Keep The Core Neutral

These resources provide background information about issues affecting Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) policy and how such policy is determined:

• Video, Audio, Text
  Campaign events and related news in video, audio and text transcripts

• Legal Briefs and Articles
  Legal briefs and articles by law professors addressing gTLD policy

• Please, Keep the Core Neutral
  This paper by Michael Palage and Avri Doria inspired the name of our Keep The Core Neutral campaign. They describe the Pandora's Box that is threatened to open if the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee and certain constituencies of the ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization are successful in convincing the ICANN Board to inject matters of public policy into "one of the Internet’s core infrastructure components, the Root A server." They also present the solution to this threat: "the new standard should be that any applicant operating properly under the laws of the country in which it is organized should be subject only to ICANN’s technical, operational and other criteria."

GNSO Drafts and Working Documents:

• You can see much of the work in progress at ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) for yourself. For documents related to the policy-making process for new gTLDS, see the GNSO Drafts and Working Documents page, and look for "new-gtlds" in the right-hand column.
• You can also look in on email deliberations regarding GNSO working groups and Council discussions. See the GNSO Mailing Lists page. For discussions regarding the Policy Development Process (PDP) for new gTLDs, see the gTLD-council list archives. This is where new gTLD policy is currently active in development at GNSO leading up to the ICANN meeting in Los Angeles, 27 October through 2 November 2007.

Additional links to specific external resources:

• GNSO Council Teleconference Minutes, 6 September 2007
  Summary of GNSO Council meeting discussing and voting on gTLD policy (6 September 2007)

• GNSO Final Report on Introduction of New gTLDs
  Final report dated 8 August 2007, HTML, approved by GNSO Council (6 September 2007)

• NCUC comments on gTLDs Final Report for Public Comment
  Summary of the final report as of the public comment period from 10 August to 30 August 2007, and NCUC's remaining objections (25 July 2007)

• GNSO new TLDs Committee Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains Final Report for Public Comment
  GNSO final report on gTLDs, summary of terms of reference and recommendations (see Annex A and Annex C for NCUC Minority Reports) (30 July 2007)

• GNSO new TLDs Committee Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains Part A: Final Report
  GNSO final report on gTLDs, summary of terms of reference and recommendations (18 June 2007)

• GNSO new TLDs Committee Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains Part B: Final Report
  GNSO final report on gTLDs, addendum: progress of working groups and comments from various constituencies (18 June 2007)

• NCUC Comments on updated GNSO gTLD Recommendations
  Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) analysis of remaining flaws in the 7 June 2007 recommendations from the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) (13 June 2007)

• NCUC Amendments to Draft GNSO gTLD Recommendations
  NCUC analysis of flaws in the draft recommendations from the GNSO, and recommended corrections (2 June 2007)

• Remarks by ICANN Board Member Susan Crawford regarding .xxx Domain Vote
  Crawford dissents from a vote by the ICANN Board to reject the application for a .xxx top-level domain, commenting on ICANN's role and mandate. (30 March 2007)

• Draft GNSO Recommendations
  The draft recommendations on new gTLD policy from the GNSO (final report of the GNSO New gTLDs Committee) (16 March 2007)

• ICANN organizational structure
  The ICANN Board receives advice and recommendations from a variety of supporting and advisory bodies. Generic Top-Level Domain policy recommendations arise in the GNSO, which has six constituency groups including the NCUC.

• GAC Principles Regarding New gTLDs
  The ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has presented separate advice regarding new gTLDs, unconnected to the policy consensus process within the GNSO. Some provisions in this document pose serious threats to freedom of expression in gTLDs.

• ICANN MoU with NTIA
  ICANN operates under the authority of a Memo of Understanding (MoU) with the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This page includes the original MoU from 1998, plus all of the subsequent amendments. The most recent Joint Project Agreement is from 29 September 2006.

• DNS Root Name Servers Explained For Non-Experts
  This is a briefing presented to the Internet Society in January 2005, intended to explain the DNS system to non-experts.

For more information see Frequently Asked Questions