Logo
ICANN
ICANN
Filtered Search

Are you sure you want to sign out from http://www.icann.org?

If you want to sign out from both http://www.icann.org and ICANN Account, click here.

ICANN Blogs

Read ICANN Blogs to stay informed of the latest policymaking activities, regional events, and more.

Board Discusses Auctions of Last Resort, Private Resolution of Contention Sets

3 June 2024
By
Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair

Tripti Sinha is Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Division of Information Technology. She leads Advanced Cyber Infrastructure and Internet Global Services (ACIGS) and the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX). She has over three decades of progressive experience in Internet and Cyber-Infrastructure technologies. Her wide-ranging experience includes leadership positions in engineering, operations, finance, governance, advocacy and policy. In her current role, she is the chief executive of the MAX, which operates a high-performance regional research and education (R&E) 100G network for advanced cyber-infrastructure services and research. She is also responsible for UMD's High Performance Computing service and strategy. Tripti is active internationally as the executive and operational head of UMD's global operation of DNS root services. She previously served as Co-Chair of ICANN's Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) from 2015-2018.

In the United States, she is very involved in the Internet2 community on activities related to the US national R&E Internet backbone. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of The Quilt whose mission is to provide advocacy for research and education networking on the US national agenda. She has served on many other non-profit and private sector technology advisory boards.

Tripti has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did graduate work in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. She was born in India and lives in the United States. As a child and young adult, she moved back-and-forth between the USA and India which gave her an appreciation for global pluralism. She is proficient in English and Hindi, and has an understanding of Punjabi, Urdu and the ancient Sanskrit language. Tripti has a keen interest in Information and Communication Technology innovation, entrepreneurship, governance and policy, and international affairs. Tripti was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee in 2018.  Her term will expire at the Annual General Meeting 2024.

One of the key topics related to the New gTLD Program: Next Round is "string contention resolution." Tripti Sinha, Chair, ICANN Board of Directors, provides an update on the Board's discussion regarding one form of contention resolution, ICANN Auctions of Last Resort, and shares the report of the National Economic Research Associates (NERA).

Background

In cases where there is more than one qualified application for the same or similar strings ("contention"), the Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process Working Group (SubPro PDP) provided recommendations regarding mechanisms to resolve such contention. These mechanisms include Community Priority Evaluation for community applications and ICANN Auctions of Last Resort, which is an ascending-clock auction administered by an ICANN-contracted auction service provider.

In the 2012 round of the New gTLD Program ICANN encouraged, via the Applicant Guidebook, self-resolution among applicants in contention. In fact, in that round, most applicants in contention did resolve among themselves; only 16 of the 234 contention sets (groups of applications in contention) used the ICANN Auctions of Last Resort.

Applicants opting to resolve among themselves used some form of private resolution, which often included a private auction. A private auction is an auction that is not administered by ICANN and proceeds are divided between the applicants, unlike an ICANN Auction of Last Resort, where the proceeds go to ICANN.

Private Resolution and Auctions in the New gTLD Program: Next Round

Since the 2012 round, the use of private resolution/private auctions has become a topic of community discussion. The Board understands that some in the community believe that there should be no restrictions on the use of private auctions, while many in the community feel strongly that the use of private auctions to resolve contention sets should not be repeated in the next round of new gTLD applications. Because of these differing views, the SubPro PDP was not able to reach consensus recommendations on the matter.

However, the Board has received advice from both the At-Large Advisory Committee and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) recommending that private auctions and/or private resolution of contention sets (especially, "private monetary means of resolution…") should be banned or strongly disincentivized.

The Board believes that the banning or disincentivizing of "private monetary means for the resolution of contention sets" is not a straightforward task. SubPro PDP recommendation 20.6 foresees joint ventures to resolve contention sets. However, creating a joint venture is also considered a form of private resolution and usually includes the exchange of money or other items of value, such as business shares, among the participating parties.

Considering the experiences from the 2012 round, the Board is not inclined to sanction a repeat of the 2012 process when private resolutions were encouraged in the Applicant Guidebook. Therefore, the Board is considering reconciling the SubPro PDP recommendation to allow joint ventures to resolve contention sets with the advice from the GAC "to ban or strongly disincentivize private monetary means of resolution of contention sets." To better understand if/how to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory concepts, the Board engaged NERA to examine the issue. Specifically, the Board asked NERA to explore how ICANN could permit "good-faith" joint ventures to resolve contention sets while strongly disincentivizing private monetary means of resolution. The Board reviewed an initial version of its findings during our May workshop, and NERA has since submitted its final report. Please see the full report on the ICANN website.

NERA noted in its report that a ban on private resolutions would have to include all forms, including joint ventures. If the formation of joint ventures is permitted, NERA recommends establishing mechanisms to resolve contention that seek to disincentivize private resolution while allowing good-faith joint ventures. However, it should be noted that the NERA report states that "measures that encourage good-faith joint ventures are inherently in tension with ICANN's other objective of disincentivizing monetary means of private resolution." The Board expects to discuss this issue further at its workshop in Kigali, Rwanda, ahead of ICANN80. We will keep the community abreast of our discussions on this very important issue.

Authors

Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair
Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair

Tripti Sinha is Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Division of Information Technology. She leads Advanced Cyber Infrastructure and Internet Global Services (ACIGS) and the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX). She has over three decades of progressive experience in Internet and Cyber-Infrastructure technologies. Her wide-ranging experience includes leadership positions in engineering, operations, finance, governance, advocacy and policy. In her current role, she is the chief executive of the MAX, which operates a high-performance regional research and education (R&E) 100G network for advanced cyber-infrastructure services and research. She is also responsible for UMD's High Performance Computing service and strategy. Tripti is active internationally as the executive and operational head of UMD's global operation of DNS root services. She previously served as Co-Chair of ICANN's Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) from 2015-2018.

In the United States, she is very involved in the Internet2 community on activities related to the US national R&E Internet backbone. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of The Quilt whose mission is to provide advocacy for research and education networking on the US national agenda. She has served on many other non-profit and private sector technology advisory boards.

Tripti has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did graduate work in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. She was born in India and lives in the United States. As a child and young adult, she moved back-and-forth between the USA and India which gave her an appreciation for global pluralism. She is proficient in English and Hindi, and has an understanding of Punjabi, Urdu and the ancient Sanskrit language. Tripti has a keen interest in Information and Communication Technology innovation, entrepreneurship, governance and policy, and international affairs. Tripti was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee in 2018.  Her term will expire at the Annual General Meeting 2024.

You May Also Like