Over the course of a day and a half the meeting discussed issues of interest to the region, and came up with a number of action items to be undertaken by various related parties. Participants engaged in constructive and open discussions around a range of issues including Internet governance multi-stakeholder model, DNS industry development, ICANN Middle East engagement strategy, and capacity building in related Internet governance areas.

Participants shared views on fostering multi-stakeholder Internet governance mechanisms in the region, and agreed that all stakeholders should be involved. It was noted that stakeholders’ roles should be complementary rather than competitive. Leaders of Internet organizations who were present at the meeting talked to the distinctive roles of their organizations in the global governance ecosystem, and highlighted the community bottom-up participation in the relevant processes. Participants noted that engagement in global policy fora should be two-way as community members have a role to play, and so are the relevant global and regional bodies such as ICANN, ISOC, IETF and the RIRs. Participants also emphasized the importance of capacity building in stimulating engagement and talked to several different activities in that regard.

The meeting was an opportunity for discussing ICANN engagement strategy in the Middle East. A working group of community members was put together early this year to develop a 3-year strategy. Representatives of the working group presented a draft strategy highlighting the overall goals and the strategic focus areas, along with more specific objectives and actions suggested under each area. Strategic areas identified for the Middle East included DNS security and stability, DNS industry development, and Internet Governance ecosystem. The draft strategy document should be available for public comments before end of March, and final strategy should be finalized by May.

Developing domain name markets in the Arab world was another topic on the agenda. Statistics showed that the region was far lagging behind in this sector in comparison to other parts of the world. The meeting noted the slow uptake in IDNs despite the deployment of IDN ccTLDs in almost a dozen countries. Participants shared insights regarding the challenges in this sector and highlighted issues pertaining to awareness, cost, policy and legal frameworks, infrastructure and hosting services, lack of localized content as the main barriers to entry. Participants agreed that stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship is one key pillar for success in this industry.

In the closing session, participants wrapped up discussions that had taken place throughout the course of the meeting, and agreed on a number of actions to be taken forward.

Regarding the Arab IGF, it was agreed that the Arab IGF should play a key role in stimulating multi-stakeholder Internet governance mechanisms at national and regional levels, through working with various stakeholders from governments, business, academia, as well as ISOC chapters. Participants noted that the Arab IGF should have a sustainable funding mechanism to ensure stability and continuity. Internet organizations together with UN ESCWA reiterated their commitment to support the Arab IGF.

ICANN emphasized its commitment to work with Arab Internet stakeholders, and confirmed that issues addressed during the meeting in relation to DNS industry and IDNs will take priority in the ICANN Middle East strategy. ICANN also sought partnership of Internet organizations and stakeholders from the region in the implementation of the strategy. Likewise, TRA UAE confirmed its commitment to work with ICANN and Internet organizations.

ISOC, RIPE NCC and AfriNIC reiterated that they would continue to promote capacity building in the region through workshops and support of activities such as MENOG and the building of IXPs.

Participants acknowledged that engaging in Internet policy development processes requires efforts by all parties involved. They commended that this meeting had brought all stakeholders around the table, and agreed that they would come back later this year at the Arab IGF meeting to report on progress made and follow up on takeaways from this meeting.

Event pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/icann/sets/72157632937238878/

These regional events are a chance for ICANN staff and representatives from gTLD registries and ICANN-accredited registrars to meet informally to discuss topics important to our industry and business relationships. These events happen regularly and in different locations around the world. Previous events, for example, took place in Tokyo, Munich, Toronto, and Rome. It is a great opportunity to exchange ideas, learn and network.

The regional event model was introduced in 2006 as an educational opportunity for ICANN and its contracted parties to share information about registry and registrar operations within the domain name industry. The events have been largely focused on the policies and procedures registration service providers are obligated to implement and enforce as a result of either their contract with ICANN or with one another.

These regional events are distinguished from the regular international ICANN meetings in that they are not structured, for example, to influence policy development. If you are interested in the policy development and a broader interaction with ICANN stakeholders, please join the upcoming ICANN Meeting in Prague in June this year.

Agenda 17 May 2012 Sessions

Schedule Thursday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentations 17 May 2012 Sessions

Agenda 18 May 2012 Sessions

Schedule Friday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentations May 18 Sessions

We thank all attendees and remote participants for a productive event. We value your feedback. The next regional meeting has not yet been scheduled. Information about future sessions will be made available in the future.

