SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - Real progress has been demonstrated in key discussions at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 29th International Public Meeting held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 23-29, 2007, a press release by ICANN stated.
“One of the real highlights of the San Juan meeting was the dialogue around issues that will impact the future of the Internet - especially new generic top-level domains and internationalized domain names,” President and CEO of ICANN Dr Paul Twomey said.
“With the progress we have made in San Juan, we’re on track for the new applications and approvals policy to be ready for the start of 2008, and the introduction of new TLDs by mid-year,” he added.
ICANN has overseen two earlier extensions of the Internet space: the addition of seven TLDs, including .info and .name in 2000, and the addition of another six in a process that began in 2004.
“On IDNs, we heard that the technical community has made real progress. If all things go well, we will see IDNs evaluated live in the root by November this year. This is great news for the international community,” Twomey noted.
Other highlights of the meeting included:
• A public forum on the draft set of Frameworks and Principles for accountability and transparency;
• Discussions around ICANN’s Registrar Accreditation Agreements (RAA), the Accreditation process and the data escrow process;
• The signing of the fifth Regional At Large Organization agreement - this one with the North American region - to provide global Internet users increased and official opportunities for input with ICANN.