IGF 2020 OF #44 ICANN Open Forum - Technical Internet Governance

Information

Session

Time:

Thursday, 5 November, 2020 - 16:30 to 17:30 UTC

Room:

Room 2

About this Session:

The Open Forum will address ICANN’s role in technical Internet governance and some of the threats that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. The four panelists (ICANN’s CEO and President, the Chair of the ICANN Board and a Member of the ICANN Board and ICANN’s Chief Technology Officer) will make time to answer questions you might have.

Organization's Website:

https://www.icann.org/

Theme:

Trust

Subtheme:

DNS Abuse
DNS Security
Routing Security

Round Table - Circle - 60 Min

Description:

ICANN proposes to host an Open Forum with a theme closely connected to the Security, Safety, Stability and Resilience of the Internet and thus linked with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 9, 10, 16 and 17. While this Session will allow a significant opportunity for delegates to pose any questions to the ICANN CEO and President, as well as the Chair of the ICANN Board, the main focus will be on the concept of technical Internet governance and ICANN’s role. The Open Forum will also address the threats that have emerged recently as expressed in the Covid-19 pandemic. ICANN will address topics such as Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC), the ICANN Domain Abuse Activity Reporting (DAAR) Project, DNS Abuse in the time of Covid -19 and other work ICANN conducts as part of its mission.

Organizers:

ICANN
Kathryn A (Mandy) Carver, Senior Vice President for Government and Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Engagement

Speakers:

Maarten Botterman, ICANN Chairman of the Board of Directors

Göran Marby, ICANN CEO and President

Merike Käo, SSAC Liaison to the ICANN Board of Directors

David Conrad, SVP and Chief Technology Officer

Onsite Moderator:

Kathryn A (Mandy) Carver

Online Moderator:

Luna Madi

Rapporteur:

Vera Major

SDGs:

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Report

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues:

What is meant by Technical Internet Governance?

What is the distinction between Technical Internet Governance and Internet Governance?

What is ICANN’s position and role in Technical Internet Governance and Internet Governance?

2. Summary of Issues Discussed:

Technical Internet Governance is focused on how the Internet operates, involving more than the technical competences relevant to ICANN.
A common goal of the technical community is to ensure that the Internet is singular, unified, interoperable as the next billion comes online, and to support and preserve continued innovation through the international multistakeholder model
No stakeholder can run the Internet alone, community participation in ICANN discussions and policy-making processes is key.
ICANN is technology-neutral and supports the bottom-up multistakeholder process informed by objective and unbiased data-driven analyses.
ICANN monitors proposed and new technologies, and how they would have an impact on the DNS and ICANN’s mission.
ICANN’s role is to clarify and position itself as a technical non-profit organisation and help legislators, policy makers and regulators understand how the Internet functions to ensure that the Internet continues to develop safely, securely and in a stable manner..
As discussions are taking place in new places and by actors previously not involved in ICANN, ICANN has broaden its engagement and helps decision-makers on all levels avoid triggering unanticipated consequences: in International Governmental Organization initiatives, Standardization bodies and regulatory initiatives at regional and nation levels.
Governments have already recognized the importance of the DNS and ICANN’s role through their active participation in the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) within ICANN. ICANN’s mission should be discussed there rather than in a UN setting.
Standardization of the Internet has to stay in the existing ecosystem based on a multistakeholder model, such as IETF.
ICANN has undertaken a key initiative this year, the DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Study Group. Its aim is to provide recommendations to the ICANN CEO and is made up of a number of cross-functional participants with technical expertise.
DNS stability and security involves a lot of cooperation, with a clear cross-functional multi-community participation.

3. Key Takeaways:

In 300 words or less, what do you want high-level policy decision makers to know about what your session reached consensus on? Did you define a previously nebulous problem? Were your participants able to agree on a problem statement about a new issue? Did you agree on a way forward for the issue? Did you identify particular stakeholder groups that are affected by the issue or who should take the lead on the issue?

