'''ICANN 50''' was an [[ICANN Meetings|ICANN Meeting]] held from June 22 to June 26, 2014 in London, England.<ref name="ICANN50">[http://london50.icann.org/ ICANN London] ''ICANN.org''; Retrieved 11 March 2014</ref> It was the first meeting in [[ICANN]]'s history to be held in London.
'''ICANN 51 - Los Angeles''' is an [[ICANN Meetings|ICANN Meeting]] that was held from 12 to 16 October 2014 in Los Angeles, California, USA.<ref name="ICANN51">[http://la51.icann.org/en/ ICANN LA] ''ICANN.org''; Retrieved 06 August 2014</ref> It was the third ICANN meeting held in Los Angeles, and the sixth ICANN meeting held in the US state of California since ICANN meetings began in 1999. All six ICANN meetings that have taken place in the US have been held in California.
The conference had the largest attendance of any ICANN meeting to date, with 3,300 people registered for the event.<ref>[https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2014-06-23-en Announcement 23 June 2014] ''ICANN.org''; Retrieved 09 July 2014</ref> Major topics of discussion focused on [[Internet Governance]] and the recent [[NETmundial]] conference, the [[IANA]] [[IANA Transition|Transition and Stewardship]], and ICANN transparency and accountability. [[New gTLD]]s were also a topic of much discussion as they had been for many meetings.
==Major Events and Topics==
==Major Events and Topics==
In September 2014, it became known that ICANN 51 would not have the customary Gala Night that is usually held on the Wednesday night during the conference. The Gala night is an evening dinner party that is open to all ICANN goers and features live music, food, and drinks. ICANN representatives noted that since there was no host sponsor for this meeting and the host sponsor usually provides funding for the Gala, there would be no gala at ICANN 51. The past several ICANN Meetings had ICANN Galas.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/17339-no-gala-at-icann-51 No Gala at ICANN 51] ''ICANN.org'', Retrieved 22 Sept 2014</ref>
===ATLAS II===
The Second [[At-Large]] Summit, or ATLAS II, was held in London in conjunction with ICANN London. The summit brought together representatives from various [[At-Large Structure]]s to learn and debate ICANN policies, share information, and experience an ICANN meeting. The attendees represent Internet end-users, and many had never experienced an ICANN meeting before. The goal of the meeting was to discuss, reach consensus, and draft reports on five issues: 1) the Future of Multistakeholderism, 2) the Globalization of ICANN, 3) Global Internet: the User Perspective, 4) ICANN Transparency and Accountability, and 5) At-Large Community Engagement in ICANN.<ref>[https://www.icann.org/news/blog/at-large-community-to-convene-in-london-for-atlas-ii At-Large Community to Convene in London for ATLAS II] ''ICANN.org''; Retrieved 10 July 2014</ref>
===Opening Ceremony===
===Opening Ceremony===
====Multistakeholder Ethos Award====
The opening ceremony involved opening remarks from Board Chairman [[Steve Crocker]]. [[Penny Pritzker]], U.S. Secretary of Commerce, spoke next on the NTIA announcement and the importance of a "free and open Internet." She was the first Secretary of Commerce to attend an ICANN Meeting.
[[Avri Doria]] was announced as the first ever recipient of the [[ICANN Multistakeholder Ethos Award]] during the Opening Ceremony. The award is given to a community member in recognition of his/her work in ICANN groups, programs, and participation in the Internet Governance community in general. Avri was recognized for her work in ICANN Working Groups and various constituencies as well as her participation in [[IGF]], [[IETF]], [[ISOC]], and others.<ref>[https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-06-23-en Announcement] (June 23 2014) ''ICANN.org''; Retrieved 23 June 2014</ref>
====President's Speech====
After thanking the speakers that came before him and congratulating Avri Doria for her award, [[ICANN]] CEO [[Fadi Chehade]] took a few moments to look back on ICANN's history and remark on the historic event of the 50th ICANN meeting. He spoke about how much the Internet has grown since the first ICANN meeting, and highlighted [[IDN]]s to explain that in the future far more people will be accessing the Internet in their own language and on non-Latin keyboards. He outlined ICANN's core values and stressed that these must not change (such as Transparency) even as the industry and Internet changes at a rapid pace.
In his normal update to the ICANN community on ICANN's accomplishments since the last meeting, Mr. Chehade said he wanted to cover 5 topics. The first topic was the [[IANA]] Stewardship and transition. He stated that ICANN is committed to being a transparent organization and has put out a proposal to the community so that ICANN remains accountable to the community as the contract with the US government ends. Regarding the IANA transition, he remarked that ICANN had received thousands of comments and proposals regarding the transition of IANA stewardship and understood there would be much more discussion on this subject in London, and that a coordination group has been proposed of 27 members representing all different stakeholders in order to plot the course forward for IANA transition.
Chairman Crocker then spoke about a few examples of innovation on the Internet. The first was ASAPnet, a broadband communications network used by first responders and emergency workers in the San Diego area. The second was ThrdPlace.com, an online platform for "social action." A representative from ThrdPlace spoke briefly about their work.
