February 15 is the final date for expressions of interest in a new membership organization for ICANN.  From the information made public by ICANN's At Large Study Committee (ALSC), it seems that few people have responded to its call.  (See http://www.AtLargeStudy.org)

This lack of response is curious, since there has been widespread and prolonged interest by Internet users and organizations in an ICANN membership organization.  Indeed, no other body in the ICANN system has attracted greater interest than the At Large Membership.

The ALSC's low response rate may simply reflect users' attitude toward the ALSC rather than disinterest in an organization.  For better or worse, the ALSC is not seen as deeply committed to user participation.

However, other expressions of user interest are abundant.  That ranges from expressions of fleeting interest (voting in ICANN elections) to deep commitment (forming a user organization and organizing meetings.)  Lest there be any question about interest in a user organization in ICANN, I summarize here some of the evidence. 

User participation in the 2000 election

The ALSC has posted summary statistics of user participation in the 2000 election.  (See http://WWW.ATLARGESTUDY.ORG/stats/summary1.shtml ). Key statistics are:
  ** 176,849 entries were received in the initial voter registration
  **   76,183 users completed the complex voter registration procedures 
  **   34,035 users voted in the election 
The number of voters was more than triple the highest pre-election estimate of participation.  The number of initial registrations was a full order of magnitude greater than those early estimates.  Clearly, user interest was enormous -- much, much more than even the most optimistic estimates.

A deeper commitment to participation occurred at the November 2000 Board meeting, where a core group of individuals and NGO's launched the Interim Coordinating Committee of the ICANN membership (see http://www.ICANNmembers.org).  Those launching the ICC included four of the five newly-elected At Large Directors and five former Board candidates.  In the election these nine individuals received nearly 70% of all votes cast in their regions (Europe, Africa, L. America, N. America).  Also participating were representatives from numerous Internet societies, including the Korean Internet Forum, France@Large, the Internet Democracy Project, Uruguayan Internet developer, the African Internet Group, and the Italian Local Internet Community (.it).

Since its creation, the ICC has hosted meetings at every single ICANN event.  It has laid the foundation for a true bottom-up user organization.  Its existence is evidence of committed core group of individuals and organizations that have self-organized in a bottom-up process.

Finally, a large number of individuals and organizations have manifested an intermediate degree of interest.  They have actively educated themselves on issues and expressed their support for the At Large Membership.  I reproduce below the signatories to two documents, the July 2000 "Petition to ICANN" and the "Civil Society Statement" from the 2000 elections (see www.CSIF.net).

SIGNATORIES TO THE CIVIL SOCIETY STATEMENT

The Civil Society Statement identified election issues and recommended policies to render ICANN more accountable and effective.  (See http://www.civilsocietyinternetforum.org/statement.html ) The list of signatories follows:
Michel Menou City University (London) UK
Nobuo SAKIYAMA Preparatory committee for Japan Chapter of CPSR Japan
Leah Gallegos The TLD Lobby USA
Dylan K. Park CivilNet South Korea
USA Eloise Kleban University of Maine System USA
Jeanette Hofmann Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin Germany
Barbara Simons Association for Computing Machinery (former President) USA
Alan Levin Sunesi South Africa
Robin Bandy USA
Vittorio Bertola Vitaminic Italy
Yukika Matsumoto JCA-NET Japan
Said Essoulami Centre for Media Freedom Middle East and North Africa UK and Morocco 
Bob Crawford Association of Internet Professionals USA
Critt Jarvis USA
Berend Schuitema Marshals Community Service Corps South Africa
Fernando Escamilla Nueva Diplomacia Mexico
Johannes K. Chiang Dept. of MIS, NCCU Taiwan ROC
Lawrence Lessig Stanford University USA
Emerson Tiller University of Texas USA
Andy Mueller-Maguhn Chaos Computer Club Germany
Francesco Ravanelli Italy 
Domagoj Margetiæ Croatian Confederation of the Civil Society (ICCS)  Croatia
Dennis Schaefer Member of IDNO USA
Chris Bailey Internet Rights Campaign  Association for Progressive Communications (APC)  UK
Tracy Cohen LINK/Wits University South Africa
Marc Holitscher Unit for Internet Studies Switzerland
Tomoya Inyaku JCA-NET Japan
Hans Klein Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR),  Georgia Institute of Technology USA
Norbert Klein Open Forum of Cambodia Cambodia
Veni Markovski Internet Society - Bulgaria,  ICANN Membership Implementation Task Force Chair for East Europe Bulgaria
Milton Mueller Syracuse University USA
Toshimaru Ogura Net-workers against Surveillance Task-force (NaST) Japan
Nii Quaynor Network Computer Systems (NCS) Ghana
Roberto Roggiero INTERCOM - Ecuanex Ecuador
Marc Rotenberg Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) USA
Barry Steinhardt American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) USA
Shinji Yamane Japan Chapter preparatory committee Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) Japan
Manon Ress Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute USA
Paul Garrin Global Name Space Consortium USA
Mikki Barry Domain Name Rights Coalition (DNRC) USA
Oh, Byoung-il Korean Progressive Network 'Jinbonet' Korea
Carlos Afonso Information Network for the Third Sector (Rits) Brazil
Yaman Akdeniz Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties United Kingdom
Carlos Vera Quintana CTIT UPADI Ecuador
Christopher Frankonis Global Effort to Eradicate Know-nothings (GEEK Force)
Wilfred Silva  Hyacinth Silva Lankanet  E-mail and Internet Support for NGO's  Sri Lanka
E.B.Shantha Women's Unit,  The Resource Centre for Community Groups Sri Lanka
G.Rajakumar International War-Related Trauma &  Humanitarian Intervention Trust Sri Lanka
Franck Biancheri Prometheus Europ France
Darryl (Dassa) Lynch DHS International Australia
 

