one of the most region-focused meetings so far. Access the LAC Participant Guidebook to see all the sessions that were organized. Twenty-nine LAC countries were represented at the event, including all but two all countries from Central and South America. LAC participants amounted to 27.9% of total attendance. You can learn more about the great regional activity at ICANN 53 in the latest ICANN LAC Newsletter.

OTHER KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE MEETING:

ICANN 53 saw extensive community discussions on the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability processes. Based on the remaining phases of the process, the transition is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2016.

New generic Top Level Domains (gTLD) Program reviews are well underway. The ICANN Global Domain Division (GDD) is analyzing data for multiple review areas, including Program Implementation; Rights Protection Mechanisms; and Competition, Consumer Choice and Consumer Trust.

The Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) has adopted a charter and established the first projects to work on to advance the issue of acceptance of new TLDs further.

Whois related issues continue to be an important topic of engagement especially for the private sector, the recent Initial Report of the Privacy/Proxy Services Accreditation Issues (PPSAI) Working Group was at the center of a lot of debate during the Buenos Aires meeting.

Learn more about each of these topics in the sections below.

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IANA Stewardship Transition Discussions Since the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) announced its intent to transition stewardship of the IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community in March of 2014, ICANN meetings have been crucial to further the work of the communities that are working on the IANA Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability processes. ICANN 53 was no exception, with 11 sessions dedicated to the processes. The IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG), the Cross Community Working Group to Develop an IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related Functions (CWG- Stewardship), and the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) all had working sessions as well town halls and engagement sessions. At ICANN 53, the final CWG-Stewardship proposal on Naming Related Functions was forwarded to the ICG following its unanimous approval by the group’s five chartering organizations: the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), and the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). The ICG has already completed its assessment of the names proposal, and it has since announced a call for public comment on the IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal, which will be open until 8 September 2015. The CCWG-Accountability recently concluded a face-to-face meeting in Paris, France focused on reaching consensus on the necessary components of Work Stream 1. Key issues discussed and agreed-upon next steps are outlined are outlined in the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability Paris Communiqué. The CCWG is currently receiving community feedback on its 2nd Draft Proposal of proposed enhancements to ICANN's accountability framework. The public comment period is open until 11 September 2015.

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LEARN MORE: IANA STEWARDSHIP TRANSITION AND ENHANCING ICANN ACCOUNTABILITY

For beginners: Read “Privatizing the DNS: White Paper on the IANA Stewardship Transition” and watch the video “IANA Stewardship Processes Interrelation Animation”

Read Samantha Dickinson’s “Volume 8: An Update on IANA Stewardship Discussions”

Public comment website for the Proposal to Transition the Stewardship of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Functions from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the Global Multistakeholder Community

Public comment website for the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability 2nd Draft Report (Work Stream 1)

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Welcome Ceremony and President’s Opening Session Roundup ICANN 53 At the ICANN 53 Opening Ceremony, Board Chair Steve Crocker opened with great emphasis on change within ICANN, especially with IANA Stewardship transition and the multistakeholder approach. Along with the transition, he also talked about ICANN’s accountability and how the Board has viewed it as a shared goal for ICANN to thrive and become as responsible and accountable as possible. Crocker briefly touched upon the importance of long-term stability in ICANN as well, since the ICANN community will be welcoming a new President & CEO within the upcoming year. Next to speak was Gabriel Brenta, Chief Executive Officer of the Network Information Center (NIC) Argentina. Brenta spoke about the changes that NIC has gone through, and their efforts to become the point of reference in Argentina for Internet by bringing in the multistakeholder approach. By incorporating this new approach, they were able to input the community into their processes just as ICANN has and is still doing to empower their communities. The Minister of Communications & Information Technology of India, Ravi Shankar Prasad, gave a passionate speech about diversity and separation within the Internet community especially in developed and developing countries. He shared the importance of digital democracy, and that the Internet must be available and accessible to all people. David Olive, ICANN’s Vice President of Policy Development introduced the two winners for this year’s Multistakeholder Ethos Award. Cheryl Langdon-Orr and Nii Quaynor were awarded for their extraordinary commitment to the multistakeholder model. ICANN’s President and CEO, Fadi Chehadé, closed the ceremony by highlighting his continuous commitment and relationship to ICANN even after his leave in March 2016. Chehadé emphasized three important areas to consider for ICANN’s transition and future:

1. Continuously improve ICANN – make sure it’s ready for the transition

2. Continue to support the community 3. Bonds with the technical community

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Global Domain Division The work of the GDD is important to companies, including brands, that have applied for new gTLDs and those considering applying for one in the future. Companies contemplating an expansion of their online presences by registering names under new gTLDs also follow the work of the GDD closely. Prior to ICANN 53, Global Domains Division President Akram Atallah, wrote a blog post titled, “ICANN 53: Buenos Aires – Global Domains Division (GDD) Session Highlights.” If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can find out more about high-interest sessions below.

