[bc-gnso] 2024 candidate statement for Steve DelBianco, for role of BC Vice Chair for Policy Coordination

[Steve DelBianco]

BC members,

Thanks to Zak Muscovitch for nominating me as vice chair of policy coordination.   Given that no other candidates are interested, I am willing and able to serve again.

In my years serving as your policy coordinator, I’ve tried to be thoroughly prepared and provide support for BC members so that they can contribute to comment drafting and policy engagement at ICANN.   Along the way I’ve also had to negotiate compromise positions among BC members with differing priorities.

That approach seems to work for the BC, as we continue to be a major contributor to ICANN public comment opportunities and working groups.  Thru Nov-2023, the BC submitted 16 comments/statements<https://www.bizconst.org/positions-statements> so far this year.

While our public statements advance business interests, we also need to engage in working groups, reviews, and implementation teams.

Here’s what I see as our top policy challenges/opportunities for 2024:

Restore prompt access to accurate registrant data
Businesses can no longer use Whois data to protect their customers from confusion and fraud caused by deceptive domain names and other DNS abuse.  GDPR changed all that, and we have thus far not been able to muster a consensus to roll-back some of ICANN’s over-interpretation of GDPR.

But there may be changes coming in 2024.  The European Parliament approved NIS2, requiring member states to enact regulation requiring publication of accurate registrant data for legal persons.  We hope that pro-consumer regulations from some EU states could pressure ICANN Org to adopt new policy or take a central role for disclosing registrant data for legitimate purposes in compliance with applicable laws like GDPR and NIS2.

Mitigating DNS Abuse
For the last 2 years, BC Councilor Mark Datysgeld and our chair Mason Cole continued focused on the issue of DNS Abuse.  That pressured contract parties and ICANN to amend Registry and Registrar agreements to add modest obligations to address DNS Abuse.   The BC generally supported the amendments while calling for new policy development in this area.

There will be other policy areas for the BC to attend to in 2024, including the next round of gTLD expansion and the Holistic Review of ICANN.

I look forward to serving the BC again in 2024, and hope to cultivate a new candidate for this role in 2025.

My current ICANN Statement of Interest is posted here<https://community.icann.org/display/gnsosoi/Steve+DelBianco+SOI> and below:

For two decades years I have led NetChoice, a trade association of e-commerce companies and online services, including Airbnb, Alibaba, Amazon, AoL, eBay, Etsy, Expedia, Facebook, Google,  PayPal, TikTok, Twitter, Verisign, and Yahoo.  (see http://www.netchoice.org<http://www.netchoice.org/>  )

I set the policy agenda for NetChoice and frequently testify at international venues, before the US Congress, and in state legislatures, on issues relating to Internet governance, e-commerce taxation, privacy, and consumer protection.   I also represent NetChoice at ICANN meetings and at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the IGF-USA.

I have no financial ownership or management role in any registries, registrars or other firms that are, or aspire to be, contract parties with ICANN. Please note that some NetChoice members operate registries (Amazon, Google, Verisign)

The basis of my interest in ICANN is to maintain the integrity and availability of e-commerce and internet services.  This stems from the NetChoice mission statement:  To make the Internet safe for free enterprise and free expression.

--
Steve DelBianco
President
NetChoice
http://www.NetChoice.org<http://www.netchoice.org/>
+1.703.615-6206

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