This month, several of my Board colleagues and I had the pleasure of attending the Contracted Parties Summit, which was held in Paris following the May Board Workshop.
The summit provided a valuable opportunity to engage with ICANN's contracted parties, to celebrate the tremendous progress made in the past year to address Domain Name System abuse, and to gain insights on the most important issues facing registries and registrars. Moreover, the chairs of both the Registrars Stakeholder Group (RrSG) and the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) led a special public session during the Board Workshop that provided an overview of the latest trends and challenges in the domain industry.
During the workshop, which took place 3–5 May, the Board advanced several areas of work, including:
New gTLD Program: Next Round: The Board reviewed the recommendations from the Phase 1 Final Report of the Generic Names Supporting Organization's (GNSO) Expedited Policy Development Process on Internationalized Domain Names and discussed some considerations. These include implementation planning and coordination with other efforts, such as dependencies with the next round of the New Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program. The Board will continue its discussion following the workshop as it prepares to take action on the recommendations.
The Board discussed potential approaches to implementing registry voluntary commitments and resolving contention sets in the next application round. We appreciate the input on these matters submitted by the At-Large Advisory Committee, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), and the GNSO's Business Constituency, Intellectual Property Constituency, Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers Constituency, Noncommercial Stakeholder Group, RrSG, and RySG. We also thank the Address Supporting Organization, the Country Code Names Supporting Organization, the Root Server System Advisory Committee, and the Security and Stability Advisory Committee for responding to the Board's request for community consultation while declining to provide input.
WSIS+20: The Board received an update on ICANN's approach to coordinating efforts ahead of next year's 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), including the WSIS+20 Outreach Network, and the latest developments at the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations that have the potential to impact ICANN's mission.
Strategic Plan: The Board reviewed the draft strategies for fiscal years (FY) 2026–30 and offered suggestions to enhance the strategies. The Board Strategic Planning Committee is now finalizing the draft strategies and plans to share them with the community at ICANN80.
AI: ICANN's Office of the Chief Technology Officer shared an overview of artificial intelligence technology, with a particular focus on its potential uses at ICANN. The Board discussed the problems that can be caused by large language models providing inaccurate information.
The workshop concluded with a Regular Board Meeting, during which the Board adopted the GAC's advice in the ICANN76 Communiqué on intergovernmental organization protections and took action on the advice issued through its ICANN79 Communiqué.
Additionally, the Board adopted the ICANN Operating and Financial Plan for FY25–29, the FY25 ICANN Operating Plan and Budget, and the FY25 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Operating Plan and Budget. The Board directed the ICANN organization to provide the Board with periodic updates on the progress made to reach a sustainable run rate of expenses as soon as possible.
Next, my Board colleagues and I are looking forward to participating in the ICANN80 Policy Forum. Be sure to register. I look forward to seeing you there!
