At the ICANN81 stand in Istanbul
Hello everyone! For those who’ve been following my blogs ❤️, you know me, but for newcomers - I’m an undergraduate student studying cybersecurity. You can learn more about me on my about page.
The Beginning of My ICANN Journey
I first encountered multistakeholderism at the India School on Internet Governance in 2022. This year, I had the incredible opportunity to attend ICANN81 in person - the Annual General Meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye. This six-day event focused on showcasing ICANN’s work to a broader global audience, with extensive capacity building and leadership training sessions.
Before diving into my experience, let me share something interesting. Before ICANN81, I reached out to Satish Babu during one of our monthly APRALO Study Group calls, asking how to make the most of this opportunity. His response stuck with me - he called it “chaos.” ICANN, he explained, is like a huge umbrella with incredible depth in each branch. This made total sense when I started encountering all the acronyms in ICANN - it reminded me of my time when I just joined as a Data Science intern at IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), learning a whole new language of organizational terms.
Understanding ICANN’s Structure
Looking at the chart, you’ll see ICANN in the center. They’re the ones who keep the internet’s naming and numbering systems working smoothly. The Board oversees everything, making sure ICANN follows its bylaws, while ICANN Org staff handle the day-to-day operations. Bylaws are basically the rules that ICANN has to follow - they define ICANN’s mission, core values, and governance structure. These bylaws ensure transparency and accountability in ICANN’s operations, and can only be changed through a careful community consultation process that requires broad support.
Advisory Committees
The Advisory Committees branch out from the center - these are the groups that give expert advice on different aspects of internet governance:
The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) represents internet users like you and me. They work through regional organizations called RALOs:
The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) brings government perspectives to policy discussions
The Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) and Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) focus on keeping the internet’s infrastructure secure and stable
Supporting Organizations
The Supporting Organizations are where a lot of the actual policy work happens:
The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) handles policies for generic top-level domains like .com and .org. GNSO has several important groups:
The Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG) includes:
- The Business Constituency (BC) representing business users
- The Internet Service Providers Constituency (ISPCP) for network operators
- The Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) protecting trademark interests
The Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) represents non-profits, academics, and civil society organizations. They work to protect public interest and civil liberties in domain name policies.
The Country Code Names Support Organization (ccNSO) develops policies for country-specific domains like .uk or .in. The Address Supporting Organization (ASO) works with Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to manage IP addresses. Having just attended APNIC 58 (check out my APNIC Blog here), I got to see firsthand how RIRs work. The five RIRs are:
- APNIC for Asia Pacific
- AFRINIC for Africa
- RIPE NCC for Europe
- ARIN for North America
- LACNIC for Latin America and Caribbean
Technical Operations
The IANA functions, operated through PTI (Public Technical Identifiers), handle the technical side of things - they manage the global IP address pool, coordinate domain name system root zone management, and maintain protocol parameter registries.
Now I truly understand why Satish described ICANN as “chaos” - the organizational structure I’ve mapped out only scratches the surface. Each branch, like GNSO and ALAC, contains numerous working groups focused on specific issues, from DNS abuse prevention to domain name dispute resolution. These working groups often collaborate across constituencies, creating a complex web of interactions and dependencies. Yet this intricate system serves a vital purpose - it ensures that diverse stakeholders, from technical experts to end users, have a voice in shaping internet governance.
Day-by-Day Experience at ICANN81
Day 0: How It Works Sessions
Starting at day 0, we had a lot of “How It Works” sessions - really informative and perfect for beginners. These were mandatory sessions for ICANN Fellows and NextGenners. Here we got the gist of working in IROS (Identifier Research, Operations, and Security), IANA, ICANN policy development process, GNSO constituencies like CSG/BC, ccNSO, ALAC, SSAC - basically all of the ones we discussed above. There were lots of parallel sessions going on, so you can’t attend all of them if you want to. You have to choose wisely according to your interests.
