Transparency is the sharing of information and the perceived quality of the information shared.[1] ICANN's focus on transparency as a fundamental aspect of the success of its exercise of the Multistakeholder Model increased following the Second Accountability and Transparency Review and Recommendation 9.4, in particular, on the development of "transparency metrics" to be reported in ICANN's Annual Report.[2]

Transparency Metrics

  1. Documentary Information Disclosure Policy (DIDP) Requests and Disposition of Requests on a quarterly basis.
  2. Publication of Board meeting agendas, resolutions, preliminary reports, and minutes. The ICANN Bylaws require:
    • the publication of a notice of a Board meeting and its agenda seven days in advance of the meeting,
    • resolutions to be posted two business days after Board meetings,
    • preliminary reports to be posted seven business days after Board meetings, and
    • the minutes to be published one business day after they are board approved.[3]
  3. Percentage of redacted/unredacted board briefing materials released to the public. The board did not begin publishing such materials until June 2010, and as of June 2020, 1.6% of the released material was redacted.[4]
  4. The number and nature of issues treated confidentially by the board
  5. Statistics and reasons for ICANN org not disclosing information to the community
  6. Number of Anonymous Hotline reports (limited to use by ICANN Staff)

Open Data Platform

The Open Data Platform is the work product of the Open Data Initiative. It was launched at ICANN 67[5] and includes

  • Domain Name Marketplace Indicators (19 datasets),
  • Identifier Technologies Health Indicators (ITHI; 1 dataset),
  • Registry Functions Activity Reports (1 dataset),
  • Per-Registrar Transactions Reports (10 datasets), and
  • Links to the most recent updates and most downloaded reports.[6]

Information Transparency Initiative

The Information Transparency Initiative (ITI) is an ICANN program aimed at increasing accessibility to content on the ICANN website by rebuilding ICANN’s technical infrastructure and implementing a new information architecture with clearer content governance processes.

References