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ICANN
ICANN governance intelligence tracks institutions, policy processes, standards activity, registry operations, accountability disputes, and implementation signals that affect internet infrastructure. BTW.
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Institutional structure, policy process, and accountability trust.
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Structural policy changes usually materialize in 120d+ cycles.
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Latest from ICANN
427 articles
ICANN
First in Line, Short on Cash: ICANN’s Four-TLD Dropzone Has a Second Rule
Jolly Host wants to move expiring names in four top-level domains into a parallel application queue. The application calls it first come, first served. Its next sentence supplies the other rule: when the first registrar lacks enough money in its registry account, the name goes to…
ICANN
ICANN Approved the .NAME Exit. About 22,000 Names Were Still Inside.
Verisign asked to stop creating third-level `.NAME` domains and to delete the ones already registered. Its form said the change would have no effect on a domain name’s life cycle. ICANN approved the request after testing for significant DNS-wide security, stability and…
ICANN
IANA Published the Verdict. Its One Audit Exception Stayed Behind the Door.
The public report says the systems that process Internet registry requests met their control criteria. ICANN’s announcement adds a sharper fact: the companion, confidential audit found one exception in November 2025. The registry’s machinery received an auditor’s favorable…
ICANN
ICANN Hired a Referee for the 2026 Domain Round. The Panels Keep the Whistle.
JAS Global Advisors will inspect how new top-level-domain applications are evaluated. Its findings can expose inconsistent calls; ICANN and the evaluators still control the remedy.
ICANN
ICANN Built an IDN Fast Lane. The Round Has 21 IDN Applications.
The GAC counted 21 internationalized-domain applications, about 1.3% of the 2026 round. ICANN’s draw can put IDNs first, but it cannot summon missing applicants.
ICANN
IANA Reviews 26 Service Targets. One Label Decides Who Gets a Hearing
The committee has selected 26 of 64 naming-service commitments for deeper review. Its amendment rule lets threshold-only changes bypass public comment and two council votes.
ICANN
Five ICANN Consultations Took 39% of FY26 Comments
ICANN opened 32 public-comment proceedings and counted 375 submissions. Five files drew 146 of them. The annual report shows where attention gathered; the next test is what each decision maker did with the record.
ICANN
A Government Letter Can Gate a Domain. ICANN Marks It Not Public.
The 2026 application form requires a government letter for geographic names, then labels that answer nonpublic. Governments now want the evidence made available where disclosure permits.
ICANN
ICANN Opened 32 Comment Boxes. Five Took 39% of the Mail.
ICANN’s FY26 report counts 375 public submissions. Its busiest dockets show where people wrote; the UA file shows why the path from argument to decision deserves its own ledger.
ICANN
ICANN Put the Diplomat and the Contract Referee Under One Boss
ICANN put government engagement and contract compliance under one boss. Its FY26 report makes the enforcement decision trail the next test.
ICANN
.kids Wrote the Rules on the Door. Researchers Read 176 Nameplates.
The .kids contract makes the domain name itself part of the child-safety test. A new study found 176 apparent problems without opening a site.
ICANN
The .kids Safety Promise Met a One-at-a-Time Complaint Form
The registry can suspend a domain. A researcher had hundreds of candidates to report and found a form built for one at a time. Where is the case clock?
ICANN
.kids Put Safety on the Gate. The Complaint Desk Needs a Clock.
The registry agreement gives .kids a child-safety rule and a complaints portal. A RIPE 93 study shows how much of the work between an external warning and a registry decision remains invisible.
ICANN
ICANN Reached 1,063 Students. The Sign-Up Form Gets the Final Exam
Six universities and 23 courses now teach Universal Acceptance. The useful graduation test lies in software that lets a valid multilingual address pass from the first form to the final message.
ICANN
ICANN Says .nissay Can Sail Without a Successor—For Now
Nippon Life has asked to end the registry agreement. ICANN’s preliminary answer is that .nissay does not need a successor to protect the public interest, while the Brand TLD terms leave its operator a two-year consent gate on any handoff.
ICANN
The GAC sketches a draft room for new domains. Who signs the warning?
Governments are preparing to compare notes on the 2026 domain applications. The interesting moment comes when a shared concern needs a named sender: one member can warn an applicant, while advice from the whole committee needs consensus.
ICANN
ICANN is moving the audit. The GAC wants its question to arrive intact.
Two review rooms can share a corridor and still lose a file between them. Governments want ICANN's redesign to say exactly who will examine how their advice reaches the Board, while leaving the committee's own internal review in its own hands.
ICANN
ICANN counts the whistles. The GAC wants to see the whole DNS-abuse field
A complaint can tell a referee where to look. It cannot describe every play on the pitch. Governments at ICANN87 want a reproducible view of how registries and registrars actually handle DNS abuse across the contracted industry.
ICANN
RootViz rang the L-Root alarm. The broken road had the story
For four days in January, thousands of measurement probes struggled to reach one root-server identity over IPv4. A presentation at RIPE 93 shows why the first name on an alarm is often the wrong name on the repair ticket.
ICANN
The privacy service left the building. GAC still wants the registrar to answer
A domain complaint can reach the registrar while the customer details sit with another company. Governments want the handoff to have an owner, especially when the clock is running.
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