AT-LARGE STUDY COMMITTEE LAUNCHES ON-LINE FORUM

18 April 2001 - The At-Large Membership Study Committee (ALSC) announced the launch of an on-line forum to enable people all over the world to discuss the best ways to involve individual users ("At-Large Members") in ICANN. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which coordinates technical aspects of the Internet, created the ALSC earlier this year to conduct a comprehensive study and make recommendations on how to involve individual Internet users worldwide in its work.

"A critical aspect of the Committee's mission is to foster discussions that lead to consensus on the best method for ensuring those individual Internet users' voices are heard, and represented, within ICANN. This on-line forum will afford people throughout the world an opportunity to debate the issues involved and share their views," stated Carl Bildt, ALSC Chair.

The new on-line forum enables any individual with access to the Internet to share their views and engage in a dialogue with the ALSC and other Internet users. In addition to soliciting general comments on any aspect of the At-Large membership issue, the ALSC also will be posting specific questions for consideration and discussion. Such questions will include: What do individuals expect to gain from involvement in ICANN? To what degree should the general Internet community be involved in ICANN? How should an At-Large member be defined? Should there be any membership requirements or fees? What processes and structures should be established within ICANN for At-Large Member involvement?

The ALSC also is encouraging the development of independent studies by organizations and individuals worldwide. A "call for studies" was recently issued by the Committee seeking research that examines roles, requirements, processes, and structures relating to individuals' involvement in international organizations. Of particular interest is research on international membership (including membership funding) models, international membership discussion and decision-making models, and international membership representation models. "In a sense, we are sailing in uncharted waters. There is no model or method in existence today directly applicable to ICANN's goal of involving and representing individuals in every country in the world," noted Bildt. "Encouraging new research and thoughtful discussion of these issues is critical to our success."

The on-line forum can be found at http://www.atlargestudy.org/forum.shtml, and will operate until the Committee's work is completed in November.

ABOUT THE ALSC
The ALSC is an independent Committee created by ICANN earlier this year to provide recommendations to ICANN's Board on how to structure individual Internet users' participation within ICANN.  The ALSC is conducting an aggressive outreach, discussion, research, and consensus-building campaign that will culminate with the issuance of a draft report for public comment in September, and the submission of a final report to the Board in November.   In addition to Carl Bildt, the ALSC includes Charles Costello, Pierre Dandjinou, Esther Dyson, Olivier Iteanu, Ching-Yi Liu, Thomas Niles, Oscar Robles, and Pindar Wong. Biographies of these individuals, and Information on the ALSC, can be found at www.atlargestudy.org.

ABOUT ICANN
ICANN is a technical coordination body for the Internet. Created in October 1998 by a broad coalition of the Internet's business, technical, academic, and user communities, ICANN is assuming responsibility for a set of technical functions previously performed under U.S. government contract by IANA and other groups.  Specifically, ICANN coordinates the assignment of identifiers that must be globally unique for the Internet to function: Internet domain names, IP address numbers, and protocol parameter and port numbers. In addition, ICANN coordinates the stable operation of the Internet's root server system.

As a non-profit, private-sector corporation, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet
communities; and to developing policy through private-sector, bottom-up, consensus-based means. ICANN welcomes the participation of any interested Internet user, business, or organization.

CONTACT
Denise Michel
+1 310 823 9358
dmichel@atlargestudy.org