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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) would
like to applaud the Council Working Group on International
Internet-Related Public Policy (CWG-Internet) for allowing all
stakeholders this opportunity to provide input on elements of the debate
on the developmental aspects of the Internet. By examining inputs from
individuals and organizations actively engaged in developmental aspects
of the Internet, CWG-Internet will have a better understanding of the
current status of work being undertaken by organisations around the
world.
ICANN already plays a role in supporting developmental aspects of
the Internet; through - for example - our focus on widening and
deepening participation at ICANN meetings. Multiple initiatives are in
place to make this happen. ICANN's fellowship program funds attendance
at ICANN meetings, through which ICANN seeks to create a broader base of
knowledgeable constituents and build capacity within the ICANN
community of volunteers by reaching out to the less developed regions of
the world. We also directly fund participation at ICANN meetings by
some government officials in the Government Advisory committee (GAC).
Participation is also growing through increased awareness and
involvement in numerous ICANN bodies. At ICANN's last meeting in Durban
in June 2013, the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) welcomed new
members from Madagascar, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Swaziland, and
Zambia.
ICANN has also developed formal Regional Strategies to better
engage developing regions. These strategies, developed by individuals
and organizations within each region, in coordination with ICANN, serve
as important mechanisms to broaden and deepen knowledge and
participation in ICANN and its various processes. After a successful
launch in 2012, ICANN is now in the process of implementing the Africa
strategy and similar ones for both Latin America and the Middle East.
Strategies for Asia, the Pacific Region and for Europe are also under
development To support its outreach program, ICANN has opened
additional hubs in Istanbul and Singapore, and Engagement Offices in
Beijing, Montevideo and Geneva. Combined, these efforts support the
goal of better engaging all regions of the world in ICANN's work.
Furthermore, ICANN's implementation of internationalized domain
names (IDNs), which are top-level domains in non-Latin scripts, such as (.рф)
or (.中国), has enabled Internet users to access domain names in their
own language. This has opened up the Internet by allowing citizens to
communicate on the web in their native language.
A developmental issue that we believe CWG-Internet can engage
with effectively is incentivising IPv6 transition. That IPv4 addresses
are unequally spread around the world is a function of how the Internet
has developed, especially during the time before ICANN was founded in
1998. By supporting swift adoption of IPv6 around the world, many of the
policy concerns connected with IPv4 address allocation will become less
relevant.
More broadly ICANN is also preparing a Developmental Strategy
that could involve working with other bodies in the IG Ecosystem (and
perhaps beyond) to further develop the structures and processes for
further deployment of the domain name sector in emerging economies.
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ICANN (www.icann.org) is an
international, non-profit entity, responsible for managing the technical
coordination of the Internet's unique identifiers: the domain name
system and IP addresses. ICANN operates in a bottom-up, consensus-based,
multi-stakeholder approach towards its mission.
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