IFFOR will expand its specialist policy services to applicants of new generic top-level domains. The move follows a strategic review of the organization after its first full year of operation.
The review found that IFFOR has fully established itself as an organization and won recognition for its policies and best practices. It concluded that, going forward, IFFOR should embrace the emerging policy needs of thousands of new Internet extensions due to be approved in 2013 and go live in 2014.
That conclusion will lead to some key changes over the coming months including:
- Formally launching a "Policy Engine" service for the Internet infrastructure industry
- A new Executive Director with an extensive background in the domain name industry
IFFOR recognizes that a significant policy gap exists for new Internet registries, a gap that has also been identified by business groups and government representatives.
As an independent policy making organization, IFFOR sees the creation of thousands of new extensions as an opportunity to contribute its expertise as a policy-making organization and to strengthen the industry’s self-regulatory model.
To that end, beginning April, IFFOR's current manager of public participation, Kieren McCarthy will also become Executive Director. Kieren has immense experience in the Internet infrastructure industry having reported on, and worked within the industry for over a decade.
Having successfully established IFFOR as a non-profit organization, recruited and maintained the organization's nine-person Policy Council, established its Ombudsman capabilities, as well as overseen the creation and maturity of IFFOR's compliance reporting and auditing systems, current Executive Director Joan Irvine will move to a consulting role.
IFFOR’s Policy Engine service will leverage IFFOR’s experience to provide pragmatic business solutions to industry-identified policy issues with the specific intent of strengthening the self-regulatory model.