COMMUNITY

ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee

Jaap Akkerhuis and Maarten Aertsen serve on the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Jaap has served SSAC since its inception, Maarten from fall 2023.

SSAC advises the ICANN community and Board on matters relating to the security and integrity of the Internet's naming and address allocation systems. This includes operational, administrative, and registration matters. SSAC engages in ongoing threat assessment and risk analysis of the Internet naming and address allocation services to assess where the principal threats to stability and security lie, and advises the ICANN community accordingly.

ICANN Root Zone Evolution Review Committee (RZERC)

Willem serves on the Root Zone Evolution Review Committee (RZERC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), as technical expert on behalf of the Internet Architecture Board.

The RZERC reviews proposed architectural changes to the content of the DNS root zone, the systems including both hardware and software components used in executing changes to the DNS root zone, and the mechanisms used for distribution of the DNS root zone. The RZERC was formed as a result of the IANA Stewardship Transition.

ICANN advisory roles

Jaap Akkerhuis is involved in ISO Standard work in Techncal Comittee 46 (Information and documentation) notably in the area of country codes. He is representing ICANN as a voting member of the Maintenance Agency for the Standard for country codes and codes for their subdivisions (ISO 3166 MA) and serves as liaison to the Working Group 2 of TC 46. Because of this work, he often functions as a technical expert to various ICANN groups, such as the ccNSO and others.

Engagement in EU policy making

Maarten Aertsen closely followed two legislative proposals by the European Commission affecting almost all hardware and software on the European market:

• The upcoming Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) sets market entry requirements for software. Our outreach positively affected the outcome of the negotiations between the parliament and council. The negotiated text introduced an obligation for all manufacturers that integrate software to upstream patches for security vulnerabilities to its (open source) maintainers, added nuance with respect to the scoping for developers of free and open source software and permits manufacturers of open source software that is considered ‘important’ to self-assess instead of third party assess compliance.
• The updated Product Liability Directive (PLD) extends strict liability to software developers. Our outreach positively affected the outcome of the negotiations between the parliament and council by clarifying liability for the supply of free and open-source software by non-profit organisations.

See the EU transparency register and posts tagged 'policy' on the NLnet Labs blog for more on our EU policy engagement.

Internet Society Organisation Member Advisory Council

Jaap Akkerhuis represents NLnet Labs on the Internet Society Organisation Member Advisory Council. It serves as an advisory body to Internet Society senior management and board on matters affecting the general welfare and effectiveness of the global Internet and its users.

Dutch Internet Standards Platform

NLnet Labs is a member of the Dutch Internet Standards Platform (Platform Internetstandaarden). Through this initiative various partners from the Internet community and the Dutch government collaborate to raise awareness about and increase the usage of modern Internet Standards, such as IPv6, DNSSEC, RPKI, TLS, SPF, DMARC and DKIM.

Yorgos Thessalonikefs serves on the steering committee for the platform's Internet.nl project.

Dutch Forum Standardisation

Benno Overeinder was appointed to the Dutch Forum Standardisation (Forum Standaardisatie) by the Ministry of Justice and Security of the Netherlands. The forum aims to ensure interoperability and supplier independence through the use of open standards in the public sector. To achieve this, Forum Standardisation stimulates the use of open standards and maintains a list of which ones are required. In addition, the forum monitors adoption and compliance, as well as advising on the implementation and application of open standards.