ICANN 40

Dates:	13-18 March 2011
Location:	Silicon Valley, San Francisco
Venue:	The Westin St. Francis San Francisco
Website:	ICANN 40 Website
Total Registrants:	1474
Registration:	List of Registered Attendees
Historical Significance
.xxx was approved

ICANN 40 was held in Silicon Valley between 13 and 18 March, 2011. The meeting was hosted at The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square

ICANN 40 was the most attended meeting till date and also the "most heated." A lot of important issues were to be discussed at the meeting, including the .xxx and the New gTLD Program. There were more than 1700 attendees at the meeting.

Historical Significance

Yes2DotAfrica Campaign

The campaign of yes2dotafrica against the press release made by AfTLD on wanting to obtain an African Union mandate for a “.Africa” registry was successful.

.XXX Approved

After a debate lasting nearly ten years, the ICANN Board approved .xxx as a new sTLD. The Board made an agreement allowing ICM Registry, owned by Stuart Lawley, to handle the registry services for the TLD. There was a lot of heat on the .xxx debate at this ICANN Meeting, including a protest outside the hotel lead by important members of the local adult entertainment industry, as well as FSC Executive Director Diane Duke.

Sessions

Multiple session were in progress consecutively in different rooms of the hotel. The prominent session included:

• CISO Roundtable, held on 14 March

The main agenda of this meetings was Discussion of building pathways for engagement with CISO community.

• Technical Evolution of WHOIS held on 16 March

This was a followup session to a workshop convened at the ICANN 39. This session was about IRIS and RWS, as explained by the experts. Authors and implementors of IRIS and RWS were invited to give presentations.

Presentations:

Enabling Future Directory Services for Domain Registration Data

A RESTful Web Service for Whois

• New gTLD Program: Discussion of Issues Identified by Governmental Advisory Committee held on 16 March

This session was an opportunity for public discussion on the set of issues identified by the GAC at the GAC Communique at ICANN 39.

Transcript: New gTLDs with Board

• Consultation between ICANN Board and the GAC held on 15 March

In this session GAC and Board of Directors discussed issues pertaining to the introduction of new gTLDs and the proposed delegation of .xxx to the ICM registry. The new gTLDs were approved at ICANN 41.

Transcript: Consultation between ICANN Board and the GAC

• Presentation & Discussion of the Proposed New GNSO Policy Development Process held on 16 March

This session was aimed at providing an overview of the new GNSO Policy Development Process proposed at ICANN Brussels.

Presentations:The New GNSO Policy Development Process

• Clinton To Address ICANN Silicon Valley Meeting held on 16 March

• Geographic Regions Review Working Group Workshop held on 17 March

This Workshop was a discussion regarding the future of ICANN's Geographic Regions framework featuring members of the community interested in sharing their views with members of the community-wide working group examining the current geographic regions framework.

Sponsors

• Diamond: Verisign
• Platinum Elite: NeuStar
• Silver: PIR, Iron Mountain, Afilias, GMO Registry, AusRegistry, CNNIC, Community.asia, United Domains, ISC, NTT America, InternetX
• Bronze: RegistryPro, ironDNS, NameMedia, RU Center

Videos

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Vint Cerf speaking at ICANN 40

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Rod Beckstorm's opening speech

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Opening Press Conference of ICANN 40

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Bill Clinton addressing the audience

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Interview with CEO Rod Beckstrom and Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush

External Links

ICANN Community Perspectives: ICANN 40

Top-Level Domain

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).

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).