Geographic and Geopolitical Names in .info

Whereas ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has concluded that “the issue of geographical and geopolitical names is very complex, and the subject of ongoing international discussion,” and has stated its belief that these issues are particularly important in the context of the new Top Level Domain .info considering its “special nature;”

Whereas, the GAC has therefore suggested that “interim ad hoc measures should be taken by ICANN and the Registries to prevent avoidable conflicts in .info;”

Whereas the Board has serious questions about the technical feasibility and practicality of responding to this concern through reservations of specific domain names, but it also appreciates that without some action to maintain the status quo ante, the “ongoing international discussion” referenced in the GAC communication could be preempted by developments in the registration of .info names;

Whereas under all these circumstances the Board has determined that it is appropriate to take temporary steps to prevent the registration of such names in order to allow it and the community the time to consider carefully this issue and determine what if any policy should be adopted with respect to it;

Whereas the registry operator for .info has informed ICANN staff that it plans to timely challenge any facially unqualified registrations, including registrations of the names of countries and distinct economies contained in the ISO 3166-1 list;

Whereas the contract between ICANN and Affilias, the registry operator for .info, provides in Section 3.6.3, that ICANN may instruct the Registry Operator “to maintain the registration of up to 5000 domain names within the domain of the Registry TLD for use by ICANN …;”

Whereas the invocation of this contractual power with respect to (1) the names of countries and distinct economies contained in the ISO 3166-1 list that have not yet been registered during the .info Sunrise Period, and (2), following a successful challenge by the registry operator for .info, any such names returned to the database prior to any further attempt to register those names would have the practical effect of preserving the status quo until the completion of further consideration within ICANN and elsewhere over appropriate treatment of these names;

Resolved [01.__], the General Counsel is directed to take appropriate action to preserve the Board’s ability to take action with respect to the registration in .info of names of countries and distinct economies contained in the ISO 3166-1 list , including exercising ICANN’s contractual power to instruct the Registry Operator for .info to maintain the registration of such names that have not yet been registered during the Sunrise Period, and any other such names that are returned to the database following a successful challenge by the Registry Operator, until further notice from ICANN;

Further resolved [01.__] that the President is directed to propose to the Board, within the next 30 days, an action plan for rapid analysis of the technical and other issues related to the concerns raised by the GAC.