Civic Representation in ICANN: What Now? - ISOC-NY Forum @ NYU 10/8/09

[Joly MacFie]

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Civic Representation in ICANN: What Now?

What: An ISOC-NY Forum
When: Thurs Oct 8 2009 – 6:45pm – 8:45pm
Where: Warren Weaver Hall NYU
251 Mercer St Rm 317
New York NY 10012
http://cs.nyu.edu/web/Location/directions.html
Who: Dr Milton Mueller; Beau Brendler; Danny Younger

Admission free: RSVP president at isoc-ny.org

On Oct 1 2009 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) entered a new era as its Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with
the US Government expired and it became a truly independent global
organization. In this forum we will examine the processes, currently
in flux, of how we the people will get to participate in this new
paradigm.

The newly coined Articles of Commitment (AoC) state that ICANN will
“operate as a multi-stakeholder, private sector led organization with
input from the public, for whose benefit ICANN shall in all events
act.”

Currently there are two mechanisms by which the Internet using public
are represented at ICANN. The Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC
aka NonComm) in the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and
the At-Large organization..

The At-Large Advisory Council was formed, with official liaison
status, as an interim measure in 2003 after the ICANN board had
dispensed with direct public elections. In 2007 with the establishment
of regional At-Large Organizations (ALO’s). the ALAC became permanent.
ALO membership is open to all individuals and organizations can apply
to become an At-Large Structure (ALS). In 2009 it was agreed that an
ICANN board seat be allotted to the At-Large.

The GNSO Council is ICANN’s primary body responsible for policy
recommendations for generic top level domains. The board balances the
GNSO recommendations with input from the Government Advisory Committee
(GAC) and liaisons from various technical groups, plus At Large (soon
to be seated, as mentioned) plus the ICANN Ombudsman.

Other constituencies in are, Business/Commercial, Registries, ISPs,
and Intellectual Property. The NCUC, formerly the Noncommercial Domain
Holders Constituency, has thus been, since ICANN’s inception, the sole
voice of non-commercial users on the GNSO Council. As such it has
taken to representing regular internet users’ concerns as well as
those of registrants.

Earlier this year ICANN proposed another re-organization, replacing
the GNSO constituencies with two ‘houses’ – Contracted and
Non-contracted, each of which was further divided into two stakeholder
groups. Contracted has Registries and Registrars; Non-Contracted has
Commercial (CSG) and Noncommercial (NCSG). 12 seats on the GNSO
Council would be split thus: CSG 6; NCSG 6; Registries 3; Registrars
3.

The former ISP, Business, and IP constituencies are to be folded into
the CSG and presumably take two seats each.

On the NCSG front: 3 seats have been alloted to the NCUC and 3
placeholders have been selected by the ICANN Structural Improvement
Committee.

The NCUC has argued against the plan insisting that it will only serve
to further balkanize the GNSO process, and that practical policymaking
would be better served by ad-hoc working groups than the proposed
legislative approach.
http://gnso.icann.org/files/gnso/en/improvements/executive-summary-ncsg-proposal.pdf

However some members – of both the NCUC and At-Large – with particular
axes to grind, are keen on a plan that will permit them to represent
their interests in the GNSO without having to carry the NCUC with
them.

The three speakers we are bringing together on Oct 8 represent widely
differing views on how it is best to proceed in the public interest.
It is sure to be a very lively and interesting discussion.

We will webcast and there will be an opportunity for remote
participation via a chatroom.

More info: http://isoc-ny.org/?p=886

Speakers:

Dr. Milton Mueller

Milton Mueller is a Professor and Director of the Telecommunications
Network Management Program at the Syracuse University School of
Information Studies. He is the author of ‘Ruling the Root: Internet
Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace’ (MIT Press, 2002) – the
definitive account of early Internet governance debates. Mueller was a
co-founder of the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) and was
chair of NCUC from 2003-2005.

http://www.internetgovernance.org/people-mueller.html

Beau Brendler:

Beau Brendler is a journalist and consumer activist who takes a
particular interest in Internet affairs. He was a founder and
editorial director of ABCNews.com before moving to a fulltime position
at the Consumers Union in 2001 where he launched Consumer WebWatch .
He is an active member of the ICANN Community and serves on the
At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) . He has recently proposed the
establishment of a Consumer Constituency within the Generic Names
Supporting Organization (GNSO).

Danny Younger:

Danny Younger has been involved with ICANN since at least 2001
including active participation on the General Assembly mailing list.
He represented ISOC-NY in the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC)
from 2004-2007. He has for some time advocated for a single
Registrants constituency within the GNSO.

More info:
ICANN Structure: http://www.icann.org/en/structure/
NonCommercial Users Constituency: http://www.ncdnhc.org/
At-Large Advisory Committee:  http://alac.icann.org/



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