<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
Dear All,<div><br></div><div>Below is NCUC's press release regarding our letter to the ICANN Board of Directors and CEO. It is also posted to the NCUC website <a href="http://ncdnhc.org/profiles/blogs/public-interest-groups-in">here</a>.</div><div><br></div><div>Please feel free to re-distribute it, blog it, re-post, translate, etc. the press release so we can have the widest possible distribution of our letter and the concerns it relays.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks,</div><div>Robin<br><br> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><b>NCUC Press Release</b></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3 September 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div> <h2 style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left: 0in"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman";font-style:normal">Public Interest Groups in ICANN Appeal to New President For Fairer Treatment For Civil Society<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"><b><i>The organization that represents Non-Commercial Internet Users in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) issued an open letter to the Board this week, expressing concern about the possible failure of ICANN's attempt to balance the representation of commercial and noncommercial interests.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">California (United States)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>–<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC), a group of 152 non-commercial organizations and individuals from 52 countries who represent the noncommercial interests of Internet users in ICANN policy development, recently <span style="color:black">appealed to ICANN's Board of Directors and CEO to meet with them in Seoul to resolve serious problems with its current plans to alter the representation of noncommercial interests in its policy making process.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Specifically, <a href="http://ncdnhc.org/profiles/blogs/ncuc-letter-to-icann-board-of">NCUC’s letter</a> expressed concern over ICANN’s adoption of a flawed charter for noncommercial users that disregarded the vast majority of public comments and concerns expressed by noncommercial Internet users.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In late July 2009 ICANN’s Board decided to approve the NCSG charter drafted by ICANN staff, rather than the charter drafted by civil society in a 7-month long consensus process that included a wide variety of noncommercial interests and was submitted to ICANN’s Board by the NCUC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">ICANN’s staff did not provide its board with the competing charter submitted by NCUC in order to properly inform the board’s decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The difference between staff’s charter and civil society’s charter is stark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Staff’s charter ties council representation and resources to arbitrary and more easily manipulated constituencies, while the NCUC charter calls for stakeholder group wide elections of its noncommercial representatives and other leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>NCUC’s charter model encourages consensus building among constituencies, while staff’s charter model encourages divisiveness and favoritism among noncommercial interests.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">“ICANN’s decision has resulted in significant damage to ICANN’s credibility within global civil society and has fueled further distrust towards ICANN’s decision making process,” said NCUC Chair Robin Gross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Its treatment of noncommercial users in this instance has significantly called into question ICANN’s legitimacy to govern and its ability to protect the global public interest,” said Gross, Executive Director of digital rights group IP Justice, a NCUC member since 2004.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">The board’s adoption of the stakeholder group charter is part of ICANN’s ongoing effort to re-organize its Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), which currently consists of 5 commercial constituencies and 1 non-commercial constituency, the NCUC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ICANN’s GNSO is responsible for developing policy recommendations that relate to Generic Top-Level Domains (GTLDs) or those domain names that end in .com, .net, .edu, and .org.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The GNSO plays an important role on Internet-related policy issues since its recommendations affect all who own or use GTLDs, including the way domain names can be registered, used, transferred, and any applicable fees and associated policies regarding the domain names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The process of changing the GNSO’s structure from 6 constituencies to 4 stakeholder groups is expected to be complete by the end of October 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">In its letter the NCUC states that “there is a misunderstanding over non-commercial representation and participation in ICANN” and NCUC calls on ICANN to acknowledge that there has been significant growth among noncommercial participants at ICANN recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>NCUC’s membership has grown by 240% since 2008 and now includes 75 noncommercial organizations and 77 individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>An independent study by the London School of Economics verified that NCUC has the highest number of different people on the GNSO Council of any ICANN constituency and that NCUC has the most geographical diversity among its membership with members now from 52 different countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">“NCUC represents an extremely broad range of noncommercial Internet users, including educational and academic institutions, human rights organizations, libraries, consumer groups, religious organizations, bloggers, open source software developers, development-oriented groups, arts organizations, and other noncommercial interests,” explained Dr. Milton Mueller, an Internet governance expert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Dr. Mueller, now a professor at Syracuse University School of Information Studies and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, co-founded the constituency in 2002. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">"Nonprofits and public interest advocacy groups have an irreplaceable role to play in a self-regulatory scheme dominated by business interests. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Someone has to look out for the public interest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If we handicap noncommercial voices and divide them into competing silos they simply won't be able to participate effectively. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ICANN's legitimacy and the quality of its decisions will suffer," explained Dr. Mueller.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">In order to dispel pervasive myths about civil society’s role in ICANN, the NCUC published a </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="http://ncdnhc.org/profiles/blogs/top-10-myths-about-civil">“Top 10 Myths about Civil Society Participation in ICANN,”</a> a document that explains why much of what ICANN staff and other constituencies have claimed about noncommercial participation is untrue.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">For additional information on NCUC and noncommercial participation in ICANN, please contact NCUC’s Chair Robin Gross or visit NCUC’s website at <a href="http://ncdnhc.org">http://ncdnhc.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Contact:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Robin Gross, NCUC Chair <span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Milton Mueller, NCUC Co-Founder<span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Tel.: +1-415-553-6261<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span>Tel: +1-315-443-5616<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Email: robin – at - ipjustice.org<span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Email: Mueller – at – syr.edu<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">More Info:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC):<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="http://ncdnhc.org">http://ncdnhc.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">NCUC’s Letter to ICANN Board of Directors and CEO:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="http://ncdnhc.org/profiles/blogs/ncuc-letter-to-icann-board-of">http://ncdnhc.org/profiles/blogs/ncuc-letter-to-icann-board-of</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">NCUC’s “Top 10 Myths About Civil Society Participation in ICANN”:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="http://ncdnhc.org/profiles/blogs/top-10-myths-about-civil">http://ncdnhc.org/profiles/blogs/top-10-myths-about-civil</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">About the Noncommercial Users Constituency:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">The NCUC is the home for civil society organizations and individuals in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>With real voting power in ICANN policy-making and Board selection, it develops and supports positions that favor non-commercial communication and activity on the Internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The NCUC is open to non-commercial organizations and individuals involved in education, community networking, public policy advocacy, development, promotion of the arts, children's welfare, religion, consumer protection, scientific research, human rights and many other areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>NCUC maintains a public website at <a href="http://ncdnhc.org">http://ncdnhc.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman"">###<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'"><br></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'"><br></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'"><br></font></div> <!--EndFragment--> </div></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div>IP JUSTICE</div><div>Robin Gross, Executive Director</div><div>1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA</div><div>p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451</div><div>w: <a href="http://www.ipjustice.org">http://www.ipjustice.org</a> e: <a href="mailto:robin@ipjustice.org">robin@ipjustice.org</a></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></body></html>