Registry and Registrar ICANN teams

这些区域性会议使 ICANN 工作人员、来自 gTLD 注册管理机构和 ICANN 委任注册服务商的代表有机会进行非正式会面，讨论对本行业及业务关系至关重要的议题。这些会议定期在全球不同地方举行。例如，此前曾分别在东京、慕尼黑、多伦多和罗马举行。这些会议是交流想法、了解信息和相互联络的绝佳机会。

区域性会议模式于 2006 年作为 ICANN 及其合同签约方的教育机会而引入，双方可借此机会分享与注册管理机构和注册服务商在域名行业内运营有关的信息。这些会议主要关注注册服务提供商根据其与 ICANN 签订的合同或彼此之间签订的合同而有义务履行和强制执行的政策与程序。

这些区域性会议与 ICANN 定期国际会议之间的区别之一在于，这些会议的目的不在于影响政策制定。如果您对政策制定和更广泛地与 ICANN 利益主体互动感兴趣，请参加我们即将于今年六月举行的 ICANN 布拉格会议。

2012 年 5 月 17 日会议议程

星期四日程 [PDF, 1.09 MB]

2012 年 5 月 17 日会议演示文档

2012 年 5 月 18 日会议议程

星期五日程 [PDF, 1.09 MB]

2012 年 5 月 18 日会议演示文档

我们对所有现场出席和远程参与本次富有成效的会议的人员表示感谢。我们非常重视大家提出的反馈意见！下次区域性会议的时间待定。关于未来会议的信息将随后提供。

注册服务管理机构和注册服务商 ICANN 团队

Эти региональные мероприятия дают сотрудникам ICANN, представителям реестров рДВУ и аккредитованных ICANN регистраторов возможность встретиться в неофициальной обстановке, чтобы обсудить важные для нашей отрасли и деловых взаимоотношений темы. Данные мероприятия проводятся регулярно и в разных странах мира. Например, предыдущие встречи проходили в Токио, Мюнхене, Торонто и Риме. Это отличная возможность обменяться идеями, узнать много нового и поделиться мнениями с коллегами.

Модель региональных мероприятий была введена в 2006 г. как учебно-просветительская возможность для ICANN и сторон, связанных с ней договорными обязательствами, обменяться информацией по вопросам деятельности реестров и регистраторов в рамках отрасли доменных имен. В центре проводимых мероприятий находились главным образом политики и процедуры, которые поставщики услуг регистрации обязаны внедрять и соблюдать в результате заключения договоров с ICANN или друг с другом.

Эти региональные мероприятия отличаются от регулярных международных конференций ICANN в том отношении, что они, например, не предназначены для оказания влияния на разработку политики. Если вас интересует разработка политик и расширение взаимодействия с заинтересованными сторонами ICANN, посетите следующую конференцию ICANN, которая пройдет в Праге в июне этого года.

Повестка заседаний, прошедших 17 мая 2012 г.

Расписание на четверг [PDF, 1,09 Мб]

Презентации, проведенные в ходе заседаний 17 мая 2012 г.

Повестка заседаний, прошедших 18 мая 2012 г.

Расписание на пятницу [PDF, 1,09 Мб]

Презентации, проведенные в ходе заседаний 18 мая 2012 г.

Мы благодарим всех, кто лично или удаленно принял участие в этом крайне плодотворном мероприятии. Мы высоко ценим ваш вклад в нашу работу. Сроки проведения следующего регионального совещания еще не определены. Сведения о следующих заседаниях будут обнародованы в будущем.

Представители реестров и регистраторов в ICANN

Ces évènements régionaux représentent une possibilité pour le personnel de l’ICANN et les représentants des registres des gTLD ainsi que pour les registrants accrédités de l’ICANN de se rencontrer de manière informelle pour discuter de sujets qui sont importants pour notre industrie et nos relations commerciales. Ces évènements ont lieu régulièrement dans des endroits différents dans le monde entier. Des évènements précédents ont eu lieu par exemple à Tokyo, Munich, Toronto et Rome. C’est une grande opportunité pour échanger des idées, pour apprendre et pour travailler en réseau.

Le modèle de l’évènement régional a été présenté en 2006 en tant que possibilité éducative pour l’ICANN et pour ses parties contractantes de partager des informations à propos de l’exploitation des registres et des bureaux d’enregistrement au sein de l’industrie des noms de domaine. Les évènements ont été notamment ciblés sur l’enregistrement des politiques et des procédures que les prestataires de services sont obligés de mettre en œuvre et de renforcer suite à leur contrat avec l’ICANN ou avec une autre organisation.

