[ncdnhc-discuss] Current charter...

[Kent Crispin]

(From the NCDNHC web site at http://198.6.250.8/, Nov 25, 2001)
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NON-COMMERCIAL DOMAIN NAME HOLDERS CONSTITUENCY


SECOND CHARTER REVISION

Revision 28 August 2000
Revision 10 September 2000:
Posting September 21st, 2000

I. Goals of the Non-Commercial Constituency

The Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency has a special place in
the DNSO. The NCDNHC is intended to be independent of commercial interests.
Its members are organizations whose uses and applications of the Internet
are primarily non-commercial, including organizations which represent
individual domain name holders whose interests must be primarily
non-commercial.

Its purpose is to support non-commercial speech and activity on the
Internet, to protect the rights of non-commercial domain name holders, and
to forge together the interests of non-commercial domain name holders.

NCDNHC must provide the voice and representation for organizations that
serve non-commercial interests and provide services such as community
organizing, promotion of the arts, children's welfare, religion, education,
scientific research, human rights and the advancement of the Internet as a
global communications system available to all segments of society. The
interests of such organizations are not necessarily represented by the other
constituencies of the DNSO and deserve to be represented in the NCDNHC.

II. Membership Criteria

The NCDNHC proposes that the following organizations shall be eligible for
membership in the NCDNHC:

a) organizations holding at least one domain name,

b) and which are incorporated as a non-commercial entity (in countries that
have such a provision in their commercial code), or if unincorporated or
operating in a country without provisions for non-commercial incorporation,
operate on a not-for-profit basis primarily for non-commercial purposes, and

c) which are engaged in activities that are primarily non-commercial,
including, e.g. political, educational, religious, charitable, scientific
and artistic.

The membership of the NCDNHC specifically excludes commercial entities and
associations of or for the benefit of commercial entities (even if they are
non-commercial in form), and also excludes organizations which use the
Internet primarily forcommercial activity, even if their other activities
are non-commercial.

The NCDNHC will have two types of membership, voting members and non-voting
members.

Associations or organizations whose specific goals are to represent the
interests of registries, registrars or ISPs or those whose specific
interests are to defend the Intellectual Property rights of their associates
cannot have full member status but may participate as non-voting members.

Non-voting members can participate in Constituency discussion lists, propose
and discuss resolutions and participate in all physical meetings. Non-voting
members have no voting rights in the constituency and its processes and
cannot participate in constituency Adcom teleconference calls except by
consent of the Adcom.

We understand that many subgroups have separate interests and a separate
voice from their parent organizations. Those subgroups are welcome to
participate fully and actively in the Constituency as non-voting members.

Political organizations that are non-governmental are eligible for voting
status. A political organization shall be considered "non-governmental" if
its primary purpose is to influence governmental or public policy, but not
to hold governmental offices or to elect government officials. Ineligible
political organizations are those whose primary purpose is to hold
government offices and/or elect government officials. In unclear or
borderline cases, the voting status of a political organization will be
decided by the constituency membership after review of the application on
its merits.

III. Organizational Principles

In order to foster full and fair representation of both large and small
organizations, the NCDNHC proposes to divide the membership of the
Non-Commercial Constituency into two subgroups:

Large Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria and goals
for promoting non-commercial activity on the Internet as set out in Section
I above, incorporated as a not-for-profit entity, and, for membership
organizations, having a current membership over 1000 or more people or, for
non-membership organizations, having 200 or more employees (such as a
not-for-profit university).

Small Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria and goals
for promoting non-commercial activity on the Internet as set out in Section
I above, operating on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of more than
one individual or family, and whose membership is under 1000 or, for
non-membership organizations, having less than 200 employees.

IV. Voting Principles, Proposals and Overall Organization

A. DNSO Names Council and NCDNHC Administrative Committee

Per ICANN Bylaws, members of the NCDNHC are entitled to elect three members
to the DNSO Names Council.

NCDNHC will also elect two other persons who, together with the Names
Council members, shall form an Administrative Committee (AdCom). The
Administrative Committee is intended to represent all five geographic
regions. It will advise members of the NCDNHC of the Names Council proposals
and will assist Names Council representatives by providing input and
information from NCDNHC members. Further, the Administrative Committee will
be responsible for handling the administrative issues of the Constituency,
including the management of fees.

B. Voting Principles

In order to assure geographic distribution, (i) no two AdCom members shall
be citizens of the same geographic area, as defined in the ICANN bylaws,
(ii) no two AdCom members shall represent the same organization, and (iii)
no single AdCom member shall represent more than one organizational member
of the NCC.

