[ICANN-EU] Disclosure of ICANN At Large Membership information

[Mike Roberts <roberts@icann.org>]

At Large Friends -

ICANN receives many questions about the status of the member 
registration records contained in the database collected for the 
purpose of supporting the recent vote for five At Large Directors.

This information was collected under a strict privacy rule of no 
commercial use, no spamming, and no disclosure to third parties. 
This policy was recommended to the Board by its Membership Advisory 
Committee back in 1999.

"Privacy concerns should be foremost in the collection, safeguarding 
and use of a Member's data."

See   <http://www.icann.org/macberlin.htm> for full text of the report.

ICANN will not disclose the identity of At Large registrants, nor 
will we confirm or deny to third parties an individual's status in 
the At Large membership file - ie., registered, validated, voting - 
until such time as the Board of Directors adopts a resolution 
revising current policy.

The staff recognizes that there are entirely legitimate reasons for 
creating an active and participative At Large membership, which may 
include self-identification of membership status to other members and 
third parties.  Proposals which advance these goals and which 
carefully balance public information versus personal privacy concerns 
are welcome and should be discussed with Andrew McLaughlin 
<mclaughlin@icann.org>.

- Mike Roberts