Ces évènements régionaux se distinguent des réunions internationales habituelles de l’ICANN en ce sens qu’ils ne sont pas structurés, par exemple, pour influencer le développement de la politique. Si vous êtes intéressés par le développement de la politique et par une interaction plus étendue avec les parties prenantes de l’ICANN, veuillez participer à la prochaine ICANN Meeting in Prague en juin de cette année.

Agenda des sessions du 17 mai 2012

Schedule Thursday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Présentation des sessions du 17 mai 2012

Agenda des sessions du 18 mai 2012

Schedule Friday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Présentation des sessions du 18 mai 2012

Nous remercions tous les participants, présents et à distance, de cette rencontre si productive. Nous apprécierons vos commentaires.

La prochaine réunion régionale n’a pas encore été planifiée.

L’information sur les futures sessions sera disponible prochainement.

Équipes des registres et des bureaux d’enregistrement de l’ICANN

Los eventos regionales hacen posible que el personal de la ICANN, los representantes de registros de gTLD y los registradores acreditados por la ICANN lleven a cabo encuentros informales para debatir temas relevantes para nuestra industria y forjar vínculos comerciales. Estos eventos se realizan periódicamente en distintas sedes en todo el mundo. En ocasiones anteriores, los eventos se realizaron en Tokio, Múnich, Toronto y Roma. Además, los eventos son una excelente oportunidad para intercambiar ideas, aprender y generar contactos.

El modelo de eventos regionales se introdujo en 2006 como una oportunidad de aprendizaje para la ICANN y sus partes contratadas, posibilitándoles el intercambio de información sobre el funcionamiento de registros y registradores en la industria de nombres de dominio. Los eventos se han centrado principalmente en políticas y procedimientos que los proveedores de servicios de registración deben implementar y hacer cumplir como resultado de los contratos que celebran entre ellos o con la ICANN.

A diferencia de las reuniones periódicas de la ICANN, estos eventos regionales no están estructurados, por ejemplo, para influir en el desarrollo de políticas. Invitamos a quienes estén interesados en el desarrollo de políticas y en una mayor interacción con las partes interesadas de la ICANN a participar de la próxima reunión de la ICANN en Praga que se llevará a cabo en junio de este año.

Agenda de las sesiones del 17 de mayo de 2012

Horario del dia jueves [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentaciones de las sesiones del 17 de mayo de 2012

Agenda de las sesiones del 18 de mayo de 2012

Horario del día viernes [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentaciones de las sesiones del 18 de mayo

Agradecemos a todos los asistentes y participantes remotos por un evento sumamente productivo. Agradecemos sus aportes. Aún no se fijo la fecha de la próxima reunión regional. La información sobre las próximas sesiones estará disponible a la brevedad.

Equipos de Registros y Registradores de la ICANN.

توفر ICANN محاضرات وتسجيلات جلسة سجلات ومسجلين أمريكا الشمالية التي أقيمت في لوس أنجلوس في 17 – 18 مايو 2012. ورغم أن الحدث هو مخصص للمسجلين المعتمدين من قبل ICANN وسجلات gTLD، فقد حضر عدد كبير من المراقبين أيضاً. حيث حضر حوالي 80 مشاركاً بشكل شخصي و30 مشاركاً عن بعد.

وتعتبر تلك الأحداث الإقليمية فرصة لفريق ICANN وممثلي سجلات gTLD ومسجلي ICANN المعتمدين للاجتماع بشكل غير رسمي لمناقشة وبحث موضوعات هامة حول صناعتنا وعلاقات الأعمال فيما بيننا. تتم إقامة هذه الأحداث بانتظام في مناطق مختلفة حول العالم. على سبيل المثال، أقيمت أحداث سابقة في طوكيو وميونيخ وتورنتو وروما. إنها فرصة رائعة لتبادل الأفكار والتعلم والتواصل.

هذا وقد تم عرض نموذج الحدث الإقليمي في 2006 باعتباره فرصة تعليمية لـ ICANN وأطرافها المتعاقدة لتبادل المعلومات حول عمليات السجل والمسجلين في صناعة اسم النطاق. وقد ركزت الأحداث بشكل واسع على السياسات والإجراءات التي ينبغي أن يلتزم مزودي خدمات التسجيل بتنفيذها وتطبيقها نتيجة لتعاقدها مع ICANN أو مع بعضها البعض.

