Sally Costerton, Sr Advisor to President & SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement
Engagement in the LAC Region
By Sally Costerton, Sr Advisor to President & SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement
As we start a new year, I've been spending time in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region working on how we, as a community, are going to roll out our five-year strategic plan. An important element is aligning our existing regional engagement priorities with the new plan. We're tackling this with a range of meetings and working sessions around the region, one of which was at a recent All-Hands Meeting for the ICANN org LAC team held in our regional office in Montevideo. ICANN's President and CEO, Göran Marby, joined the regional org team members discussing how we prioritize activities and resources to ensure we can deliver the outcomes in the strategic plan that most affect stakeholders in the LAC region. We're looking forward to working together to advance our planning and gathering again in the region in Cancún in March 2020.
ICANN Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Amendment 3 to the .COM Registry Agreement
The  Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN ) and VeriSign, Inc. (Verisign), the registry operator of the .COM top-level domain ( TLD ) announced that they have reached a proposed agreement to amend the .COM Registry Agreement ( RA ). In addition,  ICANN  and Verisign announced a new proposed framework for working together on initiatives related to the security, stability, and resiliency of the  Domain Name  System ( DNS ) in the form of a binding Letter of Intent (LOI) between the two organizations.  Read the full announcement.
 
ICANN org is seeking public comment on the proposed Amendment No. 3 to the .COM registry agreement between ICANN and VeriSign. Read the details and post your public comment submission on or before 14 February 2020  here .
Rodrigo de la Parra, ICANN's Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, with Jorge Adrián Azzario Hernández, General Director of NIC México, during the ICANN66 Readout session.
ICANN Holds ICANN66 Readout Session In Mexico
On 11 December 2019, ICANN and NIC México hosted the ICANN66 LAC Readout session, inviting LAC community members in leadership positions who attended ICANN66 to update regional stakeholders who couldn't attend on the most important topics discussed at the November meeting in Montréal, Canada. The 90-minute session had over 30 participants from the LAC region.
 
Missed the readout? Access the session's recording, here.
Identifying Trends for the New LAC Strategy
LAC Strategic Council members met during ICANN66 to kick-off the review and renewal process to bring the LAC Strategy in alignment with the ICANN's new strategic plan for fiscal years 2021-2025. The Council participated in a trend identification exercise, helping the LAC regional team identify the most important issues, risks, and opportunities for the strategy. These identification exercises allow ICANN to determine key areas of interest from the community to develop the new LAC Strategy.
ICANN org's team in Montevideo, Uruguay during the functional meeting
LAC Regional Team and ICANN Leadership Meets in Montevideo
During the first week of December, ICANN org's leadership and the LAC regional team met in ICANN's LAC regional office in Montevideo, Uruguay, for the LAC region's annual All Hands Meeting. For three days, the regional team and ICANN's leadership engaged in conversations about the alignment of the regional strategy and ICANN's strategic plan for FY2021-2025. ICANN's CEO and President, Göran Marby, presented the organization areas of focus, initiatives, and opportunities in the region related to technical engagement. The team also focused on regional trends and challenges as well as examining possible venues of collaboration inside the organization and with regional partners.
Meeting LAC DNS Market Leaders
São Paulo, Brazil, hosted the 2019 AbraHosting Innovation and Technology Forum and the Verisign Latam Partner Roundtable on 3-4December. Andee Hill, ICANN Director of gTLD Accounts, presented about possibilities and opportunities with registrar accreditation to a selected group of domain name distributors in Brazil. Verisign executives outlined market trends and marketing intelligence practices. Thank you to AbraHosting and Verisign for making it possible.
NIC.br Infrastructure Week
A holiday gift for the Brazilian technical community, Infrastructure Week from NIC.br delivered two days of advanced tutorials and Internet infrastructure-focused events such as the 13th IX Forum, GTER 48, and GTS 34. It was a great chance to greet all the friends we interacted with during the year, make plans for 2020, and enjoy world class speeches. Congratulations to NIC.br for this successful event.
Make Your Voice Heard on ICANN's Future!
ICANN org is seeking input and feedback from the community on the Draft FY21-FY25 Operating and Financial Plan and Draft FY21 Operating Plan and Budget.
 
