ICANN
DNSO Constituency Groups:
Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency

Proposal for Recognition
(Submitted on August 16, 1999)

NOTE: The following proposal has been submitted to the ICANN Board for its consideration at the Santiago meetings, August 24-26. The Board invites the Internet community to comment on this proposal.

How do I comment? Please submit comments to comment-dnso@icann.org.

How do I read the comments of others? Comments will be posted on the ICANN website at http://www.icann.org/comments-mail/comment-dnso/maillist.html for public review and response.

 

August 16, 1999

The Noncommercial Domain Name Holders Constituency (NCDNHC) is pleased to submit its Application for Initial Charter to ICANN. As a group, we have put a great deal of time and thought into this charter. We understand that this Charter Application will be posted on the ICANN website for public comment, and then reviewed by the ICANN Board at the Santiago meeting next week for recognition.

As you know, the NCDNHC is distinctive and differs from other Constituencies. We have taken a slightly longer time to organize than other constituencies, but we have reached out to a large and diverse noncommercial community and attracted over 50 members from all five geographic regions! We appreciate ICANN's flexibility in working with us on establishing schedules we can achieve together.

Here our current plans for NCDNHC work:

Week of August 16: Elections of NCDNHC Preliminary Names Council Representatives

Week of August 23: Request for Initial Charter of NCDNHC by ICANN and representation of NCDNHC in the DNSO Names Council Meetings

February 2000: Revise charter and elect NCDNHC Permanent Names Council Representatives

This charter is a work in progress. We expect that you, the public and the NCDNHC members and observers will have changes and revisions, and the NCDNHC welcomes the opportunity to review these recommendations.

Thank you again for your support of the NCDNHC efforts to self-organize. Should you have any questions regarding our charter or schedule, please contact David Maher (dwmaher@ibm.net) or me (kathrynkl@aol.com).

Sincerely,

Kathryn A. Kleiman
Association for Computing Machinery's Internet Governance Committee
NCDNHC Member

------------------------------ NCDNHC Charter ----------------------------------------------------

APPLICATION FOR INITIAL CHARTER OF THE NON- COMMERCIAL DOMAIN NAME HOLDERS CONSTITUENCY

16 August 1999

I. Goals of the Non-Commercial Constituency

The Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency has a special place in the DNSO.

The NCDNHC 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 interests 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 the following organizations shall be eligible for membership in the NCDNHC: a) organizations holding at least one domain name, b) and which are incorporated as a non-commercial entity (in countries that have such a provision in their commercial code), or if unincorporated or operating in a country without provisions for non-commercial incorporation, operate on a not-for-profit basis primarily for non-commercial purposes, and c) which are engaged in activities that are primarily non-commercial, including, e.g. political, educational, religious, charitable, scientific and artistic.

The membership of the NCDNHC shall specifically exclude commercial entities and associations of or for the benefit of commercial entities (even if they are non-commercial in form), and also shall exclude organizations which use the Internet primarily for commercial activity, even if their other activities are non-commercial.

Further, 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 voting membership in the NCDNHC only if they elect not to join other constituencies. They may, however, join the NCDNHC as observer members.

We understand that many subgroups have separate interests and a separate voice from their parent organizations. Those subgroups are welcome to participate fully and actively in the Constituency as non- voting members. The purpose of this document is to set out the minimum organizational structure necessary to launch the NCDNHC in an open manner. As set out in the notes at the end of the draft Charter, 'Inclusion of subgroups of large organization which have separate voices from those of the parent organization' is one of the critical issues to be considered when the Constituency redrafts its Charter within approximately 6 months to one year and we have a better idea of representation and balance.

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 I above, incorporated as a not-for-profit entity, and, for membership organizations, having a current membership over 1000 or more people or, for non-membership 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 I 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 non-membership organizations, having less than 200 employees.

IV. Voting Principles, Proposals and Overall Organization

A. DNSO Names Council and NCDNHC Administrative Committee

Per ICANN Bylaws, members of the NCDNHC are entitled to vote for three members of the DNSO Names Council. NCDNHC will also elect two other persons who, together with the Names Council members, shall form an Administrative Committee. The Administrative Committee is intended to represent all five geographic regions. It will advise members of the NCDNHC of the Names Council proposals and will assist Names Council representatives by providing input and information from NCDNHC members.

B. Voting Principles

In order to assure geographic distribution, (i) no two Names Council representatives shall reside in the same geographic area, as defined in the ICANN bylaws, (ii) no two Names Council representatives shall represent the same organization, and (iii) no single Names Council representative shall represent more than one organization.

C. Voting Proposals

In order to balance the size of the large organizations with the potential of the small organizations to join in much greater numbers, voting will be weighted by giving two votes to each large organization and one vote to each small organization.

In order to assure diversity, Names Council Representatives and Administrative Committee members will be elected by the following process:

- the person with the most votes is the First Names Council Representative.

- the person with the second highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the first Names Council Representative -- is elected as the Second Names Council Representative.

