Policy Post 6.13 | ICANN Affirms Public Representation, Moves Forward With Planning For Global, Online Election

CDT POLICY POST Volume 6, Number 13 July 19, 2000

A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES ONLINE
from
THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS:
(1) ICANN Affirms Public Representation, Moves Forward With Planning For Global, Online Election
(2) Be A Cybercitizen: Registration For Online Voting Underway
(3) Applications Open Soon For New Top-level Domains

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(1) ICANN AFFIRMS PUBLIC REPRESENTATION, MOVES FORWARD WITH PLANNING FOR GLOBAL, ONLINE ELECTION

Meeting in Yokohama July 15-17, the ICANN domain name management group backed away from a proposed change to its bylaws, opposed by CDT, that would have dramatically reduced public representation in the ICANN Board of Directors. The group took other steps toward holding a global election for Board members this fall.

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is tasked with technical and administrative oversight of the domain name system and Internet addressing. Because of its central place in the Internet architecture, many of ICANN's decisions could have a broad impact on the structure of the Internet. CDT and its partner Common Cause have been advocating greater public representation in ICANN's decision-making processes.

This fall, 5 of ICANN's 19 Directors are to be elected "At-Large," one from each of five geographic regions. A total of 9 At-Large Directors are planned, and they are widely seen as an important avenue for broad user input into ICANN's actions. In Yokohama, the current interim Board adopted a schedule and rules for proceeding with the election. After a contentious debate, the Board backed away from a proposed change to its bylaws that would have reduced the number of At-Large directors. CDT was the first group to warn that the bylaws amendment would greatly change the balance in ICANN's structure. In the face of substantial resistance from the international community, the current Board voted to retain its nine At-Large directors

The Board also adopted final rules for the election. The ICANN Nominations Committee will make recommendations to the Board for candidates by the end of July. Other candidates will be able to get on the ballot through nomination by members. ICANN originally proposed that candidates by nomination would be required to first obtain support from 10% of the membership in order to get on the ballot. CDT and Common Cause argued that this was too high a barrier. In Yokohama, the Board lowered that threshold to 2%, but capped the total number of candidates in each region at seven.

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(2) BE A CYBERCITIZEN: REGISTRATION FOR ONLINE VOTING UNDERWAY

ICANN also announced that nearly 50,000 Internet users have registered to vote in the ICANN election, up from 22,000 just three weeks ago. More people are registered from Japan than any other country, followed by the US and Germany. ICANN is receiving between 1000-2000 applications per day, and staff reports its servers have been unable to handle the load.

Voter registration for the election closes July 31. For simple instructions on registering, visit CDT's "Be a CyberCitizen" web page at http://www.cdt.org/action/icann/.

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(3) APPLICATIONS OPEN SOON FOR NEW TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS

ICANN is proceeding with plans for a "measured rollout" of new top-level domains (or TLDs), like .com, .org, or .net. The Board adopted a schedule and general policy for seeking proposals for new domain registries, with final selection of candidates to be finished after the next Board meeting in November.

The ICANN staff has been instructed to request proposals for new registries by October 1. The number of new TLDs to be added was not settled, with Board members advocating anywhere from 3 to 10 in the first round. The Board set forth criteria for its selection, including calls for diversity between non-commercial and commercial, open and chartered domains, and geographical and social domains.

The goal of diversity may be undermined by the $50,000 non-refundable application fee that ICANN set for entities wishing to administer new TLDs. CDT noted to the Board that this may be a substantial barrier to entry for non-commercial registries as well as those from the developing world.

New top-level domains have been the subject of months of heated debate. The increasing scarcity of names in existing domains has led to calls for substantial numbers of new domains. The ICANN Board avoided taking positions on concerns about policing trademarks in these new spaces and maintaining technical stability of the Internet, instead deferring decisions to the staff and the proposals for new domains.

Regardless, new domains will be a defining action for ICANN that will have a major impact on the electronic landscape.

For further background on ICANN or domain name policy in general, visit CDT's domain name page at http://www.cdt.org/dns/

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Detailed information about online civil liberties issues may be found at http://www.cdt.org/.

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