The ICANN Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) consists of seven constituency groups, a Names Council, and a General Assembly. Members of the constituencies and the Names Council represent businesses and organizations with particular interests in the ICANN process. The General Assembly (GA) is the only group within the DNSO consists of individual members, and many participants in the ICANN process regard the GA as a forum for individuals to express opinions and voice concerns. Membership in the General Assembly is "open to all who are willing to contribute effort to the work of the DNSO" (ICANN bylaws, 10/99). There are no fees associated with membership, other than possible attendance charges to cover the costs of the GA annual meeting.

A "member" of the General Assembly is defined as someone who is:

• subscribed to the GA-ga or GA-announce lists;
• subscribed to a working group list; or
• a Names Council member; or
• a member of a DNSO Constituency.

As of the November 1999 meeting in Los Angeles, ICANN was still trying to define the role and powers of the General Assembly. The ICANN bylaws, as of October 1999, loosely define the General Assembly as individual members who carry out the work of the DNSO. GA participants are encouraged to join DNSO drafting drafting committees and working groups, as created by the Names Council. GA members may propose policies for the DNSO to be considered by the Names Council. In addition, the General Assembly nominates the candidates for the three DNSO seats on the ICANN Board of Directors. (For more information on the Board of Directors elections, please refer to http://www.cdt.org/dns/icann/soe.shtml).

General Assembly Chair

The GA Assembly has a decentralized structure, with the majority of its business taking place by consensus on the GA list-serv. The GA meets periodically at ICANN public forums to discuss issues of interest, but has only one official meeting per year. The ICANN bylaws create a Chair for the General Assembly to preside over this public meeting, and carry out other responsibilities within the DNSO that have not yet been defined.

Within a certain nominations period, any member of the General Assembly can propose a candidate for the position by providing a name, email address, and type of GA nominations period by submitting a description of his/her background and statement of objectives. The proposed candidate must then receive endorsements from at least 10 members of the GA for the nomination to become official. This "endorsement" should ideally include a statement about how the proposed candidate would fulfill the responsibilities of the GA Chair. A nominations "watchdog" committee is appointed to oversee the nominations process and ensure that these procedures are followed accurately. Following this nominations process, the Names Council votes to determine the final selection for the GA Chair.

More detailed information on the GA Chair elections process is available on the DNSO web site.