ICANN To Hold Pre-Conference Security Calls on Nairobi Meeting

Calls to discuss security and logistics.

ICANN is doing something different in advance of its next meeting, to be held in Nairobi: advance security and logistics teleconferences.

The organization will host identical calls this Thursday and Friday to inform and educate attendees about security measures and how to come prepared.

There was talk that ICANN would move the conference after recent demonstrations around Nairobi, Kenya. Apparently this was prompted because one of the key constituency groups notified ICANN it would not be sending delegates due to security concerns. But ICANN decided to keep the meeting in Nairobi.

I think ICANN did the right thing. This may sound strange coming from someone who thought holding a meeting in Mexico City was a bad idea. My rationale is that the recent demonstrations in Kenya shouldn’t affect tourists. So if Nairobi was safe enough for an ICANN meeting before the demonstrations, it should be safe enough now. The threats in Kenya are somewhat different than Mexico, but I’m not sure that one location is more “dangerous” than the other.