ICANN54

he transition is about moving the oversight role of the US government to the relevant communities that use the IANA system. The plan for the transition involves three main components, one related to protocol parameters and the IETF, one related to addresses and the RIRs, and one related to the names and ICANN.

The main topic of the week will be the accountability improvements needed by the names part. As part of the transition changes, the names community has wanted to ensure that they have sufficient control of their organisation. The basics are very similar to what we do at the IETF, where appeals and recalls can keep the leadership in check, but the detailed legal arrangements have lead to a heated debate at ICANN’s accountability working group (CCWG). If you want to read more about, these links are a good start: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

The transition coordination group (ICG) will be also meeting to finalise the transition plan based on the comments the proposal received in the public comment period. At this point, the names part of the transition is waiting for the accountability changes, whereas the numbers and protocol parameters portions of the proposal are complete and have no dependencies on the work of the accountability working group or any other remaining process. Indeed, implementation of those proposals can continue without waiting for the accountability working group to complete its work.

But of course, we want the whole system to move forward. Early indications are that progress is being made in the names part.

Once the meeting is over, we will provide a summary of the week’s discussions here.