More ICANN events cancelled for May

ICANN has cancelled its annual GDD Industry Summit and DNS Symposium, which had been scheduled to take place in Paris, France, in May.

“The decision to cancel these events was made in light of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 virus outbreak and, for the GDD Summit, included conversations with the Contracted Parties House,” ICANN said in a statement.

The two events had been due to take place back to back from May 3 to 6 and May 7 and 8, respectfully.

The GDD event is for commercial members of the domain name industry — registries and registrars — while the Symposium focuses on the technical side of the industry and had planned to focus on DNS security.

It appears that, unlike ICANN 67, neither is being replaced with a virtual meeting.

ICANN to host DNS event in Madrid

ICANN is to hold a “DNS Symposium” in Madrid this May.

The event will “explore ICANN’s current initiatives and projects relating to DNS research, operations, threats and countermeasures and technology evolution”, according to ICANN.

It’s a one-day event, focused specifically on DNS, rather than the domain name registration business.

The Symposium immediately follows the GDD Summit, the annual ICANN industry-focused intersessional event designed for registrars, registries and the like.

The Summit runs from May 9 to 11 and the Symposium is on May 13.

Both events will be held at the Hotel NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding in Madrid and will be webcast.

ICANN is currently looking for corporate sponsors for the Symposium.