Byron Holland
Byron Holland is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). View bio
15
Mar
News from ICANN
It’s been a while since I’ve paid attention to my blog. Actually, it’s been a busy couple of weeks with a CIRA Broard of Directors meeting, the Canadian Internet Forum and preparing for the ICANN Board meeting. There’s been a lot of blog-worthy things happening. With that in mind, here’s a few odds and ends.
First, this week I’m at the ICANN meeting in San Francisco. After the meeting, I’ll write a post on the outcomes, but here’s a couple of things I’ll be watching:
The Board won’t be making a decision around gTLDs at this meeting (that likely won’t happen until later in 2011), but I’ll be paying attention to the text – and the subtext – of the conversations, both inside the meeting rooms and the hallways to get an idea of which way they’re leaning.
Also, the contract for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to coordinate IP address allocations, protocol numbers, and top-level domains expires this September. This contract, negotiated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, is at the heart of ICANN’s authority to govern the Internet. Two things are happening behind the scenes: one, there are other players (the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations body, for one) who would like to see that authority diminished. Two, there has been considerable pressure from the U.S. government for ‘special status’ with regard to Internet related decisions. Something to watch, though I’m not entirely convinced we’re going to see any radical changes to the governance structure of the Internet, and that’s a good thing.
In other news, CIRA received some good news from ICANN the other day. We will be hosting the October 2012 ICANN meeting in Toronto. This is the first time ICANN has held a meeting in Canada since 2005, and we’re honoured to have been chosen as host. I will share more details as they become available.
Lastly, I would like to remind you that CIRA is currently running the .CA Impact Awards, a new initiative where we are recognizing people and organizations that use their .CA websites tom make a difference. There’s less than two weeks left to enter yourself or nominate someone. If you want more information, please watch this video or visit impact awards.ca.
post a comment