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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 31, 2001--The global body that coordinates the Internet's domain name system should open itself up to public participation by creating a broadly open membership system that will allow Internet users to participate in policy-making and elect some of the body's board of directors, according to a new study by an international team of experts. The study, written by experts from non-profit institutes and universities in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, comes as the domain names management body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), prepares to consider its future course at a meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay September 6-10.
ICANN was created in 1998 and is governed by a 19 member Board of Directors. In October 2000, ICANN ran a one-time online election to select five "At-Large" Directors, but since then the body has cast doubt on its commitment to continuing public participation in its Board.
The international team issuing today's call for public representation, the NGO and Academic Study (NAIS), lists steps that should be taken by ICANN to incorporate the public voice into its internal governance. NAIS recommends that the public interest can best be served through the creation of an inclusive public membership for ICANN, resting on two overarching principles: The public should be given a structure for participation in ICANN decision-making process, and the public membership should be the power to elect some of the members of the ICANN Board.
The NAIS report, entitled "ICANN, Legitimacy and the Public Voice: Making Global Participation and Representation Work," calls on ICANN to commit itself to including the public in three major areas:
The study group urges ICANN to quickly resolve the issue of public participation. "Unless ICANN welcomes public participation through an open, participatory, representative membership, the Internet community is likely to question its policy decisions," said Alan Davidson, Associate Director of the Center for Democracy & Technology and member of the NAIS team. "The terms of office for ICANN's five publicly-elected Directors expire in November 2002. ICANN should make it a high priority to develop and implement a system for their replacement by then."
The NAIS report's analysis and recommendations are products of intense study, deliberation, consultation and collaboration since NAIS's formation in early 2001. NAIS hopes the report will facilitate an informed debate about the recommendations presented and welcomes further input. The report will be presented at the forthcoming ICANN meeting in Montevideo on the 8th of September, when ICANN's official At Large Study Committee's meets on the 7th.
For more information and a copy of the full NAIS report or an executive summary please visit the NAIS web site at http://www.naisproject.org/.
Contacts:
Alan Davidson
abd@cdt.org
202-637-9800
Rob Courtney
rob@cdt.org
202-637-9800
The NGO and Academic ICANN Study (NAIS) is a collaboration of experts from around the world, formed to explore public participation in ICANN and the selection of At-Large Directors on ICANN's governing board. NAIS mirrors ICANN's own study effort, and was created to provide an independent examination, global in scope and grounded in a belief in the importance of public representation. The members of the NAIS team are:
The NAIS his project was conducted through a generous grant from the Markle Foundation (New York, USA), and an additional travel grant by DENIC (Frankfurt, Germany).
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The Center For Democracy & Technology |