- the person with the third highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the first and second Names Council Representatives -- is elected as the Third Names Council Representative.

- the person with the fourth highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the 3 Names Council Representatives -- is elected to the NCDNHC Administrative Committee.

- the person with the fifth highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the Names Council Representatives and the other non-Names Council Administrative Committee member -- is also elected to the NCDNHC Administrative Committee.

D. Membership Required To Run; Nominations Require a Second

To run for the Names Council, a candidate must be affiliated with an organization that is a member of the NCDNHC, and have the approval of that organization to run. Any organization may nominate a candidate, and every nomination must be seconded by another organization.

E. Voting Results Shall Be Publicly Announced

In the interest of openness, results of voting for Names Council representatives shall be public. After the period allowed for voting closes, the votes shall be listed by organization on the NCDNHC website so that they can be inspected and counted by members and the public.

F. First Vote

In the interest of having full representation of the NCDNHC at the next ICANN meeting, the first elections for three preliminary Names Council representatives to serve a six month term will take place during the week of August 16, 1999. Beginning August 16, 1999, the NCDNHC shall accept nominations for the Name Council. These nominations will include a statement that the candidate is affiliated with a member of the NCDNHC and has the approval of that organization to run, and also a statement of the candidate's view of key issues facing the Names Council and what positions the NCDNHC should consider taking on them. Nominations and statements must be submitted to the NCDNHC list.

The Voting for preliminary Names Council Representatives will take place during the week of August 16, 1999.

V. Sign up for Membership and Communication via Website and List

A. Sign up for Membership

The NCDNHC represents a large and heterogeneous group of organizations, many of whom are not yet aware of the ICANN, its processes, and their impact. It is crucial to the success of the constituency that it be operated in an open manner which will encourage new organizations meeting the membership criteria to join and participate.

It is also important that those within the constituency have the opportunity to learn about a member, any possible conflicts the member might have, and the position and title of the person designated to represent the member.

In this charter phase of the NCDNHC, membership should be by self- nomination based on disclosure. The NCDNHC website will have a form which all prospective members will fill out, to include: the individual seeking to work with the NCDNHC on behalf of the organization, her/his title and position with the organization, full contact information, whether he/she is formally authorized to represent the organization, whether the organization is non-commercial and how the organization engages in non- commercial speech and activity on the Internet, whether the organization or the individual have any conflicts that the groups should be aware of, the domain name of the organization and any website URL it may have.

All organizations must fill out this form, and circulate it to the others seeking to form the NCDNHC. As new organizations seek to enter the Constituency, they too will circulate the form to the other members via the NCDNHC list. Other members may challenge the application for failure to meet the stated membership criteria of the constituency.

Copies of the forms for all organizations will also be kept on the NCDNHC website, with a facility to search the forms by organization's name and representative's name.

B. List

The NCDNHC shall have a listserv for members to introduce themselves and discuss constituency matters.

C. Initial Host

It is proposed that the Internet Society (ISOC) be the initial host of NCDNHC website and list. Both shall be organized per the requirements of this Charter, and per the specifications that may arise from consensus of the NCDNHC.

 

End of Formal (Draft) Proposal

 

Endnote: The issues set out above are designed to be the minimum organizational structure necessary to launch the NCDNHC in an open manner, and to elect Names Council representatives prior to the next ICANN meeting. In technical terms, this is the bootstrap.

We hope that the NCDNHC will grow quickly, and with that growth we envision a host of administrative demands will arise including the likely need for internal management through officers, voting time frames and procedures for future elections, inclusion of subgroups of large organizations which may have separate voices from those of the parent organization, formal ways to develop NCDNHC positions on issues being evaluated by the Names Council, perhaps credentialing of new members, and many others.

We leave these issues to the NCDNHC as it grows and to the next document, which we hope will be drafted within the first year of this Constituency.

 

Summary of Berlin Meeting Actions
on Non-Commercial Constituency Proposals

At its May 27 meeting in Berlin, the ICANN Board requested that the organizers of the various Non-Commercial Constituency proposals attempt to develop a consensus structure, to be submitted to the ICANN Board no later than June 21, 1999.

As of the end of May, ICANN had received the following three proposals (posted below) for the Non-commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency:

At the Berlin meeting on May 27, the ICANN Board of Directors adopted a resolution stating the following about the Non-commercial Domain Name Holders Consituency:
"FURTHER RESOLVED, the Board determines that no proposal to create a non-commercial domain name holders Constituency has yet been submitted that is appropriate for recognition.

FURTHER RESOLVED, with the recognition that the interests represented by a non-commercial domain name holders Constituency should be involved as early as possible in the DNSO organization process, the Board urges that the organizers of this Constituency should submit a consensus application for provisional recognition as soon as possible, so that the issue of recognition can be reconsidered by the Board no later than an anticipated meeting during the week of June 21 so that representatives of this Constituency can join the provisional Names Council."

Updated information about organization efforts for this constituency will be posted as soon as it is available.

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