ICANN
Domain Name Supporting Organization Constituency Group Formation Process
Pre-Berlin Meeting Archive
For those interested in the constituency-organization process that led to ICANN's provisional recognition of six constituency groups at its meeting in Berlin on May 27, we are maintaining this archive of the DNSO Constituency Group page as it existed prior to the Berlin meeting.  This page is not an up-to-date source of information regarding the Constituency-formation process.  Please see the current Constituency page for more information.

IMPORTANT NOTICE - This document contains information about the DNSO Constituency Formation Process and statements provided by individuals and organizations working to self-organize DNSO Constituency Groups, in accordance with Article VI-B of the ICANN Bylaws.  Following public comment, the ICANN Board will consider recognizing Initial DNSO Constituency Groups at its next regularly scheduled meeting in Berlin on May 26-27, 1999.

Please submit comments regarding constituency formation to comment-dnso@icann.org.  All comments will be posted on the ICANN website at http://www.icann.org/comments-mail/comment-dnso/maillist.html for public review and response.  (If your comment is not posted within 12 hours of its submission, please contact webmaster@icann.org.) Comments received by midnight, U.S. West Coast  time, May 21, will be considered by the ICANN Board of Directors in advance of any action on these matters at its meetings in Berlin. The ICANN Board will also consider comments made at its public forum on May 26 in Berlin.  (For details see http://www.icann.org/berlin/.)

General Information

The Domain Names Supporting Organization Formation Concepts statement adopted by the ICANN Board of Directors on March 4, and the recently adopted bylaw changes designed to implement that statement, call for the formation of a number of self-organized Constituency Groups within the DNSO.  In particular, these documents specify that the DNSO will include the following Initial Constituency Groups:

ccTLD registries
Commercial and business entities
gTLD registries
ISPs and connectivity providers
Non-commercial domain name holders
Registrars
Trademark, intellectual property, anti-counterfeiting interests
These groups will be responsible for selecting members of the DNSO Council--the body that will be responsible for the management of the DNSO's consensus building process, and for communicating DNSO recommendations about Domain Name System policy to the ICANN Board of Directors.

Constituency Organizing Efforts

ICANN staff will be assisting in the coordination of constituency formation efforts. To that end, anyone who is working to organize a constituency should inform ICANN of his or her efforts. We will be posting information (below) about Constituency Group organization efforts as it is submitted to us (via email to Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, msvh@icann.org. Submissions should include identification and contact information for the multiple individuals or organizations within a constituency category who are working together to organize a Constituency Group. In cases in which ICANN receives multiple submissions regarding the same Constituency, we will encourage the submitters to coordinate their efforts if possible. Constituency organizers are reminded that constituencies will be required (in accordance with Bylaw provisions adopted by the ICANN Board on March 31), to "operate to the maximum extent feasible in an open and transparent manner and consistent with procedures designed to ensure fairness."

Berlin Constituency Group Meetings

Organizers who hope to have a Constituency recognized at the ICANN meeting in Berlin should prepare as soon as possible a statement of their criteria for participation in the Constituency and their planned process for selecting Names Council members. These statements will be distributed to the ICANN Board of Directors and posted on the ICANN web site.

Constituency organizers are invited to hold in-person meetings in Berlin on the morning of May 25, in conjunction with other ICANN meetings to be held that week. To that end, the following rooms have been reserved for each Constituency organizing effort from 8:30 - 12:00 on Tuesday, May 25. These meetings will be open to the public and are intended to bring together everyone interested in discussing the formation of a given constituency.
DNSO CONSTITUENCY MEETING ROOM
ccTLD registries  Maritim ProArte Hotel
Friedrichstr. 151, D-10117 Berlin Mitte
Phone: +49.30.2033-5
Fax: +49.30.2033-4209
E-Mail: info.bpa@maritim.de
http://www.maritim.de/
Commercial and business entities  Hotel Adlon, Konferenzraum II
gTLD registries  Hotel Adlon, Bibliothek
ISPs and connectivity providers  Hotel Adlon, Bundeszimmer
Non-commercial domain name holders  Hotel Adlon, Kaminzimmer
Registrars Hotel Adlon, Lindenzimmer
Trademark, intellectual property, anti-counterfeiting interests Hotel Adlon, Konferenzraum I

[Note that the details of the room arrangements are subject to change.  Changes will be posted on this page.]

In addition, the first meeting of the DNSO General Assembly will be held in the afternoon on May 25, 1999, 1:30 pm - 5:00, in the Hotel Adlon's Ballsaal I & II. As provided for in the ICANN bylaws, there will be a participation fee of DM 95 ($50 USD), to be collected in German DM in cash at the door. The participation fee is intended solely to fund the costs of DNSO-related meeting rooms, facilities, and webcasting services.

Organizers should plan to submit final written proposals for constituency recognition no later than 5:00 pm, Berlin time, May 25. Time permitting, organizers will be invited to give brief presentations at the open ICANN meeting in Berlin on May 26.

Following recognition of the seven Initial Constituencies, the ICANN Board may consider recognizing additional Consituencies. The ICANN Bylaws provide that "[a]ny group of individuals or entities may petition the Board for recognition as a new or separate Constituency. Any such petition will be posted for public comment pursuant to Article III, Section 3. The Board may create new Constituencies in response to such a petition, or on its own motion, if it determines that such action would serve the purposes of the Corporation." As the Initial Constituencies will not yet have been recognized, the ICANN Board will not be considering any additional Constituencies at its next meeting in Berlin. However, information about additional Constituency organization efforts will be posted here as it is made available as it is received.  Such submissions should be made via email to msvh@icann.org.
 


IMPORTANT NOTICE - The statements below are provided by individuals and organizations working to self-organize DNSO Constituency Groups.  They are posted here to assist the self-organization process and to solicit public comment.  They have not been approved by ICANN and their posting here does not indicate that the groups under formation will necessarily be officially recognized by the ICANN Board of Directors.

ccTLD Registries

Submitted by Fay Howard, (fay@centr.org), April 14, 1999.  Updated April 22, 1999.

"On behalf of the Co-chairs of the World Wide Alliance of TLDs (listed below) CENTR will facilitate a meeting to form the ccTLD Constituency of the ICANN DNSO in Berlin on Tuesday,  25 May 1999.  A preliminary notice has been issued to all ccTLDs.

Some individual registries and regional ccTLD groups are already formulating ideas for the structure and rules of the new ccTLD constituency.  We hope to coordinate these efforts and make progress towards a constituency proposal in advance of the Berlin meeting.  To ensure that all registries have the chance to participate and give input to the process, the wwTLD mailing list <wwtld@ripe.net> will be used to present ideas and encourage debate.  Details of the  meeting venue will follow. A draft agenda for the meeting is being developed in consultation with the wwTLD Co-chairs."

A ccTLD constituency page has been established on the CENTR website at http://www.centr.org/constpage.html.

For further information please contact CENTR Manager, Fay Howard, fay@centr.org>

wwTLD Co-chairs :

Submitted by Fay Howard, (fay@centr.org), May 3, 1999

Commercial and business entities

Originally submitted by Jon Englund (jenglund@itaa.org), March 24, 1999.  Update submitted by Christiaan van der Valk (cvk@iccwbo.org) and Javier Sola (jsola@aui.es), May 5, 1999.

"A number of business organizations and companies have begun formal discussions on how to structure the business/commercial constituency of the Domain Names Supporting Organization.  We welcome the participation and involvement of other business organizations and companies.  An initial proposal has been developed and it is now posted for comment at http://www.eurointernet.org/dnso/buss1.htm

To participate in this constituency organizing effort, please contact either:

Christiaan van der Valk of the International Chamber of Commerce at cvk@iccwbo.org or
Sheila O'Neill or Jon Englund with the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) and ITAA at soneill@itaa.org and jenglund@itaa.org or
Javier Sola of the European Internet Business Association at jsola@aui.es"

Submitted May 5, 1999

Draft Commercial And Business Entities Constituency Charter
[Note:  See http://www.eurointernet.org/dnso/buss1.htm for updated version.]

gTLD Registries

Cover letter and report submitted by Don Telage (dont@netsol.com), April 26, 1999.  (Also posted at http://netsol.com/policy/icann427/)


gTLD Registries, continued

Submitted by Richard Sexton (richard@vrx.net), April 26, 1999.  Revised and re-submitted by Gene Marsh (marshm@diebold.com), April 29, 1999.

"The organizations listed below are pleased to announce the formation of the Top Level Domain Association (TLDA), a gTLD Registry Constituency of the DNSO.  The TLDA will be operating a website at http://www.tlda.org detailing information regarding associate organizations, discussion forums, recommendations and other top level domain issues.

All individuals and orgainizations with an interest in gTLD registry topics is encouraged to join and participate.  Until further notice, please direct all participation requests and queries to either:

Richard Sexton
or
Gene Marsh

If you wish to contact a member of any one of these associate organizations, contact information in the form of an e-mail address has been provided as well.

        VRx Network Services
        Richard Sexton (richard@vrx.net)

        anycastNET Incorporated
        Gene Marsh (marshm@diebold.com)

        Iperdome, Inc.
        Jay Fenello (jay@iperdome.com)

        Image Online Design, Inc.
        Chris Ambler (cambler@iodesign.com)

        Network Management Associates Inc.
        Einar Stefferud, (stef@nma.com)

        A Technology Company, Inc.
        Jason Hendeles, (hendeles@hotmail.com)

        Open Root Server Confederation Incorporated (ORSC)
        http://www.open-rsc.org/about

        North American Root Server Confederation (NARSC)
        Ron Kimball hostmaster@starfire.douglas.ma.us)

        MCG
        Ed Gerck, Ph.D., (egerck@mcg.org.br)
 

These entities wish to foster and open and inclusive process as they and other organizations develop the gTLD Registry constituency.  Physical gatherings may occur from time to time but all decisions will be made on the net.

Three mailing lists will be used for the identifcation and proposed solutions for all top level registry issues: One each for technical, legal and administrative. A quorum of these three groups will identify consensus."

Submitted May 3, 1999:

Participation criteria and Names Council selection plan

ISPs and connectivity providers

Submitted by Michael Schneider, sastre@anwalt.de, May 3, 1999:

Application to become the ISPs and connectivity providers Constituency Group within the DNSO

Submitted on behalf of:

ISPs and connectivity providers, continued

Submittted by Manuel Hurtado (mhurtado@offcampus.es), May 24, 1999:

ICANN DNSO ISP and Connectivity Provider Constituency Charter


Non-commercial domain name holders

Submitted by Michael Sondow, msondow@iciiu.org, April 10, 1999.  Last updated May 17, 1999.

"The ICIIU is facilitating the organization of the Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency (NCDNHC) of the
DNSO by providing a sign-up procedure on its website at http://www.iciiu.org/NCDNHC.htm, where there is information
about the constituency, the organization of the DNSO, and the Berlin formation meeting in May, as well as a sign-up form and
instructions for using it. Proposed guidelines for the NCDNHC's membership and voting procedures will also be found there.

Interested persons and organizations are invited to express their intention to join the NCDNHC through the ICIIU procedure
as soon as possible in order to permit adequate representation in advance of the Berlin meeting.

The following entities have supported the ICIIU's constituency guidelines proposal and adhered to the NCDNHC:

-International Congress of Independent Internet Users (ICIIU)
-Namibian Internet Development Foundation (NAMIDEF)
-The Communisphere Project
-Revista Electronica de Derecho Informatico REDI
-NETSCAN
-The Schatz
-Comision Técnica Regional de Telecomunicaciones de Centro América (COMTELCA)
-The Biological Anthropology Forum (BAF)
-Personal Domain Name Holders Association (PDNHA)
-Distributed Knowledge Project (DNP)
-PENSIVE.org
-Asociacion de Internautas del Peru (AIP)
The ICIIU's proposed guidelines for the NCDNHC, as well as further information about the controversial process underway to organize it, can now be found at NCDNHC Update."


Non-commercial domain name holders, continued

Submitted by Marty Burack, burack@isoc.org, April 12, 1999.  Updated April 26, 1999.

