2001-11-15 - At Large Study Committee Report

Whereas the At Large Study Committee was chartered in January 2001 to undertake a comprehensive study of the concept, structure, and processes relating to an ICANN At-Large membership;

Whereas the ALSC was charged with seeking input from all interested parties and working to achieve a broad consensus on effective means by which the diverse global Internet communities and stakeholders may participate in ICANN's policy development, deliberations, and actions, without preconceptions as to a preferred outcome;

Whereas in January and March 2001 the Board approved the selection of Carl Bildt as ALSC Chair, Chuck Costello and Pindar Wong as Vice Chairs, and Pierre Dandjinou, Esther Dyson, Olivier Iteanu, Ching-Yi Liu, Thomas Niles, and Oscar Robles as members, and Denise Michel as the ALSC's Executive Director;

Whereas the ALSC has held public meetings in Melbourne, Australia, Stockholm, Sweden, Silicon Valley, USA, and Montevideo, Uruguay, and ALSC members have attended meetings of the Internet community in Kuala Lumpur (APRICOT - Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies), Taiwan (APNIC/TWNIC Taiwan Network Information Centre), San Francisco, California USA (ARIN-American Registry for International Numbers), Bologna, Italy (RIPE -- Réseaux IP Européens), Hong Kong (WWW Conference - World Wide Web Consortium), Accra, Ghana (AfNOG - African Network Operators Group/AfriNIC - African Network Information Centre), Shanghai, China (APNIC Outreach Seminar), Caracas, Venezuela (Workshop for Latin American Countries), Singapore (CEO Tech Summit: Building the REAL New Economy), Beijing, China (CNNIC, "Internet 2001 China"), and Paris, France (Paris Chamber of Commerce/ISOC France/AFNIC);

Whereas the ALSC has conducted a worldwide outreach, discussion, research, and consensus-building effort that included regular e-mail notices and solicitations (inviting correspondence in African Languages, Chinese, Danish, French, Mandarin, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish) to a self-selected "ALSC announce list, " which included 5985 subscribers as of October 31 (an e-mail to ICANN's 143,789 member At-Large mailing list invited people to "opt-in" by registering for this list); e-mails to potentially interested organizations and individuals, including previous members of the Membership Advisory Committee and the Membership Implementation Task Force, At-Large candidates, leaders of ICANN's Supporting Organizations and constituencies, and managers of relevant research efforts and websites; a low bandwidth-compatible ALSC website (www.atlargestudy.org) to distribute information and facilitate involvement; a "Call for Studies" that yielded research and papers that examined roles, requirements, processes, and structures relating to individuals' involvement in international organizations, from researchers and interested individuals in numerous countries; and an on-line forum;

Whereas the ALSC has produced discussion papers, an Interim Report and a Final Report, and has made recommendations to the Board that it believes have or could develop broad support within the ICANN community;

Whereas the ICANN community is extremely grateful for the enormous contribution to the ultimate resolution of this important and complex set of issues made by the ALSC to date;

Whereas the ICANN community is also grateful for the willingness of the volunteer members of the ALSC to continue to work with the ICANN staff and community on the complex issues relating to the practical implementation of its recommendations in the event some or all of them are eventually adopted by the Board;

Resolved [01.124] that the Board, on behalf of the Internet community, expresses its deep appreciation for the significant contributions of Carl Bildt, Chuck Costello, Pierre Dandjinou, Esther Dyson, Olivier Iteanu, Ching-Yi Liu, Thomas Niles, Oscar Robles, and Pindar Wong through their continuing service on the ALSC, and in particular to Denise Michel for her invaluable service as the Executive Director of the ALSC;

Further resolved [01.125] that the Board accepts the ALSC Final Report and Recommendations, dated November 5, 2001, as a basis for further discussion by the Board and the ICANN community;

Further resolved [01.126] that the Board invites comments on the ALSC Final Report from the Internet community as a whole, including the DNSO Names Council, the ASO Address Council and the PSO Protocol Council, and requests that any such comments be submitted within 45 days from the date of this Resolution;

Further resolved [01.127] that the Board concurs with the ALSC's conclusion that Individual Internet users have a significant stake in ICANN's activities, should have the opportunity to participate in ICANN, and that representation should accompany participation for informed, sustained involvement of interested individuals in ICANN policy and decision-making;

Further resolved [01.128] that the Board intends to come to decisions on these issues on the schedule set forth in the ICANN Bylaws, so that any Directors selected through an At Large process will be seated at the conclusion of the ICANN Annual Meeting in 2002;

Further resolved [01.129] that the Board appreciates the willingness of the ALSC members to continue their voluntary service, in order to investigate further the various practical implementation issues that would be required should the Board adopt some or all of the ALSC recommendations, including the establishment of local and/or regional entities that could serve as a basis for bringing together individuals interested in participating in the ICANN process, and thus the term of the ALSC is hereby extended until the end of the ICANN meeting in Accra, Ghana;

Further resolved [01.130] that the President and CEO is directed, in consultation with the ALSC and periodically reporting to the Board, to begin the contingency planning for carrying out an At Large election process in 2002, mindful of the recommendations contained in the ALSC Final Report, so as to ensure that option is practically available should the Board adopt some or all of those recommendations that would require such elections, and to work closely with the ALSC in its continuing efforts, especially investigating the practical ability to establish local or regional entities that can serve as vehicles for interested individual participation in the ICANN process; and

Further resolved [01.131] that the Board will discuss and consider the recommendations contained in the ALSC Final Report, and any further learning produced by the further work of the ALSC and the staff, and any comments received from the community and the various ICANN councils, and intends to reach decisions at the ICANN meeting in Accra, Ghana in March 2002, so that the timelines set forth in the ICANN Bylaws can be met.