The 81st ICANN meeting (ICANN 81) was held in Istanbul, Türkiye,
in November 2024, offering a significant platform for global
discussions on internet governance, domain names and online
policy.
In this blog post, Mutlu Yıldırım Köse and
Baran Güney provide some key insights from the conference. In
another post, to be published next week, they will explore domain
name disputes and online enforcement in Türkiye.
New gTLD Program
ICANN 81 provided a comprehensive review of the current state
and future direction of the Domain Name System (DNS).
Key discussions centered on the ongoing developments in
ICANN's New gTLD Program, particularly Round 2 of the program.
Round 2 focuses on the diversity and inclusivity of the DNS
including universal acceptance of the new gTLDs as well as the
inclusion of more Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs).