Mark W. Datysgeld

Affiliation:	GNSO
Region:	Latin America and the Caribbean
Country:	Brazil
Website:	Governance Primer
LinkedIn:	Mark W. Datysgeld
Currently a member of ICANN's GNSO

Mark W. Datysgeld is the founder and director of the Governance Primer consultancy since 2017 and became ICANNWiki's Project Lead Developer in 2024. He served two terms (2020–2024) on the GNSO Council as a Business Constituency representative. He holds a BA and a Master in International Relations with a focus on Internet Governance. Mark is also specialized in health policies and the application of diverse language writing systems online. Throughout his career, he has collaborated extensively with the UASG and has organized and spoken at several global and regional IGF and adjacent events.

ICANN Involvement

ICANN Programs

Mark began his ICANN journey with ICANN 53 as a participant in the NextGen@ICANN program, later serving as a NextGen Ambassador (ICANN 56). He advanced to become an ICANN Fellow (ICANN 55, ICANN 58, ICANN 59) and served as a Fellowship Coach (ICANN 60).

He was a member of the NextGen@ICANN Selection Committee between 2017 and 2018 and has maintained an informal mentorship role with the program. In 2024, he was selected as ICANN Fellowship Mentor for the GNSO.

Mark in ICANN 76's playing card deck

GNSO Council

During his tenure on the Council (2020–2024), Mark served as an elected representative of the Business Constituency, focusing on articulating the priorities and perspectives of Global South businesses. In his official capacity, he contributed directly to policy debates and strategic decision-making at ICANN.

As co-Chair of the Small Team on DNS Abuse, he played a pivotal role in shaping DNS Abuse mitigation strategies, ensuring that policy recommendations addressed the challenges faced by a diverse global community, which eventually led to the recommendations that kickstarted the "2024 Global Amendments to the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and Base gTLD Registry Agreement (Base RA)".

Additionally, Mark was instrumental in initiating and driving the development of the Preliminary Issue Report on Latin Script Diacritics, an important step toward enhancing the inclusiveness of Internet infrastructure for multilingual users.

UASG Contributions

Mark’s engagement with the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) has been a cornerstone of his career in Internet Governance. Beyond advisory roles, he has led the development and refinement of several key UASG methodologies, including innovative testing frameworks for internationalized domain names (IDNs) and email address acceptance. His work has provided strategic guidance on numerous UASG projects, actively fostering robust multi-stakeholder engagement across regions. Mark’s extensive contributions include:

• Driving capacity-building initiatives to promote universal acceptance principles, especially in Latin America.
• Advising ccTLD operators and policy bodies on technical and regulatory measures to enhance the acceptance of non-ASCII domain names and email addresses.
• Collaborating with global experts to refine guidelines and best practices that bridge gaps between international standards and local implementation.

Other Contributions and Accomplishments

Beyond his formal roles within ICANN, Mark has contributed significantly to the broader discourse on Internet Governance through academic research, thought leadership, and public engagement:

• Authored numerous reports, academic papers, and articles on domain name policy, multilingual Internet infrastructure, and digital health. Notable works include:
  • The 2021 report "[Digital Health Policies in LAC: Where do we stand and what can governments do?]" and the 2023 paper "[Establishing Baseline Criteria for the Mitigation of the Illegitimate Sale of Health-Related Products Using the DNS]" in the Journal of Cyber Policy.
  • Long-form writings, such as "Enabling Human Rights with Universal Acceptance: The Path to Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) and Email Addresses Internationalization" (2021) and "Understanding the Role of States in Global Internet Governance: ICANN and the Question of Legitimacy" (2018), have enriched scholarly debates in the field.

• Public engagement and thought leadership: A recurring speaker at global and regional Internet Governance Forum (IGF) workshops and related events, Mark has shared insights on emerging challenges in Internet policy, including multilingual environments and DNS Abuse mitigation. His presentations have contributed to advancing dialogue among stakeholders and informing policy debates on critical Internet governance issues.

Universal Acceptance Steering Group

Internet Governance Forum

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).

Registrar Accreditation Agreement

Generic Top-level Domain

Internationalized Domain Name

Country code top-level domain, as determined by "ISO 3166: Country Codes".

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Internationalized Domain Name