Heading to ICANN’s 35th International Meeting
Last night I began the long trip from Toronto, Canada to Sydney, Australia (thankfully by plane and not by the route Google suggests) for the 35th International Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). There is a fair bit of anticipation for the meeting because of several key issues that are expected to be discussed:
- New gTLDs: Although ICANN is not expected to formally being accepting applications for new domain name extensions until Q1 2010, many organizations hoping to obtain new extensions are starting to appear, and are starting to make their intentions known. I expect many bids for new extensions to be made public during and after next week’s meeting.
- ICANN’s new CEO: Paul Twomey, the current President and CEO of ICANN, announced earlier this year that he would be leaving ICANN at the end of 2009. Since then, speculation has been rampant regarding who his replacement will be. ICANN recently announced they were in the contract negotiation stage with a new President and CEO; he/she is scheduled to be approved and introduced to the ICANN community during the Sydney meeting.
- The new Registrar Accreditation Agreement: Every registrar, including Tucows, is bound to an agreement with ICANN called the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). The RAA dictates what a registrar’s responsibilities are as an organization approved by ICANN to offer domain names as a registrar. ICANN recently approved a new version of the RAA, which includes additional provisions regarding the protection of registrant data, and it is a subject that is likely to be discussed throughout the conference by ICANN and registrars alike.
Of course, there are plenty of other items to be discussed, not to mention plenty of new developments and news that always seems to emerge as the conference progresses. Keep an eye on this space for updates over the next week and a half.