News

Last week I had the pleasure to attend and contribute to Baltic Domain Days, kindly hosted by DOMREG in Vilnius. Baltic Domain Days is an event that brings together the key domain name actors of the Baltic region and beyond, keeping a pulse on the trends that affect .lt, .lv and .ee registries and the overall domain name ecosystem in the Baltic states. This year's edition was hosted by .lt registry in the beautiful Old Town of Vilnius.

From May 28th to May 31st, the CENTR Community gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, for its 13th Jamboree. The Jamboree is the annual meeting where the whole European ccTLD community comes together. Unlike most CENTR meetings that are typically structured around the 6 CENTR Working Groups (e.g., Legal, R&D, or Marketing), the Jamboree focuses on broader topics and facilitates conversations between different corners of the CENTR ecosystem. This year was special as, for the first time, we welcomed external participants who actively contributed to the program. With 250 in-person attendees and 60 joining online, this year’s edition was the largest CENTR meeting ever.

In a nutshell: The Council of the EU approved its conclusions on the Future of EU Digital Policy, to which several EU countries reacted with their own proposal. The Council of the EU approved its conclusions on the Future of Cybersecurity. The Dutch government published a non-paper on effective EU cybersecurity legislation. The European Commission took stock of the implementation of the EU Security Union Strategy. The European Data Protection Board issued a statement on the Financial Data Access proposal. The Court of justice of the EU ruled on public authorities’ access to identity data and IP addresses. The Council of the EU formally adopted the Artificial Intelligence Act. The Council of Europe adopted an international treaty on Artificial Intelligence.

Internet governance is experiencing an eventful period. In April, the United Nations published the zero draft of the Global Digital Compact (GDC), aiming for “an inclusive, open, and secure digital future for all” with a first revised draft published mid-May. Concurrently, the NETmundial+10 process crystallised into an ambitious Multistakeholder Statement aiming to “strengthen Internet governance and digital policy processes.” Although these documents were drafted by different stakeholders and processes, both documents will influence internet governance for years to come.

In a nutshell: The EU telecom and consumer protection ministers met under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency. The ECON committee voted on the FiDA proposal. The European Parliament voted to change the procedural rules under GDPR and published a study on the resilience of EU elections. The EDPB set out its priorities for 2024-2027 and shared a Data Privacy Framework note. ENISA together with European Commission’s Joint Research Centre published an analysis on the Cyber Resilience Act requirements and standards. The European Commission published a call for evidence for evaluating the Terrorist Content Online Regulation. The European Political parties signed a pledge on EU elections transparency. The Czech Republic published its digital priorities for the years 2024-2029. The UN has published the zero draft of the Global Digital Compact.

The 119th IETF meeting took place in Brisbane, Australia, between 16 and 22 March 2024, a week packed with working group meetings & sessions, a 2-day hackathon and various side events. Marco Davids from SIDN Labs attended the meeting and has written a summary of the main points of relevance for CENTR members.

CENTR is thrilled to announce that during its 71st Annual General Meeting, the General Assembly elected three members to the CENTR Board of Directors: Byron Holland (.ca), Luisa Ribeiro (.pt) and Thomas Keller (.de). They join Gilles Massen (.lu) and Roelof Meijer (.nl). Byron was appointed as CENTR Treasurer and Roelof as CENTR Chair.

In a nutshell: The Council of the EU adopted the Regulation on Geographical Indications protection for agricultural products. The European Commission has presented a recommendation on the EU Intellectual Property toolbox, has opened a call for proposals for an EU repository of public domain works, and has published a delegated act on data centres' energy efficiency. The European Parliament adopted the Cyber Resilience Act, and Artificial Intelligence Act, and jointly with the Council of the EU adopted the EUID Regulation. The European Data Protection Supervisor presented their investigation into the European Commission’s use of Microsoft 365. The NIS Cooperation Group updated the compendium on securing the EU 2024 elections. ENISA published its Foresight report for 2030 cybersecurity threats. EU Member States shared their concern on the Insolvency proposal. Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a position paper on the application of international law in cyberspace.

Since the times of Rod Beckstrom, ICANN has stayed far away from mainstream religion. There is, however, one document that acquired a quasi-religious status: RFC 1591. 

This month, this document turned 30 years old. Titled "Domain Name System Structure and Delegation”, it established the DNS as a global, distributed, and scalable system for managing domain names. By setting the foundational policies for top level domain name registration and delegation, it has significantly contributed to the stability and functionality of the internet. Most importantly for ccTLDs, it truly globalised the DNS by allowing policies for each ccTLD to be set locally and therefore be adapted to local needs and regulations. 

After almost 6 years of the EPDP process to address EU GDPR compliance, the ICANN community unlocked a milestone, and the Registration Data Consensus Policy was (finally) published on 21 February. Is the work on data protection vs access to registration data over? Can a sparkling wine from a certain French region be opened (not mentioning a protected geographical indication to be on the safe side)? Not quite yet. New expectations are raised and future work for the community is on the horizon.