C. Voting Proposals

In order to balance the size of the large organizations with the potential
of the small organizations to join in much greater numbers, voting will be
weighted by giving two votes to each large organization and one vote to each
small organization.

In order to assure diversity, Names Council Representatives and
Administrative Committee members will be elected by the following process:

- the person with the most votes is the First AdCom member, and a Names
Council Representative.

- the person with the second highest number of votes -- from a different
geographic region than the first AdCom member -- is elected as the Second
AdCom member, and a Names Council Representative.

- the person with the third highest number of votes -- from a different
geographic region than the first and second AdCom members -- is elected as
the Third AdCom member, and a Names Council Representative.

- the person with the fourth highest number of votes -- from a different
geographic region than the first three AdCom members -- is elected to the
AdCom

- the person with the fifth highest number of votes -- from a different
geographic region than the first four AdCom members is also elected to the
AdCom.

D. Membership Required To Run; Nominations Require a Second

To run for the AdCom, a candidate must be affiliated with an organization
that is a member of the NCDNHC, and have the approval of that organization
to run. Any organization may nominate a candidate, and every nomination must
be seconded by another organization.

E. Voting Results Shall Be Publicly Announced

In the interest of openness, results of voting for Names Council
representatives shall be public. After the period allowed for voting closes,
the votes shall be listed by organization on the NCDNHC website so that they
can be inspected and counted by members and the public.

F. Term of Names Council and Administrative Council

The term of the Names Council and Administrative Council representatives
shall be one year.

G. Replacement

If an Administrative Committee member or Names Council member resigns or is
impeached, [NOTE: no process for impeachment] the Administrative Committee
member from a different region who ranked fourth in votes in the original
election replaces him/her temporarily, until a new election is held. Such a
new election should be completed within two months of the
resignation/impeachment.

In case of election for a Names Council position, the Administrative
Committee members who represent the two regions that were not represented on
the Names Council must run as candidates from that region. Other members
from regions already represented on the Administrative Committee cannot run
in this election.

Any number of candidates from the region not represented in the
Administrative Committee can run.

In case of election for a Names Council position, the candidate from one of
the three regions not already represented on the Names Council who gets the
largest vote total is the new Names Council representative.

The two candidates from the three regions not already included in the Names
Council with the 2nd and 3rd highest vote totals are Administrative
Committee members for those regions.

V. Sign up for Membership and Communication via Website and List

A. Sign up for Membership

The NCDNHC represents a large and heterogeneous group of organizations, many
of whom are not yet aware of the ICANN, its processes, and their impact. It
is crucial to the success of the constituency that it be operated in an open
manner which will encourage new organizations meeting the membership
criteria to join and participate.

It is also important that those within the constituency have the opportunity
to learn about a member, any possible conflicts the member might have, and
the position and title of the person designated to represent the member.

Membership will be by self-nomination based on disclosure. The NCDNHC
website will have a form which all prospective members will fill out, to
include: the individual seeking to work with the NCDNHC on behalf of the
organization, her/his title and position with the organization, full contact
information, whether he/she is formally authorized to represent the
organization, whether the organization is non-commercial and how the
organization engages in non-commercial speech and activity on the Internet,
whether the organization or the individual have any conflicts that the
groups
should be aware of, the domain name of the organization and any website URL
it may have.

All organizations must fill out this form, and circulate it to the others
seeking to form the NCDNHC. As new organizations seek to enter the
Constituency, they too will circulate the form to the other members via the
NCDNHC list. Other members may challenge the application for failure to meet
the stated membership criteria of the constituency.

Copies of the forms for all organizations will also be kept on the NCDNHC
website, with a facility to search the forms by organization's name and
representative's name.

B. List

The NCDNHC shall have a listserv for members to introduce themselves and
discuss constituency matters.

C. Website and Listserv Host

The Internet Society (ISOC) shall be the initial host of NCDNHC website and
list. Both shall be organized per the requirements of this Charter, and per
the specifications that may arise from consensus of the NCDNHC. The
Administrative Committee shall have the authority to change the website and
listserv host.

VI. Charter Amendment

This Charter may be amended from time to time as the needs of the
Constituency change or as needed to incorporate changes to the ICANN
Bylaws.. Amendment shall be through the formation of a Charter Revision
Committee, to include the Administrative Committee and other members of the
Constituency who shall volunteer, which shall recommend and discuss changes.
Recommended changes shall then be presented to the Constituency for review
and adoption.

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
kent at songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain