Exclusion of non-commercial Internet users from ICANN

[Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.org>]

We protest in the strongest terms possible against the exclusion in
this proposal by Don Heath (ISOC) of those organizations which have
adhered to the NCDNHC
through the ICIIU, the first organization to submit a proposal for
the constituency. The organizations listed below are clearly posted
on the ICANN website as founding members of the constituency. How
dare ISOC exclude them from their list of founding members? 

The organizations which have adhered to the NCDNHC through the ICIIU
will immediately be put on ISOC's list of founding members, and a
place made in the compromise proposal for newly-adhering
organizations that wish to join independently of ISOC, or the ICIIU
will discontinue discussions with the other parties.



Don Heath wrote:

> Here is a proposal which I believe incorporates our consensus:
> 
> CONSENSUS APPLICATION FOR PROVISIONAL RECOGNITION
> 
> 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 segments
of society. The
intererests of such organizations are not necessarily represented by
the other constituencies
of the DNSO and deserve to be represented in the NCDNHC.
> 
> II. Membership Criteria
> 
> The NCDNHC proposes that organizations holding domain names, which are organized
not-for-profit under the laws of any jurisdiction and are recognized
as having primarily
non-commercial purposes, and organizations which, although not
formally incorporated, are
recognized as having primarily noncommercial purposes, e.g.,
educational, religious,
charitable, or professional, shall be eligible for membership.
> 
> Membership is limited to organizations that are not also members of other DNSO
constituencies. We recognize that some organizations that are
non-profit and engage in
non-commercial activities may be eligible for other DNSO
constituencies, but in order to focus
the efforts of the NCDNHC, such organizations are eligible for the
NCDNHC only if they elect
not to join other constituencies.
> 
> In order to bootstrap the organization of the NCDNHC, the following organizations are
recognized as the Founding Members of the NCDNHC:
> 
> ACM
> ASIMELEC
> Asociacion de Usuarios de Internet (AUI)
> Association of Telecommunication Operators and Service Providers
> (ASTEL)
> Assumption University of Thailand
> Comite UPADI de Tecnologia de Informacion y Telecomunicaciones
> Domini-ct.org/TLD for Catalonia
> EDUCAUSE
> ENRED
> European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
> Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca
> GLOCOM
> ICIIU
> IEEE Communications Society
> IEEE Computer Society (IEEE)
> Institute for Information Industry (III)
> International Council for Computer Communication (ICCC)
> Internet Association of Japan
> Internet Society (ISOC)
> Internet Society Nederland (isoc.nl)
> Internet Users Society - Niue
> Interoperability Technology Association for Information
> Processing, Japan (INTAP)
> KoRea Internet Association (KRIA)
> Networks & Development Foundation (FUNREDES)
> Network Startup Resource Center
> New York University
> NYSERNet, Inc.
> Policy Oversight Committee (POC)
> Red de Desarrollo Sostenible de Panama
> Sociedad Internet de Mexico
> Spanish Electronics and Telecommunications Industries
> Association (ANIEL)
> SURFnet
> 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 proposes to divide the membership of the Non-Commercial
Constituency into two subgroups:
> 
> 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 a
not-for-profit entity, and, for membership organizations, having a
current membership over 1000
people or, for nonmembership organizations, having 200 or more
employees (such as a
not-for-profit university).
> 
> Small Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria and goals for promoting
non-commercial activity on the Internet as set out in Section IV
above, operating on a
not-for-profit basis for the benefit of more than one individual or
family, and whose
membership is under 1000 or, for nonmembership organizations, having
less than 200 employees.
> 
> Organizations having chapters, committees and other subgroups.
> Many large organizations will have worldwide chapters, schools within a university, numerous
special interest groups and other subdivisions. These subgroups of
larger organizations may
apply for membership by submission of supporting data to justify
having a separate and
independent voice that would not necessarily be properly represented
by the membership of the
parent. Consideration of such application shall be based on both
avoidance of giving any
organization a disproportionate voice in the constituency's
discussions and decisions while
still offering a voice to legitmately independent voices.
> 
> IV. Voting Principles and Proposals
> 
> A. Voting Principles
> Each member organization shall have one vote.
> In keeping with the Organizational Principles set out in Section III, the Non-Commercial
Domain Name Holders Constituency must 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
> We recommend that the Names Council representatives from the Non-Commercial Constituency 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 a slate of nominees submitted half by
the Large Organizations and half by the Small Organizations and with
voting on this joint slate
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 August 31, the NCDNHC shall be governed by an interim committee of five officers (the
"interim officers") to be selected by nominations, to be made on or
before June 21, and an
election to be conducted on June 25 by email ballots of the Founding
Members. A neutral
third-party organization to be agreed upon shall host a web site and
administer the
> election. In order to assure geographic distribution, no two interim officers shall reside in
the same one of the geographic areas defined in the ICANN bylaws, no
two interim officers shall
represent the same organization, and no single interim officer may
represent more than one
organization. The following principles shall govern the election of
the five interim officers:
> Interim Officers will be elected by the largest number of votes processed as follows:
> a. All nominees from the same region as the person with the largest number of votes will be
eliminated. From the resulting list, all nominees from the same
region as the person with the
second number of votes will be eliminated. The five people at the
top of the remaining list
will be elected.
> b. In case of a tie, a tie-breaker election between the two candidates with an equal number
of votes will be held.
> 
> The primary purpose of the interim committee is to keep accurate and complete records of
confirmed members, and to generate new membership in the NCDNHC.
Toward that end, the committee
will oversee operation of the mailing list connecting the members
and administered by the
neutral third party. Beginning August 1, 1999 nominations for the
Name Council will be opened.
> 
> New members shall apply to the interim officers for membership. The interim officers shall
ratify the new members by a majority vote. In case of rejection of
an application, the
application shall be submitted to a majority vote of the existing
membership.
> 
> The interim officers shall also draft and submit to the membership for approval:
> a specific procedure for electing the third Names Council member, as per Section IV.B.3 above
(this must be done before August 1);
> a proposal for a permanent officers structure and, if deemed necessary, a credential
challenge and dispute resolution process.