Abstract:
The paper proposes the establishment of an "Internet User Supporting Organisation" (IUSO) as a 4th SO within the ICANN structure. An IUSO could be based on geogrpahical and sectoral constituencies and led by an "Internet Users Council" (IUC). The IUC would be an advisory body to the Board of Directors and responsible for the elections of directors. Each constituency should have the right to elect one director within three years. The IUSO should be financed by an independent fund based on contributions from various sources, including constituencies of other SOs, sponsorship of foundations and contributions of national governments.

The global consensus on the formation of ICANN was based on the assumption, that all stakeholders and groups affected by or concerned in the management of the Domain Name System, of Internet Addresses and Protocols and of the Root Server System will be directly or indirectly represented in the Board of Directors. The only exception was, that governmental representatives were not elegible for the Board of Directors. Governments can express their concerns to the Board via the "Governmental Advisory Committee". Earlier attemps to build an organisational management structure for the DNS failed because the proposed management structure was non balanced enough and excluded substantial groups.

2. ICANN needs User Representation

Internet users are directly affected by ICANN's decisions. Internet Users have a special interest which new gTLDs are introduced and how they work, how the ccTLDs are operating, how international domains are designed, how conflicts on domain names are settled, how new personalized IP addresses are introduced and distributed etc. The respect of the interests of the nearly half a billion of Internet users is a pre-condition for the functioning of the Internet. Internet users have to have a channel where they can express their special interests and make their voices heard. Direct representation in the ICANN Board of Directors is the best way to guarantee that users interests are taken into consideration when decisions are made. The exclusion of the users from the DNS management could undermine the stability of the Internet and lead in the long run to its fragmention.

3. Internet User needs to be Self-Organized

Unless the Providers of Internet Services, the User of Internet Service are not organized. The providers of all kind of Internet related services - from standardization organisations to address registries and domain name registrars - had already their established organisations (like IETF, W3C, ITU-T, ETSI and the RIRs) or established their organisations/constituencies in the process of the formation of the DNSO. To create a consistent management structure Internet users have to get self-organized. There are at least two options for an organisational structure:

1. The establishment of a global Internet User Organisation which embraces all 500 million+ Intenet users of the world
2. The establishment of a number of regional and sectoral constituencies of Internet Users

4. The Concept of Membership has to be further developed

The MAC Recommendations on ICANN membership and ICANNs October 2000 Elections were steps in the right direction but needs further development. The understanding, that ICANN could have potentially 500 million+ members, leads to irritations. While the basic assumption, that every Internet user with an e-mail and a postal address and older than 16 years of age should have the right to join ICANN should be kept, there should be a clearer distinction between an Internet user and a "member". A "member" should be an "interested and concerned user" who links him/herself to a specific geographical or sectoral constituency.

Everybody is an Internet user. This global generality and complexity has to be broken down into managable units. To create a consistent structure within ICANN an "Internet User Supporting Organisation" (IUSO) could constitute the framework for active participation of users in ICANN activities. An IUSO could be subgrouped into smaller organisational structures with which Internet users can themselves identify. Such substructures could be build

i. according to geography or

ii. according to sectors

iii. or as a combination of both.

For practical reasons it would make sense that an "Internet User Supporting Organisation" is based - at the beginning - on not more than nine constituencies: Five constituencies could be constituted along the lines of the five ICANN regions. Four constituencies could be constituted along the lines of sectors which are of most interests for Internet Users.

The five regional Internet User Constituencies would be

1. Africa
2. Asia/Australia/Pacific
3. Europe
4. North America
5. South America/Caribic

The four sectoral Internet User Constituencies could be

6. Information/Education
7. Entertainement/Arts
8. Business
9. Professional

Each constituency would have to be constituted according to general rules and principles, has to meet certain criteria and has to be recognized by the ICANN Board. There could be a simliar procedure like the recognition of the DNSO constituencies. Each IUSO constituency would need an own constitution based on these general principles. Every IUSO constituency would be led by a "Steering or Administrative Committee", elected by the members of this constituency. The constituency would be free to organize their own "inner life", including the criteria for membership on the basis of general rules adopted by the ICANN Board. The constituencies would manage openmailing lists and websites and should have at least one physical meeting per year.

The nine IUSO constituencies could create an "Internet User Council" (IUC). Each constituency could send 3 to 6 representatives into the Council (which could have between 27 and 54 members). The IUC could constitute a small Executive Committee which would have regular meetings together with the quarterly ICANN Board meetings. The IUC would function also as the "General Assembly" of the IUSO and should have at least once a year a physical meeting open to all members of all constituencies. The Internet Users Council (IUC) would be the main bodyto develop policies on issues of Internet user´s interests with regard to the management of Internet Domain Names, Addresses, Protocols and the Root Server. The IUC could send "recommendations" to the ICANN Board of Directors (which would be non-binding for the Board). The IUC could also be used by the ICANN Board to get advise in questions of relevance.

6. Direct Elections by the Internet User Constituencies

There are three options for the elections of the nine directors, representing the at large membership, that means the Internet users:

Option 1:

Keep the system as it is, overcome the technical difficulties and improve the outreach programme

Option 2:

Go back to indirect elections by electing an ALM Council who would select the nine directors

Option 3:

Delegate the elections to a new "Internet User Supporting Organisation"

Under Option 3 each of the nine constituencies could elect one director in three years in direct elections. After an introductory transition period, every year three constituencies would elect one director. This would guarantee both geographical and sectoral diversity in the ICANN Board.

Based on general agreed principles and methods the constituencies would be responsible for the elections. ICANN could provide the technical service and would oversee the election via an election committee. Voters could be registered on the basis of the system used in the October 2000 elections. For the nomination of candidates the same
qualifying criteria could be adopted. There should be a better balance between nominated and self-nominated candidates. The nomination committee should not be constituted by the ICANN Board but by the relevant constituency. There has to be clarified whether an individual user can have membership both under a geographical constituency and under a sectoral constituency or not.

7. Constitute an Internet User´s Fund (IUF)

The issue of financing an IUSO and of the elections of nine ICANN directors is a difficult one. The introduction of a
self-financed mechanism by asking for a membership fee from individual users wont´t work. It would also exclude from the very beginning large groups of Internet users, in particular in third world countries. The creation of
an IUSO, on the other hand, does not make sense without the establishment of a special fund which will provide the needed financial means for the operation of an "Internet User Supporting Organisation". Such a fund could be co-financed by ICANN, private or public sector members of the DNSO, national governments, grants from foundations
and other charitable organisations and voluntary contributions from members. The management of the fund should be as independent as possible. There should be a special "Fund Identification Committee" which would investigate on a bi-annual basis the needed financial means.