From DNS abuse to global policy: auDA’s impact at ICANN85

auDA is a regular participant at the global meetings of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). We attend ICANN to represent the interests of .au, share information with other country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) managers, and contribute our experience to global policy work on matters such as the policy rules for generic Top Level Domains (gTLD) like .com which affect Australian registrants in gTLDs and Australian internet users that access services such as websites and email based on gTLDs. This helps ensure .au remains trusted and secure while contributing to domain name policy globally.

This blog explores three key areas auDA staff actively contributed to at the recent ICANN85 meeting in March 2026.

auDA sets high security standards for .au, which has some of the lowest DNS abuse rates in the world. Yet, mitigating DNS abuse, such as phishing, malware and botnets remains a challenge across the globe.

auDA CEO Bruce Tonkin is the Vice Chair of the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO) Domain Name System (DNS) Abuse Standing Committee, responsible for sharing insights and best practice about how to combat DNS abuse. At ICANN85, Bruce led a session where a number of different ccTLD managers updated the community on their approaches to combatting DNS Abuse. These often also form part of their approaches to dealing with other online challenges such as combatting financial scams or romance scams.

Bruce was also recently appointed as an Alternate Member of a new Policy Development Process working group at ICANN, formed to investigate whether to require ‘associated domain checks’ when DNS abuse is identified in gTLDs. This involves a domain name registrar checking any other domain names associated with a registrant when there is a proven case of DNS abuse associated with that registrant. Bruce will bring his experience from the ccNSO DNS Abuse Stranding Committee – and auDA’s successes and ideas in combatting DNS abuse to the table - to shape a potential new policy covering global domains such as .com and .net.

The ccNSO’s Internet Governance Liaison Committee (IGLC) supports ccTLD managers to take an active role in internet governance processes, including national Government regulation outside of ICANN. Members share information and experiences about policy and regulatory issues from their country or region, with a focus on the impact on ccTLDs.

auDA’s Principal, Internet Governance, Annaliese Williams is Chair of the IGLC. During ICANN85, Annaliese chaired a session organised by the committee, which featured speakers from four ccTLDs (India, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia) discussing national government regulatory developments in their country and the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in finding solutions to internet-related policy problems. The presentations provide insights for the other ccTLD managers into how they might approach more effective relationships with their national regulatory and policy authorities. Suggestions raised can help inform auDA’s work in this space in the Australian regulatory environment.

Jordan Carter, Internet Governance and Policy Director, presented on auDA’s approach to early involvement in policy and legislative processes. auDA builds proactive relationships with public and private sector policymakers to educate them on the DNS and help make sure that Australian legislation reflects the technical capabilities of the DNS.

ICANN is the home of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the body responsible for a wide range of internet identifiers and technical functions. One of its responsibilities is to maintain the authoritative list of Top Level Domains (TLDs). This involves retaining a register which sets out the contact details and technical identifiers for ccTLDs (e.g. .au) and generic TLDs (gTLDs) (e.g. .com).

In recent years some concerns have emerged about the accuracy of the data. In response, the ccNSO has established the IANA Public Records Study Group to investigate. Jordan Carter from auDA’s team is chairing the group, which had its first substantive meeting at ICANN85.

The session at ICANN85 was about introducing the ccNSO community to the work, and explaining the approach the group will take. Over the next few months, it will look at three questions:

1. What is the purpose of these records?
2. How accurate is the data?
3. How should inaccuracies be rectified?

The findings will be discussed with the ICANN community at the next public meeting in June 2026.

Alongside this work, other auDA contributions at ICANN85 included:

• Introducing new auDA Chair Marina Go AM and auDA Board Director Claire Rogers to the ICANN community
• Working with fellow members of the Technical Community Coalition for Multistakeholderism (the TCCM) to determine the coalition’s course in 2026
• Participating in the ccNSO’s Strategic and Operation Planning Committee’s review of ICANN’s and PTI’s draft operating and financial plans
• Connecting with other organisers of internet governance academies, supporting our ongoing delivery of the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Academy (APIGA) Australia
• Connecting with Australian and Pacific community stakeholders present at the ICANN meeting
• Seeking input from Pacific participants about the future of the Pacific ccTLD Forum and when it should next be held
• Engagement in ICANN’s NextGen Fellowship by auDA’s Rohan Sachdeva. While participating in a personal capacity, he was supported by the auDA team. Learn about Rohan’s experience on LinkedIn.