The move by the international body to open up to the world makes it possible to follow the ICANN 71 Virtual Policy Forum online from 14 to 17 June. The forum will be looking at progress with policies to combat DNS abuse, mechanisms for protecting intellectual property and the calendar for the next round of applications for new top-level domains (TLD). Other topics under discussion are the new governmental laws on web domains and the safety and treatment of data, domain registration data and the impact on people and companies.

The forum also includes a meeting by the geographical top-level domain (GEOTLD) group on Tuesday 15 June. The session will assess the impact of .barcelona policies and the rest of the geographical domains. As a member of this group, Punt Barcelona will be taking part along with representatives from other world cities and extending a welcome to the domain .madrid. The sessions in the forum can be followed live and registration is free.

ICANN is a non-profit corporation set up in 1998 to work for and guarantee global stability for the internet, helping to coordinate domains on a world level.