Question: a very important issue for all future elections of icann representatives is the improvement of their democratic legitimation through the net community. this requires the possibility of a *much* broader participation of @large members (more than two directors!). WHAT EXACTLY WILL YOU DO WORKING TOWARDS THAT AIM?

Nominee Replies

Andy Mueller-Maguhn - posted on 2000-10-02 00:27:58 I do agree to your view, but don´t think that participation is just a question of the election of directors. I could imagine direct possibilities of participation at the discussion (which requieres transparency of the information and time for participation) and direct functionalities of the @large members for example to decide on disputes about Domain-Names. The @large membership could directly vote for e.g. the UDRP administrative panels. In general, I think pariticipation must be based on the transparency of information and process architecture and should be integrated in all of ICANN processes. The organization of users independent from ICANN to support the decision procedures could help this a lot. Jeanette Hofmann - posted on 2000-09-27 17:35:46 I agree. The legitimacy of ICANN's decisions depends on their democratic foundation. However, as you may have noticed a considerable share of the At Large members doesn't seem to care very much about the election. The democratization of ICANN is a difficult task to achieve - not only because of ICANN's apparent disapproval but also because of the indifference among the Net's communities. In my view, the right way to go is to build up the At Large Membership, as an open forum for anyone who likes to join and later on as a formal structure able to make decisions and to represent its members. The European mailing list icann-europe@fitug.de is a start. Alf Hansen - posted on 2000-09-24 12:36:12 I will contribute to a working regional At Large infrastructure. As a start this could be an At Large Forum where At Large members can express their views and concerns. If the Forum is managed properly, it will contribute to larger participation from members and relevant input to the Board. Based on consensus among the membership, some kind of regional At Large Council could later be established in addition, being able to structure the views and give advice to the ICANN Board as a whole. I have right now no firm view on how many At Large Directors should be elected from each region. I will assume that the At Large study will give some insight in this area.