The Contacted Parties Summit (CPS) for 2024 was held in Paris between 6-9 May at the Hyatt Regency, Etoile Paris. The week was an opportunity for registries and registrars to network with each other and ICANN Org, while also focusing on their mutual operational concerns and interests. The CPS was well-timed, with ICANN’s Policy Forum less than a month away in Kigali.
For dotBrands, the highlight of the CPS was Microsoft’s Cole Quinn presenting on their use of CLOUD.MICROSOFT to consolidate the legacy domains hosting Microsoft 365 applications. Cole explained the genesis of the project, why they decided to use a .MICROSOFT domain as the solution, and the importance of creating a cross-functional stakeholder team to oversee the project. He also highlighted the benefit of having an anchor tenant in a dotBrand, and the value of engaging with other dotBrand operators to share experiences and lessons learned. You can find a recording of the presentation here.
There was also a strong regulatory track throughout the CPS, with time dedicated to discussing regulatory and legislative developments, including the potential implications of NIS2 for contracted parties. Much of the discussion on NIS2 focussed on what will be the impact of the NIS2 obligations regarding the collection and maintenance of a database of accurate registration data by registries and registrars, including what this means for privacy and proxy services. What is clear is that there is no standard view on this amongst contracted parties, both as between US and European entities and even, to come extent, amongst the individual Europeans. The key takeaway from the session was that individual registries and registrars will need to form their own assessment, and those with a European nexus should preferably obtain legal advice on how NIS2 will interact with their ICANN obligations – especially those related to Registration Data.
During the workshop, Combatting DNS Abuse, registries and registrars shared insights on how they approach handling reports of DNS Abuse. While there are synergies across the industry, there are also points of difference. Areas for future collaboration will likely include looking at developing standardised formats for reporting DNS abuse from registries to registrars, to ensure that these provide the necessary information in a format that allows for easy intake into registrar management systems. The day concluded with a closed discussion on possible next steps the contracted parties can take on DNS Abuse at ICANN.