New gTLD Program Reviews The New gTLD Program, one of the most important developments in the Internet space in recent years, continues to gain momentum. As of 17 July 2015, 700 new gTLDs had been introduced into the Internet, and active registrations of domain names on new gTLDs passed 6 million. ICANN is currently focusing resources on a series of New gTLD Program reviews to evaluate the program in light of the original goals. The public session at ICANN 53 provided a high-level overview of the status of each review and detailed information on elements of reviews that are currently in focus, followed by an Q&A period. Notable milestones to date are the publication of ICANN's first Global Consumer Research Study on the Domain Name System and a draft of the Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPM) review. LEARN MORE: NEW GTLD PROGRAM REVIEWS

For Beginners: Visit the Program Reviews page

Find relevant reports, drafts, and links to public comment forums, to participate in and support the activities that will help inform the development of the next round of the New gTLD Program. Full participation and input from the Internet community are key to making these reviews successful.

Updated draft of the Work Plan for New gTLD Program Reviews and Assessments

Read Karen Lentz’s blog post: “New gTLD Program Reviews: Data Collection and Analysis.”

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Universal Acceptance ICANN’s New gTLD and Internationalized Domain Name Programs are enabling the addition of hundreds of new top-level domains into the Internet, including those in non-ASCII scripts, like Cyrillic, Arabic or Chinese. New TLDs, internationalized domain names and internationalized email will not function properly in many of the applications and services we use every day. In February 2015, community members joined together to create the Universal Acceptance Steering Group and ICANN took on the role of facilitator for the Universal Acceptance initiative. The group is tasked with undertaking activities that will effectively promote the universal acceptance of all valid domain names and email addresses., including new top-level domains, internationalized domains and internationalized email. In the months since ICANN 52, the UASG published its charter and has formed its first project groups:

Topline and Technical Issues

Internationalization

Measurement and Monitoring

Community Outreach

At ICANN 53, the UASG held its first face-to-face meeting since the group formed, and conducted a session to provide a status update to the community and get feedback on its work. LEARN MORE: UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE

For Beginners: ICANN's Universal Acceptance resources page This page provides overview and background of the Universal Acceptance Initiative as well as other useful links and FAQs.

UASG wiki

Join the conversation at https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/ua-discuss Discussion list to cover Universal Acceptance topics.

Policy Spotlight

WHOIS

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WHOIS is the system that asks the question, “who is responsible for a domain name or an IP address?” Each individual, business, organization and government that registers domain names must provide identifying and contact information which may include: name, address, email, phone number, and administrative and technical contacts. This information is often referred to as “WHOIS data.” The ICANN community tackles a variety of difficult WHOIS issues including internationalized registration data, new access protocols, and proposed rules for privacy and proxy services. The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues Working Group Initial Report has particularly drawn a lot of attention because of a proposal made by some Working Group members regarding prohibitions on privacy/proxy services for domains actively used for commercial transactions. This proposal received a number of public comments that will be taken into consideration as the Report goes through the steps of the ICANN Policy Development Process. LEARN MORE: WHOIS

For beginners: ICANN WHOIS Primer

Read Margie Milliam’s blog post: “WHOIS: Continuous Improvements in the Works.”

Read David Olive’s blog post: “On WHOIS Privacy & Proxy Services.”

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Security & Stability Matters Security & Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) The SSAC is composed of 35 members appointed by the ICANN Board to advise the ICANN community and Board on matters relating to the security and integrity of the Internet’s naming and address allocation systems. The SSAC held a public session in Buenos Aires to discuss during which it provided an activities update on work completed in 2015, current and new work parties, and their recent publications on the use of static TLD / public suffix lists (SAC070) and their comments on the Cross Community Working Group Proposal on ICANN Accountability Enhancements (SAC071.) The SSAC also took the opportunity to get feedback from the community particularly regarding its outreach efforts. LEARN MORE: SSAC

SSAC landing page on the ICANN website Contains information on SSAC history and operations, membership and workings.

List of SSAC Reports and Advisories

Five Minutes with SSAC video

Follow the SSAC on social media

DNSSEC Companies can help enhance security of the Internet by deploying Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), because these extensions are more effective when universally implemented. Registries, registrars, registrants, hosting companies, software developers, hardware vendors, government, businesses and agencies with an Internet presence, and Internet technologists and coalitions all have responsibility for the success of this massive effort. ICANN 53 included a very popular recurring session, DNSSEC for Everybody, which aims to demystify DNSSEC and show how you can easily and quickly deploy DNSSEC in your business. A day-long DNSSEC workshop was also organized for registries, registrars and ISPs who are already engaged in the deployment of DNSSEC to share best practices. LEARN MORE: DNSSEC

For beginners: ICANN resource page: DNSSEC – What Is It and Why Is It Important?

