Abbreviations and Acronyms
- 3GPP
- 3rd Generation Partnership Project
- ALAC
- At Large Advisory Committee to ICANN
- ASO
- Address Supporting Organization to ICANN
- ccNSO
- country code Name Supporting Organisation to ICANN
- ccTLD
- country code top-level domain, such as .eu, .uk, .de, .cn
- CIGI
- Center for International Governance Innovation
- CNNIC
- China Internet Network Information Center (the Chinese ccTLD registry)
- CWG
- Cross-community Working Group (an ICANN working group related to the IANA transition)
- DNS
- domain name system
- DOA
- Digital Object Architecture, an alternative vision for the internet’s system of unique identifiers, designed by Bob Kahn (one of the inventors of a key internet protocol TCP/IP) and championed through the ITU.
- DoH
- DNS over HTTPS
- ENISA
- European Union Agency for Cybersecurity
- EPDP
- Expedited Policy Development Process, established by the ICANN community to resolve issues relating to the GDPR and WHOIS.
- ETSI
- European Telecommunications Standards Institute
- EU
- European Union
- EuroDIG
- European Dialogue on Internet Governance
- GAC
- Government Advisory Committee to ICANN
- GCCS
- Global Conference on Cyber Space
- GDPR
- General Data Protection Regulation, 2016
- GGE
- Group of Governmental Experts, established through the United Nations in 1999, under the auspices of UNIDIR (the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research).
- GNSO
- Generic Names Supporting Organisation to ICANN
- gTLD
- generic top-level domain, such as .com, .net, .org and the ‘new’ gTLDs established in 2012 such as .xyz and others. ICANN provides policy coordination for gTLDs through the global multi-stakeholder ICANN community.
- HLIG
- High Level Group on Internet Governance
- HTTPS
- Hyper Text Transport Protocol Secure
- IANA
- Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, responsible for management of the DNS root database. Operated through ICANN in the post IANA transition arrangements.
- ICANN
- Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a California non-profit company established in 1998 for the global coordination of the internet’s unique identifiers (naming and numbering).
- IETF
- Internet Engineering Task Force. A non-governmental, multi-stakeholder process responsible for establishing technical standards for the internet through consensus processes. Its outputs are called ‘Requests for Comment’ or RFCs.
- IGF
- Internet Governance Forum, a process for non-binding multi-stakeholder dialogue relating to internet governance, established by the United Nations through the Tunis Agenda 2005 (an outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society).
- IMT-2020
- International Mobile Telecommunications 2020
- IP
- Internet Protocol, the numbering system that identifies each device connected to the internet. Key protocols in use today are IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6).
- ITU
- International Telecommunication Union, a multilateral UN agency established in 1865.
- MAG
- Multistakeholder Advisory Group to the Internet Governance Forum
- MEP
- Member of European Parliament
- NIS Directive
- the EU Network on security of network and information systems, 2016. To be transposed into member states national laws by 9 May 2018.
- NIST
- United National Institute of Standards and Technology
- NRI
- National and Regional Initiatives, establishing national and regional IGFs, such as EuroDIG for Europe, or the US IGF in the United States.
- NTIA
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a division of the United States Department of Commerce. Historically responsible for oversight of changes to the IANA database.
- REFIT
- the European Union’s Regulatory Fitness Programme (described in the Commission Communication to the Parliament: Better Regulation for Better Results 201589).
- RSSAC
- Root Server System Advisory Committee to ICANN
- SSAC
- Security and Stability Advisory Committee to ICANN
- SSR2
- second Security and Stability Review, one of the Specific Reviews established by section 4.6 of the ICANN Bylaws (as amended in relation to the IANA transition in 2016). The Specific Reviews are key instruments of ICANN’s accountability to its community.
- TLD
- top-level domain (such as a ccTLD or gTLD), which form distinct namespaces within the DNS.
- UN
- United Nations
- US
- United States
- WHOIS
- tool used to find information on domain name registrants
- WSIS
- World Summit on Internet Society, 2003–2005
89 European Commission (2015), ‘The need for better regulation’, https://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/better_regulation/documents/com_2015_215_en.pdf (accessed 4 Oct. 2019).