ICANN 81 report from your Brand New GNSO Councilor

[farzaneh badii]

*Periodic Reporting*

Dear NCSG Members,

As promised when I was running for the election, I’m providing a periodic
report on my activities as your councilor on the GNSO Council. As one of
the six NCSG representatives on the council, I have voting responsibilities
on matters related to ICANN and generic top-level domains.

I officially took my seat on the council during the meeting in Istanbul
last Wednesday. While I’m still familiarizing myself with the processes and
dynamics, I will discuss the council strategy with our other councilors and
the policy committee and get back to you on a possible strategy for next
year.  For now, here’s a brief readout of key issues, categorized into
three main focus areas:

*1. Human Rights and Access to Information and Online Services*

This includes work on Domain Name System (DNS) Abuse and WHOIS privacy.

Human Rights Impact Assessment & DNS Abuse Mitigation:
- We (as NCSG, not the council) conducted a productive session on Human
Rights Impact Assessment and DNS Abuse mitigation. We examined how DNS
abuse mitigation measures can affect human rights. Collaborating with the
Contracted Parties House DNS Abuse Working Group, the session aimed to
develop guidelines for registrars to evaluate the human rights impacts of
their abuse mitigation actions.

Next Steps:
- We plan to continue this work in Seattle, focusing on refining these
guidelines.

Resources:
- Session Recording: Zoom Archive (link)
<https://icann.zoom.us/rec/play/ZVqYtKnrqSdgTggUA4sjd7dWUUGxbFzL42RblxZyhd32oLJFMnzwFxwWt798SCOwHFbHTEFRNVs632oh.Vr9AxTQeZQ9umijl?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&startTime=1731223811000&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ficann.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2FTHJ4-2kH7mMyFBtJ475FuyzIXjCiktMZH_cWCxjjXN9L8wGvqa2XaNR8ZsHfZC6k.fABZfQomshi4rL9m%3FstartTime%3D1731223811000>
- Pre-event Blog and Cheat Sheet: Domain Name System Abuse and Human Rights
Impact Assessment: A Table-Top Exercise (
https://digitalmedusa.org/domain-name-system-abuse-and-human-rights-impact-assessment-a-table-top-exercise/
)

Challenges Identified:
- Improving remote participation, particularly via Zoom, is a priority for
future sessions.

*2. ICANN Accountability*

Focus areas include transparency and anti-harassment initiatives.

Respect for Human Rights in RDRS Implementation:
- We urged the ICANN Board to adopt a more human rights–respecting approach
to the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) to preserve the privacy
protections currently afforded to domain name registrants under WHOIS.

Anti-Harassment Efforts:
- ICANN’s ongoing initiatives to provide a safe environment for community
and staff members were discussed. We emphasized the importance of fostering
an inclusive and respectful space.

*3. Law Enforcement Access to Domain Name Registrants’ Data and Accuracy*

This includes concerns about law enforcement authentication and handling
urgent data access requests.

Key Issues:
- The need to establish protocols for authenticating law enforcement
requests.
- Defining how urgent requests should be handled while balancing human
rights considerations.

Next Steps:
- Develop NCSG’s position on these matters, ensuring human rights risks are
fully addressed.

*Collaboration with GAC*

In exciting news, there’s potential for increased collaboration with the
Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) to raise awareness about human rights
and advocate for a global and open internet.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and collaborating on these critical
issues. Feel free to reach out with feedback or suggestions as we refine
our strategies moving forward.

*What we should monitor*

*Content moderation: *There were discussions on content regulation and the
role of ICANN. as you know regulating online services through ICANN
violates its bylaws but we have to be careful not to go down that route.

*Privacy and Proxy Services: *I am looking into this issue and will seek
more clarity with other experienced NCSG members but the gist of it is that
the recommendations on PPSAI (which have some privacy and data protection
issues) are very old and do not accord with data protection standards. we
probably need to look closely and suggest to only implement those
recommendations that are aligned with privacy and data protection
standards.



Best regards,
Farzaneh
NCSG Representative on the GNSO Council
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