Verisign page on DNSSEC Adoption Benefits Useful Verisign microsite showing benefits of DNSSEC adoption for registries, registrars, and ISPs.

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Internet Governance Landscape

ICANN 53 served as an opportunity to review the activities taking place in the larger world of Internet governance beyond ICANN’s remit and ICANN’s interaction with those broader activities. The Internet Governance public session at this meeting was organized in collaboration with the community members form the Cross-Constituency Working Group (CCWG) on Internet Governance, and featured a more interactive format to allow participation from the session audience. The CCWG on Internet Governance also held a face-to-face meeting. Some of the topics that were covered during these session were: the WSIS+10 review process culminating in December 2015 at the United Nations, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Brazil, and the NETmundial Initiative. LEARN MORE: INTERNET GOVERNANCE

For beginners: Read the report from the Strategy Panel on ICANN's Role in the Internet Governance Ecosystem Sao Paulo Communiqué: Inaugural NETMundial Initiative Council meeting The Coordination Council of the NETmundial Initiative, a diverse group of global Internet stakeholders, held its inaugural meeting on 30 June 2015 in São Paulo, Brazil. The event, webcast live and with remote participation enabled, provided an opportunity to take stock of activities and progress to date, adopt key documents and discuss next steps. The Council formally adopted the Initiative's Terms of Reference (ToR) and also elected five Co-Chairs including Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group as a representative of the private sector.

WSIS+10 United Nations and Related Consultations

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Download this non-exhaustive map which includes all events related to the WSIS+10 review process until the end of 2015.

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Private Sector Participation Corner

Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG) Constituencies of the GNSO

The CSG represents the views of business users and connectivity providers; its mission is to ensure ICANN policy and ICANN contracts are consistent with the development of an Internet that is a safe place for business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions and communications to take place, based on high levels of business, user and consumer confidence. In an effort to improve the format of their meeting with the Board, in Buenos Aires, the three constituencies of the CSG were able to get time allotted separately to discuss the issues that are closer to their constituency with the Board members.

Commercial and Business Users Constituency (CBUC) The Commercial and Business Users Constituency (also known as the CBUC, the Business Constituency, or BC) public meeting included presentations from the ICANN Strategic Initiatives and Meetings teams. The group discussed at length several policy issues including WHOIS, the release of country/territory names for brand gTLDs, the GNSO review, as well as the IANA Stewardship transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability processes. LEARN MORE: BC

BC Website Get more information about BC mission, membership, and meetings.

BC Newsletter June 2015 Overview of BC interest topics for the Buenos Aires meeting.

Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) The IPC session featured presentations from ICANN staff on the New gTLD Program review, contractual compliance and digital services. The group also spent time discussing the next round of new gTLD applications. LEARN MORE: IPC

IPC Website For IPC information, position statements and news.

IPC Brochure Overview of IPC structure, activities, and issues of interest. Follow @IPConstituency on Twitter

Internet Service Provider & Connectivity Providers Constituency (ISPCP)

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The ISPCP meeting focused primarily on the IANA Stewardship Transition and ICANN Accountability processes. Part of the agenda was used to cover the topic of Universal Acceptance, as one of the ISPCP members, Christian Dawson is a member of the newly formed UASG. LEARN MORE: ISPCP

ISPCP Website For ISPCP mission, membership, policy resources and statements.

ISPCP Bulletin Overview of ISPCP activities and topics of interest.

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Stay Connected and Engage ICANN Fellowship Program

The ICANN Fellowship Program seeks participants from developing regions and countries of the world in order to help create a broader base of knowledgeable constituents who will become the voice of experience in their regions. 50 fellows from 36 different countries were recently selected for the ICANN 54 public meeting in Dublin, Ireland . The application period for the ICANN 55 public meeting to be held in Marrakesh, Morocco will be open from 11 September 2015 until 23 October 2015. We encourage participation of people from the private sector.

LEARN MORE: FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

Fellowship Program Resources page Find all the information you need on the program, its alumni, fellowship rounds and FAQs.

ICANN Fellowship Application Learn how to apply to the ICANN Fellowship Program.

ICANN Online Learning Platform

ICANN Learn was launched during ICANN 48. This free and open online learning platform is meant to provide introductory information for new participants and share institutional knowledge in order to increase the base of informed ICANN stakeholders. ICANN Learn needs input and feedback to ensure the platform is as useful as possible. Introductory courses for business participants are in development and will be available in 2015.

Go to learn.icann.org, create an account, enroll in a few courses, and start learning.

ICANN Updates and Newsletters

Monthly update on ICANN Policy Developments

ICANN Newsletters and alerts

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