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ICANN History Project

<timeline> DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1997 till:12/31/2022 Define $now = 09/16/2021 # Please keep updated Define $skip = at:end # Force a blank line Define $dayunknown = 15 # what day to use if it's actually not known ImageSize= width:1000 height:auto barincrement:25 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:10 left:10 bottom:20 top:20 Legend = top:150 orientation:vertical columnwidth:150 left:20 AlignBars = justify

Colors =

    id:bg         value:white
    id:ceo      value:rgb(0.7,0.7,0.7) legend:CEO
    id:chair        value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5) legend:Chairperson
    id:structure        value:rgb(1,0.6,0.4) legend:Structural_Changes
    id:org        value:rgb(0.4,1,0.4) legend:Organizational_Developments
    id:gtld      value:skyblue legend:TLD_Management
    id:global      value:rgb(1,0.9,0.9) legend:Global_Growth_&_Inclusion
    id:interim       value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5)
    id:bylaws      value:rgb(1,0.7,0.5)

    id:line       value:rgb(0.2,0.2,0.2)
    id:lightline  value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
    id:header     value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.9)
    id:lighttext  value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5)

BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 gridcolor:lightline start:01/01/1997 ScaleMinor = unit:month increment:3 start:01/01/1997

BarData =

    Bar:CEO
    Bar:skip
    Bar:Chair
    Barset:events

PlotData=

   align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:15 shift:(0,-5)

    color:ceo width:15
         bar:CEO from:10/01/1998 till:03/15/2001 text:"Roberts"
         bar:CEO from:03/15/2001 till:03/15/2003 text:"Lynn"
         bar:CEO from:03/15/2003 till:06/15/2009 text:"Twomey"
         bar:CEO from:06/15/2009 till:07/15/2012 text:"Beckstrom"
         bar:CEO from:07/15/2012 till:10/15/2012 color:interim shift:(15,-25) text:"Atallah*"
         bar:CEO from:10/15/2012 till:03/31/2016 text:"Chehade"
         bar:CEO from:04/01/2016 till:05/15/2016 color:interim shift:(15,-25) text:"Atallah*"
         bar:CEO from:05/15/2016 till:$now        text:"Marby"
         at:$now shift:(0,-25) align:right text:"*Interim Appointments"

    color:white width:1 mark:(line,white)
         bar:skip at:end

    color:chair width:15 mark:(line,black) #We use the last day of the relevant AGM to set start/end dates
         bar:Chair from:10/01/1998 till:11/16/2000 text:"Dyson"
         bar:Chair from:11/16/2000 till:11/02/2007 text:"Cerf"
         bar:Chair from:11/02/2007 till:10/28/2011 text:"Thrush"
         bar:Chair from:10/28/2011 till:11/09/2016 text:"Crocker"
         bar:Chair from:11/09/2016 till:11/08/2019 text:"Chalaby"
         bar:Chair from:11/08/2019 till:$now       text:"Botterman"

    barset:events width:15
         color:structure from:01/01/1997 till:10/01/1998 text:"Birth of ICANN"
         color:structure from:12/24/1998 till:09/30/2016 text:"IANA Functions Contract b/t ICANN and NTIA"
         color:gtld from:01/01/1999 till:12/31/1999 shift:(130) text:"Testbed Commercial Registrars"
         color:gtld from:01/01/1999 till:12/31/2008 text:"Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars"
         color:structure from:11/04/1999 till:03/15/2001 align:center text:Ad Hoc Group
         color:structure from:11/15/2001 till:06/26/2003 align:center text:"Evo & Reform"
         color:org from:01/01/2007 till:$now text:"Seemingly Infinite Reviews"
         color:gtld from:01/01/2008 till:12/31/2010 shift:(5,10) text:"Transition to Vertical Integration"
         color:org from:03/01/2008 till:05/31/2012 align:center text:"GNSO 1 - Council Houses Formed"
         color:org from:01/01/2009 till:$now text:"Accountability and Transparency"
         color:global from:05/15/2009 till:12/31/2012 text:"Scaling the Root"
         color:gtld from:01/12/2012 till:12/31/2017 text:"New gTLD Program"
         color:global from:01/01/2013 till:12/31/2018 text:"Introduction and Delegation of IDNs"
         color:global from:01/01/2015 till:$now text:"Global Inclusion Initiatives"
         color:structure from:10/01/2016 till:$now align:center text:"PTI created, takes over IANA Functions Oversight"
         color:org from:01/01/2017 till:$now text:"Information Transparency Initiative"
         color:org from:01/01/2019 till:$now text:"Evolution of the MSM"

</timeline>

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Featured Updates - The Domain Name System

ICANN's job is to ensure the stability, security, and resiliency of the Domain Name System (DNS). The stability and security of the DNS is undermined in a variety of ways, which ICW Editor Jessica has been working to catalog. In addition, she has been focusing on responses to abuse from ICANN, such as DAAR and SAC115, other institutions in the private, and inter/government agencies, such as the European Council, FBI, CISA, and NIST.

The stability of the DNS is the central focus of SSAC and enshrined in the ICANN Bylaws in multiple places. ICANN's performance of this critical task is also periodically reviewed as mandated by Article 4.6 of the bylaws. The First Security, Stability, and Resiliency Review took place in 2010, while the Second Security, Stability, and Resiliency Review is ongoing.

If you work within this sphere, you might want to connect with fellow members of the ICANN community focused on cybersecurity.

ICANN Reviews and ATRT 3

"Review fatigue" has been a persistent complaint within the ICANN Community. As our overlap timeline shows, there have been very few points in ICANN's history when there were no reviews, or only one review, in progress. The Third Accountability and Transparency Review has addressed this review glut head on. Among other reforms, the ATRT 3 team made the following recommendations:

Convert organizational reviews to "continuous improvement processes" within each SO & AC;
Utilize the feedback and findings of these continuous improvement processes, as well as annual meetings of the SOs and ACs, to inform a new, "holistic" review that engages with the ICANN organization as a whole; and
Reform or remove most of the reviews required under Article 4.6 of the ICANN Bylaws.

These changes would represent a massive transformation to ICANN's review practices. The ICANN Board, while accepting the proposals in principle, has requested ICANN staff to develop plans for pilot programs for continuous improvement and the holistic review. The modifications to the Article 4.6 specific reviews, because they would require amending the Bylaws, are subject to community buy-in and support.

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