ما تتميز به الاجتماعات الإقليمية عن غيرها من اجتماعات ICANN المنتظمة هو أنها لا توثر على سياسة التطوير على سبيل المثال. إذا كنت من المهتمين بوضع السياسة والتفاعل الأوسع مع مساهمي ICANN، الرجاء الانضمام إلى اجتماع ICANN في براغ الوشيك في شهر يونيو من هذا العام.

جدول أعمال جلسات 17 مايو 2012

جدول يوم الخميس [PDF، 1.09 ميغابايت]

محاضرات جلسات 17 مايو 2012

جدول أعمال جلسات 18 مايو 2012

جدول يوم الجمعة [PDF، 1.09 ميغابايت]

محاضرات جلسات 18 مايو

نشكر جميع الحاضرين والمشاركين عن بعد على هذا الحدث المثمر. ونحن ممتنون لآرائكم. لم يتم تحديد موعد الاجتماع الإقليمي التالي بعد. وسوف يتم توفير معلومات حول الجلسات المستقبلية قريباً.

فرق سجلات ومسجلي ICANN

It turned out they needed less than three hours to reach to the 100,000 domain names! Such a gold rush was not expected, and numbers continued to grow – 200,000 within 6 hours from the beginning of the registration period. And more than 460,000 by today.

The registration process, which clearly exceeded (and continues to exceed) all expectation, includes some interesting details, for example there is a list of 4023 words, which are not allowed for registration. The so-called “black list” contains variations of all different vulgar words, known in the Russian language. However, users have already found ways to bypass it, with simply adding another word in front, or after the blacklisted words.

We’ll be waiting to hear more on the history and the development of the Russian IDN ccTLD during the ICANN meeting in Cartagena, where several of the Russian ccTLD top management people will be present.
And we’ll prepare a posting on that topic, with more details for the general public. We hope that these details might be helpful in the launch of other new TLDs.

There are hundred of publications in the Russian central media, and even more all over the web, with people sharing opinions about who might be these registrants, why there are so many domains registered, and what does the fact of so many domains mean for the Russian Internet. It will be also interesting to see in exactly one year how many of these domains will be renewed. But certainly the Russian IDN ccTLD has made history.

More on the Russian ccTLD Coordination Center here (in Russian).

More on the ICANN IDN program here.

Interesting background information
The Cyrillic IDN ccTLD started as an idea, discussed during the meeting of the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov with his Russian colleague President Vladimir Putin on January 18, 2008 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Bulgarian President’s office published last week the transcript from that meeting. Asked by President Putin, the Russian foreign minister responds, “As for the usage of Cyrillic in the Internet, our experts have already reviewed these issues, we have contacts with the international structures [ICANN], now we are solving the technical questions and the contacts between our specialists on that issue, of course, will confirm our commitment that Cyrillic should be used in the domain names. As for the consultations, as a whole, we are very happy from our cooperation [between Russia, Bulgaria, and ICANN].”

UPDATE FROM November 18, 2010:
As of today, November 18, the number of domains in .рф (.rf IDN ccTLD) passed half a million. As the Coordination Center announced, the 500000th domain registered was металлоконструкции74.рф (xn--74-6kctqamahahrlb5apjiu5d.xn--p1ai – in puny-code). This number brings .рф on 17th place among all European domains. Domains, which were delegated, or a working, account to more than 162,000. Most of them are already used in advertising, not only as single words, but as whole phrases, which are easy for the Russian speaker to understand.

Since I was quoted briefly in the article, I’d like to share some additional thoughts.

Why so much Public Comment?

Public Comment periods are vital in satisfying ICANN’s goal to be a bottom-up multi-stakeholder policy making body and to provide openness and transparency in its policy development processes. An ICANN core value is to employ open and transparent mechanisms in policy development processes. Such openness promotes well-informed decisions, and ensures that people affected by a new policy can participate and assist in the policy’s formation. That’s why the Bylaws mandate public comment periods (for example, see Annex A, Sections 6 and 9).

The Affirmation of Commitments reflects the same principles, calling for ICANN to provide transparent and fact-based policy development, cross-community deliberations, and responsive consultation procedures. In the Affirmation, ICANN committed to provide detailed explanations of the basis for decisions — including how comments have influenced policy considerations.