"The Internet Society and the other interested non-commercial organizations named below propose the formation of the constituency of non-commercial domain name holders of the ICANN Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO).

We will be actively seeking the involvement of other organizations in this endeavor.  We hope to work together to include all interested non-profit domain name holders.  Interested organizations are encouraged to contact:

Given the fast approaching dates  mentioned above, we would like to start organizational discussions within the next two weeks.

Thank you.

LIST OF NON-COMMERCIAL DOMAIN NAME HOLDERS TAKING PART IN THIS INITIATIVE:
[An updated list will be maintained at http://www.isoc.org/internet/issues/dns/990409.shtml]

Submitted by Marty Burack, burack@isoc.org, April 26, 1999 Submitted by Marty Burack, burack@isoc.org, May 3, 1999

Non-commercial domain name holders, continued

Submitted by Milton Muellerr, mueller@syr.edu, May 18, 1999:


Registrars

Submitted by Amadeu Abril i Abril (Amadeu@nominalia.com):

Submitted on behalf of:

Trademark, intellectual property, anti-counterfeiting interests

Submitted by Michael Heltzer (mheltzer@inta.org), March 31, 1999

"The organizations listed below have begun to coordinate efforts to form the Intellectual Property Constituency of the DNSO.  If you wish to contact a member of any one of these organizations, contact information in the form of an e-mail address has been provided as well.

These groups wish to foster and open and inclusive process as they and other IP organizations develop the IP constituency.  The meeting schedule for the IP constituency is as follows:

(1) Toronto, Ontario, Canada   March 18 (Attended by the organizations listed above.)
Contact: Jonathan Cohen (Shapiro Cohen) - FICPI - scaf@idealaw.com

(2) Wellington, New Zealand    April 12 and 13
Contact: Bill Howie (AJ Park & Son) - APAA - Whowie@ajpark.co.nz
Jonathan Cohen (Shapiro Cohen - Ottawa) - FICPI - scaf@idealaw.com

(3) New York City, New York, USA  May 4 and 5
Contact: Michael Heltzer - INTA - mheltzer@inta.org
Dr. Ian Jay Kaufman (Ladas and Parry) - AIPPI - kaufman@ladasparry.com

Parties who are not members of the IP community, but nonetheless have an interest in participating as observers at IP constituency meetings, are also welcome to attend."

Submitted by Michael Heltzer, (mheltzer@inta.org), May 5, 1999

 Trademark, intellectual property, anti-counterfeiting interests, continued

Submitted by Bret Fausett (baf@fausett.com), April 9, 1999

"The undersigned are pleased to announce the creation of a new mailing list to discuss the creation of the trademark, intellectual property and anti-counterfeiting interest group contemplated by Section VI-B (3) (b) (7) of the ICANN Bylaws. We ask any individual, organization, or business entity interested in the interface between intellectual property law and namespace to join the online discussions that we hope will complement the planned in-person meetings and will lead to the recognition of this DNSO constituency group

Interested participants can begin the discussion at the dnso-ip mailing list. To subscribe, send a message to majordomo@world.std.com, with the message "subscribe dnso-ip ___@_____.__," where the blanks denote your e-mail address.

    Karl Auerbach
    Mikki Barry
    Bret Fausett
    Harold Feld
    Jay Fenello
    Jeff Graber
    Milton Mueller
    Peter Rony
    David Steele
    Dan Steinberg
    Peter Dengate Thrush"

Submitted by Bret Fausett (baf@fausett.com), April 26, 1999:

Submitted by Bret Fausett (baf@fausett.com), May 3, 1999:

 Trademark, intellectual property, anti-counterfeiting interests, continued

Submitted by Eric Brunner (eric.brunner@research.nokia.com), May 6, 1999

Announcement of an (Indigenous) Intellectual Property Constituency Group

The Tribal Law mailing list members and a significant number of professionals, cultural institutional and governmental representatives have begun formal discussions on how to structure the Trademark, Intellectual Property and Anti-Counterfeiting Interests Constituency of the Domain Names Supporting Organization.