ICANN org's FY21-25 Operating Plan and FY21 Operating Plan include descriptions of the major work ICANN org will undertake to achieve its Strategic Plan , operate the organization, and implement its mission. The FY21-25 Operating Plan projects this work over a five-year period, while the FY21 Operating Plan focuses only on the single fiscal year 2021.
The Public Comment period is the now open and has been extended by 7 days to 58 days (excluding holidays) to give the community more time to review the documents. You can find the full documents and register your feedback on our Public Comment page .
Register Now for ICANN67
Register now for the ICANN67 Community Forum in Cancún, Mexico, from 7-12 March 2020. Preregistration is encouraged for all attendees. Email validation is required to complete the registration process. You can find more travel and event details on the dedicated  ICANN67 website.
 

Evolving ICANN's Multistakeholder Model: The Work Plan and Way Forward
By Brian Cute

Over the years, ICANN's multistakeholder model (MSM) has evolved, addressed important issues, and developed policies for the Internet's domain name and numbering resources. During the development of ICANN's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-2025, the ICANN community raised a number of challenges concerning its effectiveness, efficiency, and overall functioning. That community feedback was the basis for development of the strategic objective on governance , which led to the Evolving ICANN's MSM process.
Read Brian's full blog on the work plan and next steps here.
Register for ICANN67 Prep Week Webinars
Mark your calendars! Ahead of ICANN67, there will be a series of webinars during the week of 18-24 February 2020 to help the ICANN community prepare for Community Forum in Cancún, Mexico. Please register here by 14 February to receive your calendar invitation.

Policy Recommendations on the Retirement of ccTLDs
The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) continues the policy development process (PDP) related to the retirement of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). This third-ever ccNSO PDP aims to develop policy recommendations for the ICANN Board, which will include a review mechanism pertaining to decision on the delegation, transfer, revocation, and retirement of ccTLDs. Volunteers are needed to launch Phase 2 of the PDP, which will aim to develop the review mechanism. A call for volunteers is scheduled to open later this month. Phase 2 work will begin after the ccNSO Council approves the roster of volunteers. During its December meeting, the ccNSO Council reviewed the timeline, including major milestones.
Policy Development for IDNs
The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) recently initiated a policy development process (PDP) on Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) country code top-level domain (ccTLD) strings. This PDP will address a limited set of issues related to the selection of IDN ccTLD strings and review the proposal to amend Article 10 of the ICANN Bylaws, which would enable IDN ccTLDs to become members of the ccNSO. The issue report and the proposed timeline are expected by the end of February 2020. A call for volunteers will open soon after. Read more about the ccNSO IDN Preliminary Review Team here.
The EPDP Team Drafts Initial Report 
The Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Team is currently developing the final draft of its Phase 2 Initial Report. The report will include language on the development of a standardized system for the access and disclosure of nonpublic gTLD registration data (SSAD). The Initial Report will include recommendations on a number of topics related to the SSAD, including accreditation, data retention, financial considerations, and auditing. The EPDP Team expects to publish its Initial Report by 7 February 2019.
New Recommendations from the gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP Working Group 
The New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process Working Group has completed its substantive review of Public Comment submissions on its Initial Report. It has focused on refining final recommendations and other supporting content that should be included in the draft Final Report. The Final Report is also expected to include final decisions related to Work Track 5 on geographic names. A Public Comment proceeding for the draft Final Report is anticipated for early 2020. Learn more here .
Rights Protection Mechanisms PDP Working Group Approaches Publication of Phase 1 Initial Report 
The Working Group for the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) in All gTLDs Policy Development Process has finished reviewing preliminary recommendations for the RPMs applicable to gTLDs launched under the 2012 New gTLD Programs. These RPMs include: the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (TM-PDDRP); the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH); Sunrise and Trademark Claims services that are offered through the TMCH; and the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) dispute resolution procedure. The working group has started the review of the draft Initial Report, which is expected to be published for Public Comment in January 2020. Learn more  here.
Post-ATLAS III Activities
In December, the Organizing Committee of the Third At-Large Summit (ATLAS III) met to discuss the next steps for post-ATLAS III activities. A post-ATLAS III webinar for the participants was held to set out priorities for the At-Large Ambassadors, including an overview of the main activities, including policy involvement, capacity building, outreach and engagement, and communication.
This month, At-Large Ambassadors began activities in their respective regions. These activities are based on the recommendations that arose from the ATLAS III survey and capacity building interviews from ATLAS III. Over the next few months, Ambassadors will build knowledge in their respective At-Large Structures (ALSes) and, once complete, leverage that knowledge to engage in local and regional activities.
As part of both post-ATLAS III activities as well as the At-Large Review Implementation, a new At-Large Structure Mobilization Working Party continues to review the criteria for ALSes with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of members.
Universal Acceptance Continues Momentum During ICANN66
If you weren't able to join the Universal Acceptance (UA) discussions at ICANN66 in Montréal, then don't miss the latest blog by Universal Acceptance Steering Group Chair Ajay Data. The blog outlines the highlights and key takeaways from ICANN66, which include the initiation of a Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) working group focused on Universal Acceptance.
 
