Registries Stakeholder Group

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The Registries Stakeholder Group (also Registry Stakeholder Group, RySG, or gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group) is a Stakeholder Group within the Contracted Parties House under ICANN's GNSO. It represents the interests of the gTLD Registries currently under contract with ICANN and provides them with gTLD Registry Services. It also facilitates communication among the gTLD Registries and voices the views of the Registry Constituency to the GNSO Council and the ICANN Board of Directors, with a special emphasis on ICANN consensus policies, which relate to the technical reliability, interoperability and the stable operation of the Internet or DNS.

Organization and Membership of the RySG

The membership of the RySG is open to all TLD Registries. Registries must apply for membership via the application process. Every Registry needs to identify a Voting Delegate and, if desired, alternate Voting Delegates.

Funding

Funding for the RySG is provided by its members. Every member joining the Group needs to pay an initial membership fee as well as a fixed annual membership fee and a variable annual membership fee as per the schedule of the RySG. A member loses its voting rights if it fails to pay the fees as previously invoiced within thirty days after a written notice of non-payment.

Structure of the RySG

Executive Committee

The RySG consists of an Executive Committee, which is comprised of a Chair, an Alternate Chair, and a Treasurer. The main responsibilities of the Executive Committee are to facilitate policy coordination meetings, to support the GNSO Council and the ICANN Board, as requested by ICANN, and to manage and administer elections.

• David Maher, PIR, Chair
• Keith Drazek, Verisign, Alternate Chair
• Ken Stubbs, Afilias, Treasurer
• Michael Palage, Assistant Treasurer

GNSO Representatives

The following individials represent the Registry Constituency and its views within the larger Generic Name Supporting Organization:

• Jeff Neuman, North American region, term expires end of the 2012 annual meeting
• Jonathan Robinson, European region, term expires end of the 2013 annual meeting
• Ching Chiao, Asia Pacific region, term expires end of the 2012 annual meeting

Registrars Stakeholder Group (RrSG) Constituency Liaison

• Ray Fassett, Employ Media

ICANN Nominating Committee Representative

• Ken Stubbs, Afilias

Interest Groups

For the sake of collaborating on vital issues of common interest within the RySG, members self-organize themselves into different Interest Groups. The main responsibilities of these specific Interest Groups is to nominate candidates for GNSO Council Representatives, participate in the GNSO policy development processes, and develop position statements with special emphasis on the ICANN consensus policies.

The current/active Interest Groups and their members are:

Affirmation of Commitments (AoC)

• Accountability and Transparency Review Team
  • Brian Cute, Chair
• Accountability and Transparency Review Team Focus Group for ATRT Recommendations 15, 16 and 17
  • Don Blumenthal, PIR
• Whois Review Team
  • Kathy Kleiman
• Security, Stability and Resiliency Review Team
  • Rodney Joffe, Neustar

Anti-Phishing Work Group

• David Maher, PIR

Fake Renewal Notices Drafting Team

• Paul Diaz, PIR
• Ken Stubbs, Afilias

Fast Flux Working Group

• Greg Aaron, Afilias
• Rodney Joffe, Neustar

ICANN Academy Working Group

• Chuck Gomes, Verisign

IDN

• Guidelines Review Committee
  • Will Shorter, Verisign
  • Cary Karp, MuseDoma
  • Ram Mohan, Afilias
• IDN ccTLD Fast Track
  • Cary Karp, MuseDoma
• IDN gTLD Quick Start Initiative
  • Edmon Chung, DotAsia
• Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN Working Group (JIG)
  • Edmon Chung, DotAsia

Internationalized Registration Data Work Group

• June Seo, Verisign

Inter-Registrar Transfers Policy Working Group

• Eric Brown, Neustar
• Barbara Steele, Verisign
• Roy Dykes, Neustar
• Paul Diaz, PIR

Lock of Domain Name Subject to UDRP PDP Working Group

• David Maher, PIR
• Barbara Knight, Verisign
• Sheri Falco, ICM Registry

Post Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) Implementation Review Team

• Will Shorter, Verisign
• Michael Palage, DotCoop

RAA Amendments Drafting Team

• Nacho Amadoz, PuntCAT

Registrar Accreditation Agreement Onboarding Inprovements Working Group

• Roy Dykes, Neustar, Lead
• Barbara Knight, Verisign
• David Maher, PIR
• Paul Diaz, PIR
• Carolyn Hoover, Dot Coop
• Michael Palage, Dot Coop
• Dirk Krischenowski, Dot Berlin (Observer member)
• Jon Nevett, Donuts (Observer member)

Registries Communication Practices Working Group

• Ray Fassett, Employ Media, Chair
• Carolyn Hoover, DotCoop
• Pat Kane, Verisign
• Ken Stubbs, Afilias

Registry Constituency

Prior to the GNSO restructuring, the Registry Stakeholder Group was known as the Registry Constituency. It was comprised of the registry operators for the .net, .org, .name, .com, .pro, .museum, .aero, .coop and .info gTLDs, which were the only TLDs at the time.

Affiliated Stakeholder Groups

Due to the structure of RySG and ICANN following the start of the New gTLD Program, applicants who would potentially become registries if their applications were approved were allowed to join RySG as Observer members. To better represent their own unique perspectives within ICANN, they formed their own Stakeholder Group, the New Top-Level Domain Applicant Group (or NTAG), organized as a Stakeholder Group under RySG. There are smaller groups inside of NTAG as well, created to better represent their members: the Community Top-Level Domain Applicant Group (CTAG) and the Geographic Top-Level Domain Applicant Group (GeoTAG). At the moment, these are much more informal groups.