June 26, Montreal, Canada - Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) effectively launched organizing of the individual user community (At-Large) for participation and representation in ICANN. ICANN's Board of Directors approved a framework for the formation of local, regional, and global groups. In doing so, the Board took a critical step towards promoting structured involvement and informed participation of the global individual Internet user community in ICANN.
"This is a critical step that will enable At-Large groups to form throughout the world," said Paul Twomey, ICANN President and CEO. "These groups will ensure that the voice of different sectors of the Internet community will be more distinctly heard and that their representation will be effectively taken into account when ICANN takes action on issues of interest to the user community. Examples of these issues include introduction of new domain names, privacy in the WHOIS database, and introduction of internationalized domain names, to name a few."
ICANN's Interim At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) will now begin extensive outreach and education efforts to help interested groups and individuals in all regions of the world form "At-Large Structures." "At-Large Structures" will be groups throughout the world (either existing organizations or newly formed for this purpose) focusing on participation by individual Internet users at the local or issue level. Interested groups will complete and submit to the ALAC a short application form (which will be available at http://alac.icann.org/). Groups that meet the minimum requirements, such as supporting individual Internet users' informed participation in ICANN, will be designated as "At-Large Structures."
When there are sufficient At-Large Structures in a geographic region (Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America), these groups can form a Regional At-Large Organization (RALO). The five RALOs will act as the main forum and coordination point in each region for public input to ICANN, and will select 10 members of the ALAC. The ALAC provides advice to ICANN's Board and other constituencies on the activities of ICANN that relate to the interests of individual Internet users.
"The ALAC can now help build a framework of local, regional, and global groups to promote structured involvement and informed participation of the global individual Internet user community in ICANN," said Vittorio Bertola, ALAC Chair. "Direct user involvement will help ensure that ICANN makes policies that reflect individual Internet users' needs. We are confident that the advice produced by the ALAC/RALO structure will be a significant factor in ICANN's decisions."
ABOUT THE INTERIM AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The ALAC is an Advisory Committee to ICANN's Board charged with providing advice on activities of ICANN that relate to the interests of individual Internet users, and helping to organize At-Large groups throughout the world for structured involvement and informed participation of the individual Internet user community. The Board appointed an Interim ALAC in January 2003, and ICANN's Nominating Committee added additional members in June.
Africa -- Pierre Dandjinou, Clement Dzidonu, Sunday Folayan; Asia -- Hong Xue, Izumi Aizu, Toshifumi Matsumoto; Latin America -- Sebastian Ricciardi, Erick Iriarte, Tadao Takahashi; Europe -- Vittorio Bertola, Thomas Roessler, Roberto Gaetano; and North America -- Esther Dyson, Wendy Seltzer, and Ken Hamma.
Biographies of these individuals, and information on the ALAC, can be found at <http://alac.icann.org/>. ALAC members can be reached at <committee@alac.icann.org>.
ABOUT ICANN
ICANN is a non-profit organization responsible for coordinating the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, including the systems of domain names and numeric addresses that are used to reach all computers on the Internet. ICANN's mission is to ensure the stable and secure operation of these unique identifier systems, which are vital to the Internet's operation. In addition, ICANN coordinates policy development related to these technical functions. For more information, see <http://www.icann.org>.
CONTACT
Denise Michel
+1 310 823 9358
<michel@icann.org>