Thus, the desire to hear all voices on each policy issue comes right from ICANN’s core. Frankly, we don’t want to limit public comments.

Is ICANN handling too many policy processes at the same time?

The answer is “No!” as soon as you consider the alternatives.

Three Supporting Organizations and a number of Advisory Committees can bring policy issues before the community. To which of them would we say, “Sorry, too busy to care about your issue; check back later”? Obviously, none of them.

An ICANN policy development process takes time to gather all viewpoints. Imagine how long it would take ICANN to address your particular policy issue if there were an arbitrary limit. If the ICANN community only handles seven or ten issues at once, that means all other issues remain parked indefinitely, probably for months. Notable achievements from this year, such as IDNs and DNSSEC going into the root, might still be waiting to happen. Do we want to slow our processes? Obviously, no. (Improve and prioritize better? Yes, indeed!)

Andrew reports that “some people” believe there are too many simultaneous policy issues pending, and are worried (with some justification) about overload in our volunteer community. This perception may be due to several factors, including:

• Our list of open issues initially looks confusing because issues have not been prioritized. The GNSO is about halfway through creating a method for prioritizing projects. Ranking their relative importance will help make them easier to take in all at once.
• Many policy-related reports exceed 100 pages. The GNSO has recently resolved that its reports should begin with an Executive Summary. This will help reduce the reading an individual has to do in deciding whether to comment.
• Our large, diverse volunteer community is avid and committed to follow the growing number of policy issues that reflects the increased global impact of the Internet.

We will also be examining the processes and mechanisms we use to manage the public comment process in hopes of identifying more effective and efficient ways to publicize, collect and organize community comments.

Policy development has an ebb and flow. Recently, we seem to be at high tide. Some of the tide will ebb when the new gTLD program launches and GNSO Improvements Initiative winds down. Five working groups will go away (one already has). Optimistically, the bulk of the GNSO improvements effort may be completed in early 2011.

We shouldn’t set an arbitrary limit to the number of issues evaluated by the ICANN Community. The issues arise from the community, and staff works diligently to support that work. We all recognize that many issues are both important and urgent to different parts of the ICANN community. I do not believe that ICANN is handling too many policy issues.

The ICANN community is also working hard to enhance our collective management of so many important issues, which is not always easy. Yet, if the current situation seems difficult, consider the alternative: Further delays in improvements to WHOIS.  The 65% of Internet users who do not speak English await IDNs in their own languages. Communities still waiting more years for their new gTLDs. Phishers continue defrauding consumers using techniques that DNSSEC can stop. If we must err, it is better for ICANN to handle too much, than for ICANN to handle too little.

Chinese:
With one billion people around the world using Chinese as their primary language, it means that one out of every five people on the planet can have benefit from the introduction of the newly approved Chinese extensions:

• .中国 and .中國 – CNNIC – the China Internet Network Information Center http://www.cnnic.cn

• .香港 – HKIRC – Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited http://www.hkirc.hk

• .台灣 and .台湾- TWNIC – Taiwan Network Information Center http://www.twnic.tw

This is also the first time that variants are allowed at top-level domains or extensions for the Internet. For CNNIC and TWNIC they each have two variants approved for delegation. Both organizations have over a decade in variant operational experience, and have published implementation plans that describe how the variants are to be managed. We hope to get some good experience in these launches that can be used generally for TLD variant management and help us make this available for others as well.

At lot of people are of course asking the obvious question: when will we be able to make registrations and what are the registration rules? They should be available shortly, but please go to the respective organization for the IDN ccTLD management for more details about registration rules, launches and timelines.

At the ICANN meeting in Brussels, where the ICANN Board approval took place on 25 June 2010, it was followed by a CDNC event. Everybody celebrated the newly approved Chinese IDN ccTLDs, with music and food – pictures to come.

Singapore and Syria:
This month’s IDN ccTLD string evaluation completions included Singapore and Syria, with:

Syrian Arab Republic: سورية (Arabic)
Singapore: 新加坡 and சிங்கப்பூர் (Chinese and Tamil)

This means that the two organizations now can submit their requests to have these strings delegated as new top-level domains for use in the Internet.

IDN ccTLD Fast Track Status:
All in all we have now received 31 requests for IDN ccTLDs from countries and territories. Together they represent 19 languages. Details can be found at: http://icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/string-evaluation-completion-en.htm