ICANN Community

Welcome to the world of ICANN!

ICANN stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It is a private, non-profit organization for the management of the Internet DNS, IP Addresses and Autonomous System Numbers, and the structures that underlie them. It runs on an international, multi-stakeholder model.

ICANN Organizational Chart (Image from ICANN.org)

Supporting Organizations (SOs)

ICANN has three Supporting Organizations.

GNSO

Main article: GNSO

The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) develops policies, forms consensus, and makes recommendations to the ICANN Board related to gTLDs. The GNSO replaced the DNSO.

The GNSO is comprised of the Contracted House Party (CPH) and the Non-Contracted House Party (NCHP).

The Contracted House Party

The CPH consists of two Stakeholder Groups (SGs)

• The Registrar
• RySG

Non-Contracted Party House

The NCPH consist of:

• A Commercial Stakeholder Group, and
• A Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group

which consist of:

Constituencies

• CBUC
• IPC
• ISPC
• NCUC
• NPOC

ccNSO

Main article: ccNSO

The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) is an ICANN body that develops policies, forms consensus, and makes recommendations to the ICANN Board related to ccTLDs.

ASO

Main article: ASO

The Address Supporting Organization (ASO) is an ICANN body that develops policies, forms consensus, and makes recommendations to the ICANN Board related to Internet Protocol and addresses.

ICANN is comprised of four Advisory Committees (ACs):

GAC

Main article: GAC

The Government Advisory Committee (GAC) is an ICANN body that consists of representatives from various governments who advise the ICANN Board on public policy issues, national laws, and international agreements.

• are the government organizations that participate in GAC;
• GAC Representatives represent their government's interests on the committee; and
• GAC Leaders shepherd members toward consensus on ICANN policy developments and convey the committee's advice on a given topic to the ICANN Board.

ALAC

Main article: ALAC

The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is an ICANN body that presents the voices and concerns of individual Internet users, as represented by the At-Large Community.

ALAC is comprised of five

• Regional At-Large Organizations:
  • AFRALO
  • APRALO
  • EURALO
  • LACRALO
  • NARALO

Which are comprised of At-Large Structures (ALSes) and individuals, which seek to represent the interest of the At-Large Community.

RSSAC

Main article: RSSAC

The Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) is an ICANN body that advises the ICANN community and Board on issues pertaining to the operation, administration, security, and integrity of the Internet's Root Server System.

SSAC

Main article: SSAC

The Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) is an ICANN body that advises the ICANN Board on matters related to the security and integrity of domain names and the allocation of IP addresses, including security assurance for operational matters, administrative matters, and registrations matters.

=Other important ICANN Bodies

NomCom

Main article: Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee (NomCom) is the ICANN body that oversees the selection of various ICANN officers. It is designed to operate independently of all other ICANN bodies and to act in the interest of the global Internet community.

=NCAs

Main Article: NCAs

The NomCom selects and appoints people to SOs, ACs, and the ICANN Board.

Ombudsman

Main article: Ombudsman

The 'Ombudsman is an informal dispute resolution office for members of the ICANN community who wish to lodge complaints about ICANN staff, board, or supporting organizations.

===

IETF

Main article: IETF

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet.

ICANN's Board of Directors

Main article: ICANN Board

The ICANN Board is comprised of representatives and liaisons that have been selected by the Nominating Committee, Supporting Organizations, and Advisory Committees.

ICANN Staff

Main article: ICANN Staff

ICANN Staffers, including ICANN Officers, ensure that policies and advice can be developed by the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees and approved and implemented by the ICANN Board in accordance with the ICANN Bylaws and ICANN's commitment to the Multistakeholder Model.

Other Committees

• BGC
• CEO Search Committee
• OSC
• PPSC
• SIC

Working Groups (WGs), Drafting Teams (DTs), Work Teams (WTs),

• CCT
• FFWG
• GCOT
• IDN WG
• IRT
• JIG
• PEDNR WG
• PDP-WT
• RAP WG

• STI-DT
• TDG
• VIWG
• WGIG
• GA
• ICANN Studienkreis
• IESG
• MAG
• RSTEP
• TLG
• TMC

• Whois Task Force

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).

Contracted Parties House. Includes the Registries Stakeholder Group and the Registrars Stakeholder Group (ICANN Bylaws).

Non-Contracted Parties House. Includes the Commercial Stakeholder Group and the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (ICANN Bylaws).

Country Code Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board global policies relating to country-code top-level domains (ICANN Bylaws).

Address Supporting Organization. Advises the Board with respect to policy issues relating to the operation, assignment, and management of Internet addresses (ICANN Bylaws).

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).

At-Large Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN related to the interests of individual Internet users (ICANN Bylaws). Not to be confused with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group.

Root Server System Advisory Committee. Advises the ICANN community and Board on matters relating to the operation, administration, security, and integrity of the Internet's Root Server System (ICANN Bylaws).

Security and Stability Advisory Committee. Advises the ICANN community and Board on matters relating to the security and integrity of the Internet's naming and address allocation systems (ICANN Bylaws).

Nominating Committee

Internet Engineering Task Force