i'm surprised you would let this get by without comment. ICANN already has an AT-Large Membership. But the directors elected by that existing membership are not allowed to communicate with their constituency. Where have you been declan - mars?
Furthermore ester dyson is to a large extent responsible for the demise of the exiting AT-Large community. Why should we trust her now? This membership organization is nothing more nor less then another icann joke on the internet community - and i'm seriously surprised you would let this slip by without comment. regards joe baptista On Wed, 30 Jan 2002, Declan McCullagh wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 20:46:49 -0800 > From: Denise Michel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: ICANN At-Large membership > > Declan, > > The notice included below was distributed and posted on the ICANN At-Large > Study Committee's website earlier this month in an effort to identify > organizations worldwide that are interested in creating an ICANN At-Large > membership organization. Esther Dyson, a Committee member, suggested that I > bring it to your attention. We would appreciate your help in "getting the > word out." The email, and additional information, is posted on our website > at www.atlargestudy.org. > > Thanks for your help. > > Denise Michel > Executive Director > At Large Study Committee > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > +1-408-867-1986 > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > If you are interested in exploring a role for your organization in > establishing a proposed ICANN "At-Large Supporting Organization" to provide > an individual user view on technical coordination of the Internet's domain > name system, please send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] by February > 1, 2002. Read on for more details! > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > > The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is > considering the creation of an organization to enable individual Internet > users worldwide (referred to as an "At-Large" constituency) to participate > in ICANN's activities and decisions. As members of the At-Large Study > Committee (ALSC -- an independent ICANN advisory group), we are contacting > key organizations such as yours to help identify the level of interest in, > and feasibility of, creating such an entity. The purpose of this notice is > to elicit specific expressions of interest from organizations worldwide that > would be willing to be involved in the creation of an "At-Large" > organization. > > ICANN > ICANN is a non-profit, private sector corporation responsible for the > technical coordination of the Internet's domain name system. Specifically, > ICANN coordinates the assignment of identifiers that must be globally unique > for the Internet to function: Internet domain names, IP address numbers, and > protocol parameter and port numbers. ICANN is dedicated to preserving the > operational stability of the Internet, promoting competition, achieving > broad representation of global Internet communities, and to developing > policy through private-sector, bottom-up, consensus-based means. > > At-Large Proposal > Our Committee recently submitted a report to ICANN's Board of Directors > recommending that ICANN expand its current structure to add an "At-Large > Supporting Organization" (ALSO). We recommended that a global ALSO be > created to serve as a local and regional-based framework for At-Large > outreach and education, engaging members, aggregating views, enabling > consensus decision-making, and working closely with other organizations to > address issues and develop policy on Internet user/consumer issues that fall > within ICANN's specific technical and administrative mission. We proposed > that the ALSO be a decentralized, regionally-based structure that will > enable individual members to learn about and discuss relevant issues in > their own language, find common ground with users in other localities and > regions and ultimately provide meaningful user advice to ICANN. > > We believe such an organization can help improve ICANN's service to those > who are affected by its actions, and bring an important individual user > perspective to such issues as access to domain names in non-Latin > characters, the potential use of IP addresses and domain names for > identification or location of individuals and groups, competition and choice > (or not) in the provision of various services provided by independent > parties under contract to ICANN, domain-name intellectual property issues, > and introduction of new generic top level domains (gTLDs) - to list just a > few. (For more information on the ALSC's report, see www.atlargestudy.org). > > Current Structure > Currently, a 19-member Board of Directors governs ICANN, and three > Supporting Organizations (SOs) assist with, review, and develop > recommendations on Internet policy and structure, and encourage diverse and > international participation in the technical management of the Internet. > The SOs are the primary source of substantive policy recommendations, > serving as advisory bodies to the Board, and each SO currently selects three > board members. > > At ICANN's direction, each of the SOs "self-organized" a few years ago and > adopted participation structures appropriate for their effective > functioning. ICANN is intended to have an open, bottom-up, consensus policy > development process. The Board and the three existing SO's are designed to > include representatives of a specific set of Internet "stakeholders" -- the > Domain Name Supporting organization (DNSO), the Address Supporting > Organization (ASO), and the Protocol Supporting Organization (PSO). > > Matters relating to the system of IP (internet protocol) addresses are under > the purview of the ASO. The ASO is comprised of the three Regional Internet > Registries (RIR) responsible for allocating IP address blocks in the > Americas, Europe, and Asia, and is governed by an Address Council with RIR > representatives. The PSO has jurisdiction over the assignment of IP > parameters. The PSO's governing Protocol Council is comprised of > representatives from four organizations -- the Internet Engineering Task > Force, the World Wide Web Consortium, the International Telecommunications > Union, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. Primary > responsibility for developing domain name-related policy rests with the > DNSO. The DNSO is governed by the Names Council, which consists of > representatives from seven constituencies -- ccTLD (country code top level > domain) registries, commercial and business entities, gTLD (generic top > level domain) registries, Internet service and connectivity providers, > non-commercial domain name holders, registrars, and trademark and other > intellectual property interests. Each of these constituencies comprises a > set of firms or organizations. (For more information on ICANN and its > structure, see www.icann.org and > http://www.icann.org/general/icann-org-chart_frame.htm). > > ALSO > The proposed ALSO under consideration by ICANN's Board, would parallel (and > work closely with) these SOs in an ICANN governance framework to address > ICANN issues of interest to Internet users. Specifically, to ensure that > "users' voices" and diverse interests are represented, we have recommended > that ICANN: > 7 Work with relevant entities to create the ALSO as a regionally-based > framework for user involvement in ICANN; > 7 Create an At-Large membership (an ALSO electorate) based on an > identifiable and vested community to help select ALSO leadership and > formulate ALSO policy recommendations (the ALSO would have "participants" > comprised of anyone interested in participating in open, on-line discussion > forums, and "members" comprised of a verifiable, vested community of users > who register and pay a membership fee to participate in voting and policy > development); and > 7 Provide At-Large members with the responsibility for selecting six members > of ICANN's Board, and for selecting members of six Regional At-Large > Councils (based on six geographic regions) and one global At-Large Council > to help build and govern the ALSO. > > Next Steps > ICANN's Board has indicated its support for informed, sustained involvement > of interested individuals in ICANN, and is expected to make a final decision > on the proposed ALSO in March. We expect that a factor in this decision will > be the demonstrated level of interest in creating a regionally based ALSO. > To help address this issue, we ask that your organization consider whether > its interests and/or membership might coincide with an At-Large > organization, and, if so, whether there is interest in exploring a role for > your organization in the ALSO's creation. Please indicate in an email to > the ALSC if your organization is interested in discussing a role in 1) > outreach to individual Internet users, 2) conferring At-Large membership on > interested members of your organization, 3) starting a "founders group" to > help establish a regional and/or global ALSO structure, and 4) other > activities (please define). > > Please send your email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] by February 1, 2002. If > you have any questions or need additional information, please contact ALSC > Executive Director, Denise Michel, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you > for your assistance with this important endeavor. > > Sincerely, > > The At-Large Study Committee: Carl Bildt (Chair), Chuck Costello (Vice > Chair), Pierre Dandjinou, Esther Dyson, Olivier Iteanu, Ching-Yi Liu, Thomas > Niles, Oscar Robles, and Pindar Wong (Vice Chair). > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list > You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. > Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ > To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html > This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Events: Congreso Nacional de Periodismo Digital in Huesca, Spain from > Jan. 17-18 (http://www.congresoperiodismo.com) and the Second > International Conference on Web-Management in Diplomacy in Malta from > Feb. 1-3. (http://www.diplomacy.edu/Web/conference2/) > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- Joe Baptista http://www.dot-god.com/ The dot.GOD Registry, Limited The Executive Plaza, Suite 908 150 West 51st Street Tel: 1 (208) 330-4173 Manhattan Island NYC 10019 USA Fax: 1 (208) 293-9773
