[Comment-Dnso] ICIIU Consensus Proposal for the NCDNHC

[Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.org>]

The ICIIU offers the following Consensus Proposal for the NCDNHC
based on the ACM compromise proposal presented at the Berlin
constituency meeting and on fair principles for electing officers
and Names Council members.

CONSENSUS APPLICATION FOR THE NCDNHC
 
 I. Goals of the Non-Commercial Constituency
 
 The Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency has a special
place in the DNSO. The NCDNHC is the constituency which is intended
to be independent of commercial interests. Its members will be those
organizations whose uses and applications of the Internet are
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 sectors of society. The interests of such
organizations are not represented in the other constituencies of the
DNSO and deserve to be represented by the NCDNHC.
 
 II. Membership Criteria
 
 The NCDNHC proposes that organizations holding domain names,
organized not-for-profit under the laws of any jurisdiction, and
recognized as having primarily non-commercial purposes, as well as
organizations which, although not formally incorporated, are
recognized as having primarily noncommercial purposes (e.g.,
educational, religious, charitable, or professional entities) will
be eligible for membership.
 
 Membership is limited to organizations that are not also members of
other DNSO constituencies. Some organizations that are non-profit
and engage in non-commercial activities might be eligible for
membership in other DNSO constituencies; however, in order to focus
the efforts of the NCDNHC such organizations are eligible for
membership in this constituency only if they elect not to join
another.
 
The following organizations meeting the membership criteria have
thus far expressed their desire to join the NCDNHC:

ACM
ASIMELEC
Asociacion de Internautas del Peru (AIP) 
Asociacion de Usuarios de Internet (AUI)
Biological Anthropology Forum (BAF) 
Comite UPADI de Tecnologia de Informacion y Telecomunicaciones
Communisphere Project
COMTELCA 
Convergence Center, Syracuse Univ. School of Information Studies
Distributed Knowledge Project (DKProj) 
EDUCAUSE
ENRED
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca
Int'l Congress of Independent Internet Users (ICIIU)
Int'l Council for Computer Communication (ICCC)
Internet Users Society - Niue
Interoperability Technology Association for Information Processing
(INTAP)
KoRea Internet Association (KRIA)
Mercedes Benz Owners Website (MBZ.ORG)
Namibian Internet Development Foundation (NAMIDEF) 
NETSCAN.org
Networks & Development Foundation (FUNREDES)
Network Startup Resource Center
NYSERNet
PENSIVE.org
Personal Domain Name Holders Association (PDNHA)
Red de Desarrollo Sostenible de Panama
Revista Electronica de Derecho Informatico (REDI) 
Trans-Atlantic Consumers Dialogue (TACD)
Trans European Research and Education Networking Association
University of Washington
 
 III. Organizational Principles
 
 In order to foster full and fair representation of both large and
small organizations, the NCDNHC membership will be subdivided into
two groups:
 
 Large Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria
and goals for promoting non-commercial activity on the Internet as
set out in Section IV above, incorporated as not-for-profit
entities, and whose membership is over 1000 persons or, for
nonmembership organizations, having 200 or more employees.
 
 Small Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria
and goals for promoting non-commercial activity on the Internet as
set out in Section IV above, incorporated as not-for-profit
entities, and whose membership is under 1000 or, for nonmembership
organizations, having fewer than 200 employees.
 
 Organizations having chapters, committees and other subgroups.
 Many large organizations will have worldwide chapters, schools
within a university, special interest groups, or other subdivisions.
These subdivisions of larger organizations may apply for separate
membership only by  justifying, through the submission of credible
supporting data, that they have a separate and independent voice
that could not be represented by the parent organization. Such
applications for independent membership status by subgroups of
larger organizations will be considered on the basis of avoiding a
disproportionate voice in the constituency's discussions and
decisions for any organization, while offering a voice to
legitimately independent groups.
 
 IV. Voting Principles and Proposals
 
 A. Voting Principles
 Elections for each position - officers and NC members - will be
conducted separately. There will be no slates of candidates.
 Nominations must be made by an individual who is not the nominee,
and seconded by at least one other individual who is not the
nominee.
 Nominations will be for specific posts, although a nominee who
loses an election for a post may be re-nominated for another post.
 If there is more than one nominee for a post from a member
organization, that organization will choose one from among their
nominees to stand for each election.
 Each member organization will cast one vote by secret ballot in
each election.
 No two officers or Names Council members shall represent the same
organization.

 In keeping with the Organizational Principles as set out in Section
III, the Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency will find a
way to provide large and small organizations with a full and fair
vote for election of Names Council members and other decisions.
 
 B. Voting Proposals: Names Council
 The Names Council representatives from the Non-Commercial
Constituency will be elected by the large and small organizations as
follows:
 1) one Names Council representative by the Large Organizations,
 2) one Names Council representative by the Small Organizations, and
 3) a third Names Council representative elected from nominees
submitted half by the Large Organizations and half by the Small
Organizations and with voting weighted by an algorithm that balances
combined number and size of the large organizations with combined
number and size of the small organizations. This procedure will be
created by the officers and ratified by the membership.
 
 V. INTERIM ORGANIZATION
 
 Until July 31, the NCDNHC will seek new member organizations
through a website and mailing list to be managed by a neutral
third-party organization to be agreed upon by the initial
organizers. On or after July 31, but no later than August 15,
election of initial officers (a President, Vice-President, and
Secretary) will take place, followed by election of the NCDNHC's
three initial Names Council members. These elections will be done by
the extant member organizations and by the above Voting Principles.