Re: [ALSC-Forum] Message to my Congressmen ICANN @large membership concerns

[Jeff Williams]

Bruce and all stakeholders,

  Thank you Bruce for sending this letter.  I also endorse it.

Bruce Young wrote:

> I just sent the following message to my senators and representative.
>
> Bruce Young
> 5922 NE 55th Ave
> Portland, Oregon 97218-2302
> byoung651@home.com
> http://members.home.net/byoung651/index.html
>
> -----------------
>
> I am writing this to bring to your attention an issue that has received
> nearly no attention in the mainstream press, yet has the potential to affect
> all of our lives in the future negatively or positively depending on the
> outcome.  This issue involves the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
> and Numbers (ICANN).  This innocuously named organization has been handed
> authority by the Department of Commerce to manage all the important features
> of the Internet: the number of top-level domains (com, net, org, etc.)
> available, who will be allowed to manage them, the rules for registering a
> domain name with them, and how to decide who wins when two parties want the
> same name, to list a few.  The decisions this organization makes in the next
> ten years will determine who controls the Internet, and whose needs are
> served.
>
> A board of directors governs ICANN.  The original intent was to have a board
> eventually comprised of two groups of people: a group appointed from within
> government offices and Internet-related companies, and a second group made
> up from nominees voted on by the Internet community at large, in order to
> ensure the needs and desires of Internet users worldwide are represented.  A
> group called ICANN At Large was formed to manage the registration of the at
> large members and conduct the voting.
>
> >From the beginning, the ICANN board has consistently worked to restrict the
> influence of the At Large (@Large) community.  The @Large registration
> process was not significantly advertised outside of government and
> technology circles, leaving many people who might have been interested in
> participating unaware of the election.  Next, egregious registration
> requirements were imposed on those that did find out about it, resulting in
> many of the individuals who wanted to become involved being rejected.  The
> board then decided to only elect five At Large board members, instead of the
> original nine as originally planned.  The remaining four "board squatters"
> (as they came to be known), who have thus far refused to step down, were to
> be replaced in a second @Large election that never materialized.   The final
> blow was the announcement this week that the ICANN board's next fiscal year
> budget includes no funding for further @Large elections, showing that the
> board has no intention of holding further elections.
>
> If ICANN is going to be anything more than a body that rubber-stamps the
> wishes of government and corporate interests, the coequal influence of the
> @Large membership is essential.  But if the ICANN board is allowed to slowly
> diminish and then eliminate the @Large community's influence, a rubber stamp
> is exactly what we will have.
>
> Please take the time to join the @Large study forum at
> http://www.atlargestudy.org, read the message threads posted there, and feel
> free to contact the members involved in the conversation about this issue
> via e-mail at forum@atlargestudy.org.  The Internet is too important to this
> country's future to be left in the hands of a "star chamber" unwilling to
> consider the wishes of the Internet user community.
>
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--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 118k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-447-1800 x1894 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208