ICANN's Global Elections: On the Internet, For the Internet

A Study of the ICANN At-Large Elections by
Common Cause and the Center for Democracy and Technology

March 2000

Appendix III: Background on ICANN

• ICANN Formation
• ICANN Structure

ICANN Formation

There are many points of contention regarding how and why ICANN was formed. For those unfamiliar with ICANN, the following lays out some of the most basic events that shaped ICANN's formation and development.

In July, 1997, the Clinton Administration published an executive order calling for privatization of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). In response to this order, the U.S. Department of Commerce drafted a proposal and solicited public comment. The Commerce Department then issued what is known as the "White Paper", a statement of policy calling for the creation of a "not-for-profit corporation managed by a globally and functionally representative Board of Directors" to manage certain central Internet naming and numbering systems. The White Paper detailed the responsibilities of this new corporation, called for the appointment of an interim board to develop its structure and draft its bylaws, and laid out principles to guide the corporation, including:

• Stability in DNS management to ensure the security and reliability of the Internet;
• Competition in assigning domain names and IP numbers to encourage innovation and enhance consumer choice;
• Bottom-up governance to honor the historical development of the Internet; and
• Representation to provide opportunities for participation by the "broad and growing community of Internet users."

Dr. Jon Postel, who was involved in the development of the DNS for decades and is now widely recognized as one of the Internet's founding architects, proposed ICANN as the corporation called for in the White Paper. After a period of public comment on this proposal and negotiations with the U.S. Commerce Department, ICANN was recognized as such in the fall of 1998.

For one detailed explanation of ICANN's subsequent development and consideration of membership issues, see the official history provided on the ICANN membership web site at http://members.icann.org/history.html#MITF.

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ICANN Structure

The organizational structure created by ICANN's initial appointed board calls for a 19-member board of directors to serve as ICANN's chief policy-making body. The president of ICANN, who is selected by the ICANN board, occupies one board seat. The 18 remaining board members serve three-year terms. Nine are chosen by ICANN's three Supporting Organizations, and nine are selected by an At-Large ICANN membership. The three Supporting Organizations, described below, provide a formal, institutional forum for companies and organizations from the business, technical and noncommercial communities to participate in ICANN.

The Address Supporting Organization (ASO) consists of the combined membership of the world's three Regional Internet Registries, which are non-profit organizations that distribute IP numbers - the numerical Internet addresses that computers understand - to Internet service providers and local IP registries. Within ICANN, the ASO reviews and recommends policies related to the coordination and allocation of IP numbers.

The Protocol Supporting Organizations (PSO) consists of the combined membership of four Standards Development Organizations. The PSO is concerned with the assignment of unique parameters for Internet protocols, the technical standards that let computers exchange information and manage communications over the Internet.

The Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) consists of a wide and diverse range of organizations involved in supporting the alphabetical domain names that people use to locate Internet addresses. These include Internet service providers, companies that register domain names, commercial and business entities, noncommercial domain name holders, and others. The DNSO advises ICANN on policies related directly to the assignment and coordination of domain names.

Each of the three Supporting Organizations has a council chosen by its members that selects the three ICANN board directors to represent that Supporting Organization. These councils have already been formed and have selected the first set of nine elected Supporting Organization board directors.

The selection of the nine At-Large Board Directors is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2000, when the appointed board members now occupying those seats are required to step down.

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