Last week, I visited Oslo to deliver a speech at the ICANN Studienkreis, an annual conference where experts study and address some current issues relating to legal and regulatory aspects of the Internet. This was the twelfth meeting of the group; the Studienkreis had its first meeting in Leipzig in 2000 as a forum primarily for Europeans interested in ICANN and its role as coordinator of the domain name system. Since then the participants have come from many countries both within and outside Europe.
Last week, I visited Budapest to deliver a speech at the ICANN Studienkreis, an annual conference where experts study and address some current issues relating to Internet governance. I discussed how the Internet is on a slippery slope. Starting with the legitimate concern over how to deal with cybersquatters, we have moved to an unreasonable focus on legal control of Internet content and the domain name system. I strongly believe that the Internet should maintain its openness and encourage freedom of expression.
The 38th ICANN Conference, held in Brussels last month, was an eventful one for .ORG The Public Interest Registry. We got world-wide press coverage for our announcement that we implemented DNSSEC for the entire .ORG top-level domain. Among the many nice compliments we got were these words from Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "Implementing DNSSEC for the .ORG top-level domain is an important step in ensuring the global Internet serves as a trusted channel for communication and collaboration and we applaud the Public Interest Registry's efforts in this area". While at the Conference, the Internet Society was the first user of a .ORG domain name to deploy DNSSEC.
Some of ICANN’s current proceedings on the introduction of new generic top level domains (gTLDs) provide a case study on how not to develop public policy. In particular, the Rights Protection Mechanism proceedings, with serious implications for trademark owners, have followed a course that does not correspond to the ideal of ICANN’s bottom-up, consensus-based processes for policy development. More importantly, these proceedings are effectively unilateral developments in international law without the benefit of treaties or international conventions.
During the past week, PIR has actively participated in several of the most important current policy proceedings at ICANN, and has joined in the comments filed by the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG).
A brief summary of the issues, the comments, and the URLs for the full text, follows:
The recently completed ICANN Conference in Seoul, Korea will be remembered for a unique accomplishment – the first definitive step towards the addition of internationalized domain names (IDNs) to the Internet root. In the words of ICANN’s press release:
Several months ago, at the end of the ICANN Mexico City conference, the ICANN Board announced the establishment of an "Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) comprised of an internationally diverse group of people to develop and propose solutions to the over-arching issue of trademark protection [in connection with the proposals for new generic Top-Level Domains]." This issue is one of four “overarching issues” that must be resolved before the application process for new gTLDs is put in place.
ICANN realized during the Mexico City public meeting that its draft proposals for new gTLDs did not take sufficient account of the trademark problems that might arise if the new top level domains become havens for cybersquatters.
The Mexico City ICANN Conference was more eventful than some of us had anticipated. Among the highlights was Paul Twomey’s announcement that he is stepping down as President and CEO of ICANN effective on June 30. He will remain until the end of the year as “Senior President” in an advisory capacity to assist the ICANN Board in its search for a replacement and in the transition to a new CEO.
.ORG is well represented at the ICANN Regional Meeting in Rome this week. I served as Chair of the Registries Constituency that held its meeting yesterday. Our Head of Sales, Nayla Foster, will speak to the Registrars at their meeting on Friday.
Last week, I visited Budapest to deliver a speech at the ICANN Studienkreis, an annual conference where experts study and address some current issues relating to Internet governance. I discussed how the Internet is on a slippery slope. Starting with the legitimate concern over how to deal with cybersquatters, we have moved to an unreasonable focus on legal control of Internet content and the domain name system. I strongly believe that the Internet should maintain its openness and encourage freedom of expression. 
The 38th ICANN Conference, held in Brussels last month, was an eventful one for .ORG The Public Interest Registry. We got 