His second topic was about ICANN globalization and hardening of operations. He said that ICANN has about 2-3 years to go before he is comfortable that ICANN operations are where they need to be. He applauded the new service channels which allows customer support in many different languages and time zones, and mentioned local language support that would add to the languages in which ICANN content is currently available. Chehade spent a few minutes discussing the future of WHOIS "Directory" technology and highlighted the initial report that a working group had put together, led by [[Jean-Francois Poussard]].
Crocker then played a video from a trip he took to his High School in Los Angeles, where he spoke to a math class of high schoolers that attended Monday's sessions at ICANN 51.
Chehade's next topic was the GDD, the [[Global Domains Division]] of ICANN and an update from that division on the [[New gTLD program]]. He mentioned the ICANN Auction, the contracts that had been signed, and the number of New [[gTLD]]s that had already been delegated to the [[Root Zone|Root]].
Fadi Chedhade spoke next, and announced the 2014 ICANN leadership Award as [[Jonathan Robinson]]. Jonathan made a few remarks and praised the multistakeholder model.
[[Internet Governance]] was Chehade's 4th topic of discussion. He said that Internet Governance was important but that it was only one of the things ICANN. His view on NetMundial was that it was a big success, and that now ICANN will participate in future discussions on Internet Governance but it will not be a high priority.
Chehade's last statement was that he wanted to leave the audience by reminding them of ICANN's core values, and said that the ICANN community "needs a little harmony". Upon mentioning harmony, a surprise performance by a Welsh Men's choir commenced to finish out the Opening Ceremony.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwzzLzbPA88 President's Opening Speech] ''Youtube.com''; Retrieved 09 July 2014</ref>
===High Level Government Meeting===
The UK government hosted a high-level meeting during ICANN London that brought together representatives from governments of the world to discuss Internet Governance and specifically the NTIA transition of the IANA contract. Many representatives expressed that the transition should not leave specific governments or interest groups with more control over the Internet, but that governments should have a voice in political issues in Internet Governance. Many government representatives recognized that the stewardship of IANA should be a shared responsibility between governments and private sector groups while other representatives stressed giving governments a stronger voice than other stakeholders.<ref>[https://www.icann.org/news/multimedia/339 Video from High Level Government Meeting] ''ICANN.org''; Retrieved 10 July 2014</ref>
===GAC Communiqué===
===GAC Communiqué===
The [[Governmental Advisory Committee]] drafts a report to the ICANN board during each ICANN meeting, titled a GAC Communique, in which they give advice to the board on decisions involving policy and implementation. Highlights from the communiqué include:
* The GAC advises the Board regarding the [[.africa]] string, saying it would like to see an expedited process, especially once the [[Independent Review Panel]] comes to a decision regarding the two applicants for the string. They reaffirm their decision that [[DotConnectAfrica]]'s application should not proceed.
* The GAC mentioned the controversy surrounding [[.wine]] and [[.vin]], where some European GAC representatives strongly felt that the applications for these strings should not proceed without proper safeguards for geographic names at the second level. However, the GAC was unable to reach consensus advice regarding this issue and thus did not relay any formal advice to the Board.
* The GAC requested safeguards in the New gTLDs for IGO (Inter-Governmental Organization) names at the second level, and specifically related such advice for names relating to Red Cross and Red Crescent.<ref>[https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/gac-to-board-25jun14-en.pdf GAC London Communiqué] (PDF) ''ICANN.org''; Retrieved 10 July 2014</ref>
[[ICANNWiki]] partnered with [[Dyn]] and [[CircleID]] to do video interviews highlighting the meeting. [[Raymond King]] interviewed [[Jothan Frakes]] and [[Michele Neylon]]<ref>[http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140724_video_interviews_highlighting_icann_50_in_london/ Video Interviews Highlighting ICANN 50 in London] ''CircleID.com''; Retrieved 24 July 2014</ref>:
ICANN 51 - Los Angeles is an ICANN Meeting that was held from 12 to 16 October 2014 in Los Angeles, California, USA.[1] It was the third ICANN meeting held in Los Angeles, and the sixth ICANN meeting held in the US state of California since ICANN meetings began in 1999. All six ICANN meetings that have taken place in the US have been held in California.
In September 2014, it became known that ICANN 51 would not have the customary Gala Night that is usually held on the Wednesday night during the conference. The Gala night is an evening dinner party that is open to all ICANN goers and features live music, food, and drinks. ICANN representatives noted that since there was no host sponsor for this meeting and the host sponsor usually provides funding for the Gala, there would be no gala at ICANN 51. The past several ICANN Meetings had ICANN Galas.[2]
The opening ceremony involved opening remarks from Board Chairman Steve Crocker. Penny Pritzker, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, spoke next on the NTIA announcement and the importance of a "free and open Internet." She was the first Secretary of Commerce to attend an ICANN Meeting.
Chairman Crocker then spoke about a few examples of innovation on the Internet. The first was ASAPnet, a broadband communications network used by first responders and emergency workers in the San Diego area. The second was ThrdPlace.com, an online platform for "social action." A representative from ThrdPlace spoke briefly about their work.
Crocker then played a video from a trip he took to his High School in Los Angeles, where he spoke to a math class of high schoolers that attended Monday's sessions at ICANN 51.
Fadi Chedhade spoke next, and announced the 2014 ICANN leadership Award as Jonathan Robinson. Jonathan made a few remarks and praised the multistakeholder model.
Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).
