ICANN75 -Kuala Lumpur

A typical programme of activities for At-Large during an ICANN meeting. This was ICANN75’s schedule for Saturday, September 17 to Thursday, September 22, 2022.

ICANN75 was memorable for many reasons, the main one for me was that it was my final meeting as the Chair of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and the At-Large community after 4 years in the Chair. Particularly memorable was that for 2 and a half years of my term, all the meetings were virtual and the full agenda of ICANN meetings merged with all the other meetings which were necessary to prepare and coordinate for each of the 7 virtual meetings that were held during the pandemic.

Pictured here with Incoming ALAC Chair Jonathan Zuck from the USA, and between the Former ICANN Board Chair, Maarten Botterman of the Netherlands and the newly appointed Board Chair, Tripti Sinha of India.

But the pandemic has left its legacy in other ways in relation to the return to face to face meetings for ICANN. They are no longer the open and carefree gatherings of the past. The pandemic has created more health and safety-consciousness to ensure that even unintentional harmful impacts do not intrude on the purpose of the meeting — to enable the many communities of the ICANN ecosystem to gather and discuss important ICANN policy issues as they impact their respective user communities.

Checks on bags, bodies as well as temperature, were required at all main rooms, and masks were mandatory. Noone was exempt, even GAC members were checked through like everyone else.

At-Large held its final hybrid sessions of ICANN’s 75th meeting in Kuala Lumpur with members of the At-Large community both present in the room as well as online.

Members of the ICANN Board participated in the final wrapup session which provided another first, as the new Chair of the ICANN Board, Tripti Singha, was introduced to the At-Large Community along with the Former Board Chair, Maarten Botterman; former Board Vice Chair and our elected member from At-Large, Leon Sanchez; and Edmon Chung from Hong Kong, recently appointed to the Board by the NomCom.

The week included sessions that involved meetings with other sections of the community. The ALAC teams met with the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) as well as with the Stability and Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) and the Generic Name Supporting Organisation (GNSO) to discuss issues of common concern. The main topics included DNS Abuse, Closed Generics, Fragmentation of the DNS and Universal Acceptance. The GAC also included the At-Large into its Capacity Building Programme enhancing the cooperation between its GAC and At-Large representatives in their resective countries. This meeting the participants were former ALAC Chair, Cheryl Langdon Orr and Ian Mckinnon from the Australian Government.

Manal Ismael, the Chair of the GAC introduced the GAC speakers at this session all of whom were participating virtually in this meeting. The ALAC team was able to take our full complement of speakers but the session was very ably moderated by the ALAC Liaison to the GAC, Joanna Kulesza, who also participated remotely.

Pari Esfandiari of At-Large coordinated a cross-community session involving representatives of several different ICANN communites to discuss the concerns and difficulties that could arise from the fragmentation of the DNS and its potential impacts on ICANN’s vision of One World - One Internet and maintaining user trust in its remaining stable, secure and interoperable.

During every ICANN meeting the ICANN Board offers its community to take part in a public forum where members are able to line up at an open mike to speak directly to the Board — to ask questions, seek clarification or simply to make a comment about what is happening within ICANN. The Board responds as required.

And no ICANN event can operate as effectively and efficiently as it does without the expert technical team which accompanies at least 50 containers of equipment and furniture around the world. This lot of equipment will be shipped straight after this meeting, to the next meeting venue ready for ICANN76 which will be held in Cancun, Mexico, in March. Also, every meeting room has at least one interpreter for each of the six official UN languages that is required by that room. Headsets are provided so that speakers of these languages can be understood during their interventions.

The event ended with members of the volunteer community who were leaving their current leadership positions, for whatever reason. I received a certificate for service to the At-Large community (as did we all, regardless of what leadership role that would have been). Mine was for 4 years of service as the Chair of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) even though in 2023, I will move to the Vice Chair in charge of Outreach and engagement during my final of 10 years on the ALAC. Other participants who received awards but who will take up other position in At-Large included Eduardo Diaz, former Chair of the North American region and Satish Babu, former Chair of the Asia Pacific region, both of whom were selected by their regional members to join the ALAC for a two year term.

Awardees for Volunteer Service to ICANN for 2022 from all over the ICANN community. Nine from At-Large.

Following ICANN 75, a new At-Large community of leaders is formed from incoming members to the ALAC and Regional At-Large Organisational (RALO) Chairs. This is the draft of the new organigram for 2023.