[ICANN-EU] Re: Groups Urge ICANN to Keep Promises

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Jay and all,

  You don't think this letter from the DNRC is going to make
any difference to the current ICANN Board do you Jay?

Jay Fenello wrote:

> SOURCE:  The Domain Name Rights Coalition
>
> CONTACT:  Jay Fenello, Fenello.com, 678-585-9765
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
>
> Public Interest Groups join with the DNRC in Urging ICANN To Keep
> Promises Given Since 1998 - Elect 9 At Large Directors, and Eliminate
> "Clean Sheet" Study Designed to Abolish At Large Representation
>
> HERNDON, VA, November 10, 2000 /PRNewswire/ -- The Domain Name
> Rights Coalition (DNRC), an organization dedicated to protecting the
> interests of entrepreneurs, small business owners and individuals in
> domain name issues, in conjunction with other Public Interest groups
> such as Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility as well as
> influential individuals in the area of Domain Names released a letter
> calling upon ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
> Numbers, to keep their word.
>
> In 1998, ICANN pledged to the Department of Commerce that it would
> never change the bylaws guaranteeing direct elections by the Internet
> rank-and-file of 9 electors, or half the Board.  "We commit that will
> never happen," wrote Esther Dyson, Chair of ICANN and one of the
> "Interim" unelected Board members, to the Commerce Department in 1998
> as part of ICANN's petition to become stewards of the Domain Name
> System (DNS). After receiving the contract to manage the DNS, however,
> ICANN reduced the number of At Large Directors from nine to five, and
> has announced it will re-examine whether to permit any Internet user
> representation after the terms of the newly elected directors expire.
>
> The letter calls upon ICANN to restore the representation promised to
> the Internet community since 1998, and renounce its threat to abolish
> At Large representation. "When ICANN was in serious trouble in 1998
> and 1999, they promised open elections for all" said Mikki Barry,
> President of the Domain Name Rights Coalition. "The Internet
> Community relied on their word."
>
> Barry cited Congressional Testimony of Esther Dyson at an oversight
> hearing before the House Commerce Committee in 1999, as well as
> letters to the Commerce Department and members of Congress, as
> evidence of ICANN's initial insistence it would provide Internet
> users the right to elect 9 directors. "But once Congress and
> Commerce seemed satisfied and NSI was brought into the fold,
> ICANN began a full reversal of their original stance."
>
> Barry and other critics warned Commerce in 1998, when it first
> considered ICANN's proposal, that nothing would stop ICANN from
> changing its bylaws to keep out the public once Commerce approved
> ICANN's applications. It was in response to this criticism that
> Dyson pledged on behalf of ICANN that no such changes would occur.
>
> Despite Dyson's pledge in 1998, and similar pledges in 1999, ICANN
> did change its bylaws, extending the terms of the initial directors,
> reducing the number of elected directors, and creating a "Clean
> Sheet" study to re-examine whether to allow Internet users any direct
> representation at all. When the limited elections ICANN permitted
> elected two of ICANN's vociferous critics, there was a widespread
> concern that ICANN might use the Clean Sheet study to eliminate At
> Large elections altogether, or reduce them further. ICANN's bylaws
> also have been changed to permit elected At Large directors only 2
> years service on the Board with automatic removal at term's end, but
> "constituency" directors receive 3 year terms and sit until further
> elections are called.
>
> "At the end of two years, the Board may well vote to eliminate At
> Large, and extend their own terms indefinitely." according to Barry.
> "Internet Users would have zero say in the very organization that
> determines their rights."
>
> Public interest groups warned ICANN that it would risk its legitimacy
> if it did not fulfill its promise of nine elected members from the
> At Large membership. The letter called upon the four remaining
> "Boardsquatters," the four unelected "Interim" Directors who have
> extended their terms three times, to resign. It also urged the Board
> to follow the recommendations of Professor Michael Froomkin and allow
> the five democratically elected directors from the At Large to fill
> the four vacancies until new At Large elections could fill them.
>
> Professor Froomkin's proposal is available at
> http://personal.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/boardsquat2.htm
> The DNRC letter can be seen at
> http://www.netpolicy.com/icann111000.html.
>
> The letter has already sparked a lively debate. Hans Klein, Chair
> of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), cited
> the letter extensively in a panel discussion at the on-going ICANN
> meetings in Marina del Rey, where ICANN Board will soon decide how
> to proceed with the study. "The prospect of a clean-sheet study is
> a significant departure from ICANN's prior commitments," said Klein.
> "We fear that the so-called "clean slate" study may attempt to make
> a "clean sweep" of the At Large membership, ending democratic
> accountability in ICANN." CPSR is a signatory to the DNRC letter.
>
> The Domain Name Rights Coalition is an organization dedicated to
> ensuring the rights of individual and small business users of the
> Internet. Its website is located at http://www.domainnamerights.org.
>
> The Domain Name Rights Coalition was formed in 1996, and has worked
> for national and international policies which are fair and equitable
> to all users of the Internet ever since. It has also worked to protect
> the Internet as a global medium of communication and free speech, and
> it is well known for its vigilant fight against the Domain Name Dispute
> Policy of Network Solutions, Inc. and similar policies recommended by
> the World Intellectual Property Organization and later implemented by
> ICANN.
>
> ###
> +++
>
> Jay Fenello,
> New Media Strategies
> ------------------------------------
> http://www.fenello.com  678-585-9765
> Aligning with Purpose(sm) ... for a Better World
> ----------------------------------------------------
> "Wake up, Neo...  The Matrix has you..."  -- Trinity

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman INEGroup (Over 112k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
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