After the sessions, it was time to head out for dinner sponsored by our mentor Imran :)) - amazing seaside dinner! The only disturbance was the cats >:( The amount of cats in Istanbul is astonishingly high.
Seaside dinner with NextGenners and our mentor
Day 1: Blockchain and APRALO
Next day, we had more “How It Works” sessions, including Blockchain Name Technologies by Paul Hoffman, who is the chair in post-quantum use in protocols in IETF and has been actively involved for decades. He described how blockchain and the DNS intersect and interact. After that, I went to the APRALO session about planning for 2025 and achievements.
In the evening, we had a nice welcome dinner at a nearby restaurant, this time from ICANN, with all the NextGenners and people from other groups as well.
Day 2: Universal Acceptance and Governance in Action
I attended the Universal Acceptance (UA) session which focused on making sure all domain names and email addresses work properly, regardless of what script or language they use. It was interesting to learn how this technical challenge impacts internet inclusion globally.
Later, I attended the Joint ICANN Board and CSG meeting where I got to witness firsthand how ICANN’s multistakeholder model works in practice. The discussion centered around proposed changes to ICANN’s bylaws about their accountability mechanisms, particularly around the new Grant Program. While things got a bit heated between the Board and CSG representatives, it was fascinating to see how they worked through their differences. The CSG raised valid concerns about the process, and despite initial procedural hurdles, the Board acknowledged these concerns and revised the bylaw language. It showed me that even when discussions get intense, ICANN’s collaborative approach ultimately helps find solutions that work for everyone.
After all the sessions, I took some time to explore the city highlights:
A quick selfie before venturing out
Inside the magnificent Blue Mosque
The evening concluded with a visit to the Atatürk Cultural Center for an opera performance. It was my first time seeing opera, and to my surprise, they played Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which I instantly recognized. Though I’ll admit, I was so sleepy that I probably dozed through 50% of the performance - it was quite desensitizing!
Day 3: Presentation Day and Wiki Editing
This was my presentation day. Each NextGenner had to present about something, and I chose the topic “DNS Security and AI Potential,” where I worked on DNS-based Network monitoring system using LLMs. The day before, I quickly reviewed my slides - I didn’t prepare what to say specifically, just had my slides and code ready. I checked if everything was running and working, and pushed it to GitHub.
Presenting my research on DNS Security and AI
After my presentation, I attended a session on editing the ICANNWiki - ICANN’s wiki that contains content about domain names and people in ICANN. During the session, I edited content about the .in domain, and we got chocolate and cake as a treat! :p
Then I joined an interesting discussion about SSAC implementation plans for name collision and the framework. After that, I went to the ISOC Dinner, where we had an evening session giving feedback to ISOC for their future plans.
Evening at the ISOC Dinner
Day 4: Board Interaction and Technical Workshops
The NextGenners and Fellows had an interactive session with the ICANN Board. Lots of great questions were asked about building on contributions, their experiences, and feedback. Then I went to the DNSSEC and Security workshop - it was very technical and dove into the core of DNS, including some proposed ideas to mitigate existing issues in DNSSEC.
Later, I attended the Netmission dinner with other Netmission alumni and Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia and ICANN Board Member from NomCom. It was great to talk with him and gain more knowledge about ICANN.
Networking at the Netmission dinner
Final Day: Wrap-up and Townhall
The last day included wrap-up sessions where we shared our takeaways, and an experience townhall session - an open mic session where people could ask the ICANN board anything related to internet governance (though the board only answered questions within ICANN’s remit).
Closing Thoughts
It was an incredible overall experience. I know this post is quite long, but I wanted to document everything while it was fresh in my mind. Special thanks to Deborah and my mentor, Imran, for helping me connect with so many wonderful people during the conference. The experience has reinforced the importance of youth participation in the ICANN community.
If you’re interested in getting involved with ICANN, check out:
See you in the next blog! ✌️
A moment of relaxation during the busy conference