Technical Internet Governance is focused on how the Internet operates with the common goal of ensuring that the Internet remains singular, unified, interoperable, secure and resilient. Discussions and policy-making processes based on a multistakeholder model such as practiced within ICANN have allowed the Internet to evolve in an innovative manner. Legislators, regulators and policy-makers might not fully comprehend the implications of proposed legislations or of new standards, and new legislations or policies might have a negative impact on the technical functioning of the Internet. ICANN, a technical non-profit organization, aims to help and inform legislators, regulators, policy makers and others understand how the Internet functions while staying technologically neutral.

ICANN supports the bottom-up approach of the multistakeholder model that allows participation cross-functionally and multi-community participation, including that of governments through the Governmental Advisory Committee. Discussions on governments’ public interest should continue taking place within the GAC, a recognized Advisory Body within the ICANN multistakeholder ecosystem. The DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Study Group also reflects this cross-functional approach to technical expertise intended to establish and promote best practices and facilitate communication between ecosystem participants.

4. Policy Recommendations or Suggestions for the Way Forward:

What policy sector(s) does this fall under? (leave blank if not sure):

Technical

Issue and Recommendation:

• Technical Internet governance focuses on how the Internet functions but also involves more than the technical competences relevant to ICANN • Standardization work for the Internet should stay in existing multi-stakeholder ecosystem, such as the IETF • ICANN initiative on the DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Study Group exemplifies how a cross-functional multi-community approach can make use of the technical expertise of multiple perspectives to address a specific technical issue

What policy sector(s) does this fall under? (leave blank if not sure):

Overarching governance issues

Issue and Recommendation:

• The bottom-up multistakeholder model takes into account the cross-border nature of the Internet and allows it to organically evolve while preserving the safety, security and stability of the technical platform. • Within the multistakeholder model, governments have been able to successfully participate in the ICANN policy-development processes through the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) • Introduction of new legislations, standards or policies might negatively impact the interoperability, safety and resiliency of the Internet, and policy-makers should be aware of the technical implications of their decisions. • ICANN has broadened its engagement to new actors in the Internet ecosystem to avoid unintended consequences of proposed legislation, regulation or standards and help by providing unbiased data-driven analyses to decision makers. Hide row weights

5. Other Initiatives Addressing the Session Issues:

Initiative:

- The Issue DNS Security - The Initiative/Process/Organization addressing the issue ICANN - DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Study Group - Details of the initiative (including URLs) or anything else you think is relevant https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=132941525

Initiative:

- The Issue Engaging with governments - The Initiative/Process/Organization addressing the issue ICANN org Government Engagement Publications - Details of the initiative (including URLs) or anything else you think is relevant https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/government-engagement-publications-2020-03-02-en

Initiative:

- The Issue Supporting Technical Engagement - The Initiative/Process/Organization addressing the issue ICANN org Office of the CTO Publications - Details of the initiative (including URLs) or anything else you think is relevant https://www.icann.org/news/blog/icann-octo-publications-supporting-technical-engagement

Initiative:

- The Issue DNS-Abuse - The Initiative/Process/Organization addressing the issue ICANN org Domain Abuse Activity Reporting (DAAR), - Details of the initiative (including URLs) or anything else you think is relevant DAAR https://www.icann.org/octo-ssr/daar

Initiative:

- The Issue Internet standards - The Initiative/Process/Organization addressing the issue IETF - Details of the initiative (including URLs) or anything else you think is relevant https://ietf.org/standards/

6. Final Speakers:

Maarten Botterman, ICANN Chairman of the Board of Directors
Göran Marby, ICANN CEO and President
Merike Käo, SSAC Liaison to the ICANN Board of Directors
David Conrad, SVP and Chief Technology Officer
Kathryn (Mandy) Carver, SVP Government and IGO Engagement

7. Reflection to Gender Issues:

Gender-related issues were not addressed during this session.

8. Session Outputs:

The takeaways from this session from the questions submitted, the comments in the chat and the follow up feedback through the IGF Website will assist ICANN in the refinement of our message about technical Internet governance. The feedback to the session will inform an ongoing dialog with the Internet ecosystem community about maintaining the interoperability of the global Internet

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IGF 2020 OF #44 ICANN Open Forum - Technical Internet Governance

Information