The 64th conference of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) officially opened in Kobe, Japan, bringing together over 2,000 participants from across the globe.
ICANN Board Chairman Cherine Chalaby noted during the opening ceremony that in the near future, the internet and ICANN, in particular, are to face a great deal of changes and the first signs are already visible. The main trends include sovereignitization of national segments of the internet, the increasing number of cyber threats and the development of malicious information technologies. Currently, ICANN is working on its five-year development strategy that is to support the corporation amidst new challenges. Chalaby noted that by the end of 2019 two documents are expected to be approved, which are the strategy and the corporation’s financial plan. By the middle of 2020, ICANN will have its development roadmap through 2025 approved. ICANN’s strategy must satisfy five main requirements. It must take into account development of the internet addressing technology, be responsive to opinions of all interested parties, ensure the corporation’s financial stability, be in compliance with ICANN’s mission and address regional specifics of various participants in the policy development process. The wind of change is getting stronger and we must make sure it is a fair wind, Cherine Chalaby noted at the end of his speech.
ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby also spoke about the risks and challenges that ICANN will have to face in the future. He noted that in the modern world states are playing an increasingly greater role when it comes to internet management and the management of the addressing system, in particular, and the corporation’s immediate task is to establish a dialogue with national governments across the world. In addition to regulatory problems, ICANN may have to deal with technical difficulties. Development of the authentication, encryption technologies, the Internet of Things and using domain names in a whole number of related technologies makes us rethink the role of unique identifiers and the very nature of the global internet addressing system as well as requirements for its reliability, coverage, compatibility and flexibility.
Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, noted that national registries play an important role in the ICANN community: “Currently, ICANN is working on two major documents that will determine the organization’s future for years ahead. Representatives of ccNSO (an organization supporting national TLDs), including representatives of the Russian registry of national domains .RU and .РФ, are largely involved in the discussion of these documents. It is extremely important for us to address the strategic tasks of supporting and promoting IDN, ensuring stable and reliable operation of the internet infrastructure, international cooperation in security and development of policies regulating relationships between involved parties.”
The ICANN conference will run until March 14.