Read the blog here . 

Call for EAI and Measurement Working Group Vice Chairs
Are you passionate about promoting Universal Acceptance? The UASG Email Address Internationalization (EAI) and Measurement Working Groups are in need of experienced Internet community members to serve as vice chairs. Interested? Find out more here .
IANA Engagement Survey Results Are In
Last month, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ( IANA) published its annual Customer Engagement Survey which measures customer satisfaction with the IANA functions. Leading the survey with a rating of 4.3 (on a 5-point scale) was confidence in the IANA team's ability to achieve its objectives and also satisfaction with the transparency of the Key Signing Key ceremony.
 
In its sixth year, the annual survey allows the IANA team to evaluate how they manage their relationship with different user groups, and most recently, are able to identify improvements in addition to the regular operational feedback received through the post-interaction survey.
 
Read the announcement  here and view to the IANA Customer Engagement Survey here.
Operational Improvements to the PICDRP
Following recent discussions with the gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group, the ICANN organization agreed to make operational improvements to the Public Interest Commitment Dispute Resolution Procedure (PICDRP) which increases transparency without materially changing the procedure. The PICDRP addresses complaints that a registry operator may not be complying with the Public Interest Commitment(s) in Specification 11 of their Registry Agreement.
 
This revised version of the PICDRP  reflects the agreed upon changes and will be effective 1 February 2020. You can read more to learn about the improvements here.

Updated Domain Name Marketplace Indicators Released
ICANN has released updated industry metrics as part of its Domain Name Marketplace Indicators initiative. This initiative presents statistics related to generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) that encompass the below categories:
 
  • Robust competition: registrant choice, registrant domain adoption, service provider marketplace entry, and service provider competition.
  • Marketplace stability: service provider contractual compliance.
  • Trust: industry safeguards.
 
These metrics are published twice a year in order to track progress against ICANN's strategic goal of supporting the evolution of the domain name marketplace to be robust, stable, and trusted.
 
View the updated metrics here .
Opportunities to Participate:
ICANN Reviews
Specific Reviews are led by teams of community volunteers to assess the performance of the ICANN organization and make recommendations for improvement. All Specific Review team plenary meetings are open and available for observers to join. You may share your feedback and input any time to the team's public mailing list. Details of meeting schedules and mailing lists are available on the team wiki pages. Upcoming Specific Review team meetings include:
Comment on the third Accountability and Transparency Review Team ( ATRT3 ) Draft Report
 
The ATRT3 seeks to solicit input on its Draft Report which contains findings, suggestions, and recommendations regarding ICANN accountability and transparency in key areas:
 
  • Board
  • Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)
  • Public Input
  • Policy Development Process
  • Specific and Organizational Reviews
  • Accountability Indicators
  • Prioritization of Activities, Policies, and Recommendations
 
The report is available for Public Comment through 31 January 2020. Go to the Public Comment page to read the report and register your comments.
 
Visit the  Reviews Status Update Table   for the latest progress of Specific and Organizational Reviews and links to additional key resources for each.
Sylvia Herlein Leite (Brazil)
Sylvia Herlein Leite
Sylvia Herlein Leite joined the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) representing the Latin American and Caribbean Regional At-Large Organization (LACRALO) for the period 2019-2021.
 
During her journey at ICANN, she has held several positions within the ICANN ecosystem. She was a secretary of LACRALO, a delegate to the Nominating Committee (NomCom), and has participated in several working groups such as ICANN's Meetings Strategy Working Group (MSWG).
 
Sylvia brings the experience and knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries to the ICANN community since she is both an Argentine and Brazilian citizen. She is also a Spanish-Portuguese translator and interpreter, which allows her to facilitate the creation of consensus within the Internet community in Latin America.
 
Sylvia is a founding member and Financial and International Affairs Director of Internauta Brasil since 2005 and executive secretary of Nexti , an organization of information technology executives in Brazil since 2009. She is also secretary of FLUI , the Federation of Internet Users Associations of Latin America since 2007. She works as a linguistic and business consultant in her own company: Pronto Consultoría Lingüística , advising MERCOSUR companies on franchise and cultural issues in the region.