ICANN 72

Dates:	Prep Week: October 12-14, 2021 AGM: October 25-28, 2021
Location:	Seattle, WA
Venue:	Virtual
Website:	ICANN 72 (registration required)

ICANN 72 was the annual general meeting for 2021, held in October. The meeting was fully virtual in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting schedule was based on the time zone of the intended host city, Seattle. Note that users must be logged in to their ICANN account in order to view information about meeting sessions, transcripts, and archived video and audio.

Board Composition & Leadership

As with every annual general meeting, a number of board members ended their terms of service: Ron da Silva (ASO), Lito Ibarra (NomCom), Merike Käo (SSAC Liaison), and Nigel Roberts (ccNSO) concluded their terms on the board. Alan Barrett (ASO), Edmon Chung (NomCom), James Galvin (SSAC Liaison), and Katrina Sataki (ccNSO) were elected to the board during the organizational meeting.

Themes

Interacting with Governments

• ICANN Executive Team Response (Mandy Carver): ICANN's Government Engagement is growing to meet the need to learn about and give input on DNS-related legislation around the world; this is not the purview of the GAC.

DNS Abuse

• Trusted Notifier Framework
• Interisle gave a presentation to the BC on its Phishing Landscape 2021.
• Goran Marby pointed to DNS Security Facilitation - Technical Study Group recommendations as an indication of the 12 steps ICANN could take in response to Cybersecurity if not directly DNS Abuse
• The GNSO Transfer Policy Review PDP Working Group focused on enhancing security without limiting options for verification

SubPro

• ODP

In the GAC Discussions on Subsequent Procedures, Karen Lentz explained that a version of the ODP generally happens anyway following the ICANN Board's reviewing of a Consensus Policy; now it has just been formalized. Likewise, the funding is not outside of what is already happening; rather, it reflects processes that are or would happen as ICANN Organization determined next steps toward implementation (or not).

• DNS Abuse Mitigation Rider

There were several discussions around incorporating responses to DNS Abuse into the Contractual Compliance obligations of the next round.

Universal Acceptance

• IDNs

SSAD

• ALAC expressed unhappiness to the ICANN Board over SSAD ODP, EPDP phase 2 recommendations, emphasizing SSAD would probably not be worth the cost and would run into trouble with NIS2 when passed.
• The BC was presented with a model and demo capable of supporting both sides of the SSAD challenge. It provides the verifiable claims to support the evaluation of requests from requesters and allows the logic engine to evaluate the lawfulness of the request, even if the backend remains manual on the registrar side.

Prioritization

• ICANN's Office of Planning and Finance presented its plans for developing a Prioritization Framework

Data Accuracy

• The GNSO Council created a Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team to consider current enforcement and reporting; measurement of accuracy, and effectiveness; this meeting spent a significant amount of time discussing the definition of accuracy and spent a little bit of time on determining how much time each step will take to answer whether changes should be recommended to improve accuracy levels; how and by whom they would be developed; and whether existing contractual requirements may necessitate a PDP or contractual negotiations.

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

Nominating Committee

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).

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

Policy Development Process