We welcome the participation and involvement of others with an interest in the problems and opportunities presented by the Internet as a means of cultural transmission between peoples, and the challenge of making the promise of

     "fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of [knowledge] resources within the Internet"

a reality.

An initial proposal has been developed and it is now posted for comment at http://www.world.std.com/~iipc.

To participate in this constituency organizing effort, please contact either:

James Casey of Morrison & Foerster (jcasey@mofo.com),
Robert P.W. Gough of the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy(rpwgough@aol.com),
Eric Brunner (eric.brunner@research.nokia.com) of the Triballaw mailing list.


Additional Constituency Organizing Efforts

Submitted by Joop Teernstra (terastra@terabytz.co.nz), April 21, 1999.  Last updated May 14, 1999.

"We wish to form the following constituency in the DNSO:

The Individual Domain Name Owners' constituency (IDNO), to be named the Cyberspace Association.

Joining criteria: Owning a Domain Name as an individual and having sole control over it.
     Both commercial and non-commercial individuals are welcome to join, especially those who do not see commercial activity or non-activity as the defining reason for participating in the DNSO.

Mission Statement:  To be a voice for the Individual DN owners in the DNSO, to work for their interests and to provide representation for them on the Names Council.

Website with founders' statements: http://www.democracy.org.nz/idno/

Mailing list: There are two mailing lists:

Discusion list address : idno@radix.co.nz
Constituency members can subscribe by sending a "subscribe idno" message to listmanager@radix.co.nz

Anyone can subscribe to the announcements-only list: email listmanager@radix.co.nz  , in the message body  write  subscribe idno-announce

Both lists are moderated.

Proposed Rules:  See http://www.democracy.org.nz/idno/organiz.htm.

We request recognition by ICANN as a legitimate constituency of the DNSO.

Founding Members:
 
Einar Stefferud Dan Steinberg Karl Auerbach Kevin Kelly
Steve Page Joop Teernstra Jay Fenello Arnold Gehring
Dominique Baron  William X. Walsh Michael J.Scott Ed Hightower 
Rex Barnes Kevin J. Connolly  Steven Troester  Andy Gardner 
Rick R. Connor Joe Abley  David Zanetti M.C.Rose
Asher Ben-David  Richard Creech Karl Peters Glen A. Bayat 
Joe Barry  Ravi Singhal  Bernhard Schulte Ken Craft 
Colin Causon  David Mullins  John Hicks  George Schmidt 
Rachel Luxemburg  Debbie DeChamps Dietmar Stefitz Peter Hyde
Dave Chu Eberhard Lisse Luiscarlos Paez  Michael B.Weiner
Anick S. Lecordier  Wayne Johnson  Roeland Meyer Johnson David 
Engin Ertan  Darrell Brown  Richard Mc Nally Cliff Pratt
David Peters  David Harpham  Mark Brandwood  Ron Seaman 
Aaron Schmiedel  Allan Speedy  Greg Shaw  Ken Freed 
David Grove      
the Cyberspace Association
the constituency for Individual Domain Name Owners
http://www.democracy.org.nz/idno/"


Additional Constituency Organizing Efforts, continued

Submitted by Stephen Dyer (steve@uk.com), May 21, 1999. Last updated May 21, 1999.

Private Registries Constituency Group.

This proposal is submitted by Centralnic Ltd and NomiNation Ltd - both private registries.

A Private Registry provides registration and DNS service for any domain or sub-domain at any level in the domain name hierarchy. For example in the UK NomiNation Ltd provides a namespace below uk.com and various other similar namespaces.

Such namespaces are often competitive to ccTLD's, especially in countries where local regulations, pricing or political situations limit the availability of the ccTLD.

It is of importance to the orderly administration of the namespace as a whole and the universal application of policies promulgated by ICANN, WIPO and other organisations that a constituency exists for the recognition and participation of this significant and growing community of registrars.

To participate in this constituency organizing effort, please contact either:

Stephen Dyer of CentralNic Ltd, steve@uk.com
163 New King's Road, London, SW6 4SN, UK
+44 171 371 8558

Susan Malec of NomiNation Ltd - susan@nomination.net
+44 207 384 3050
 

Stephen Dyer
Chairman
CentralNic Ltd

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