SIGNATORIES TO THE PETITION TO ICANN OF JULY 2000

The Petition to the ICANN Board requested that ICANN work with civil society groups to facilitate participation in its processes.  (See http://www.civilsocietyinternetforum.org/petition.html ).  Its signatories include the following (there is some overlap with the previous document):
Carlos Vera, UPADI, Ecuador 
Nii Quaynor, Internet Society Ghana 
Pierre Ouedraogo, INTIF France, Burkina Faso 
Hyonsok Oh Jang, SNF, Korea 
Jan-Ming Ho, Academic Einica, Taiwan 
Manon Ress, DJD Institute, USA 
Oscar Robles, NIC-Mexico, Mexico 
Clive Siambroor, S&H 
Moin Zaudi, SDNP, Pakistan 
Ji Eun Park, KRNLC, Korea 
Sue Leader, New Zealand Federation of Business Professional Women, Inc., New Zealand 
Tomoya Tatara, JCA-Net, Japan 
Hyungjin Kim, Netpia 
Chris Bailey, Association for Progressive Communications, United Kingdom 
Wonjae Lee, Citizens for Cultural Reform 
Cary Karp, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden 
Byeong-Leon Park, Korean Women's Associations United, Korea 
Eom Jong-Seok, Seoul Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) 
George Rtehy, NETEKA 
Jin Ar Kim, PeaceNet, Korea 
Desiree Miloshevic, MusicBank.net, UK 
Oh Byoung-il, Korean Progtressive Netowork/Jinbonet, Korea 
Joo Chul-min, Cyberright Team, Korea 
Christopher Ambler, .Web Registry, USA 
Kyu Man Hwang, Korea Progressive Network/Jinbonet, Korea 
Badiel Cali Drisne, ONATEL, Burkina Faso 
Anne-Rachel Inne 
Sangkil Yoon, FIF 
Iee Sy, Kwangwoon University 
Pierre Dandjinou 
Kwenduck Park, CivilNet, Korea 
Oswaldo Aguirre, NIC-VE, 
Yasuda Yukihiro, JCA-Net, Japan 
Kang, In Soon, YESNIC 
Sub Ramanian, INFITT 
Dale Craig, Z.MD 
Bon Youn Jeong, Young Korean Academy 
Stafford Guest, Internet and Users Society, Niue 
Heesob Nam, IPLeft, Korea 
Marat Guriev, Internet Providers Union 
Georg Panzer, NamePlanate.com 
Choi Yum Hee, Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, Korea 
Byung kyu Kim, KRNIC, Korea 
Shobha Gautam 
Ji-Young Choi, Joongang Ilbo, Korea 
Sunyoung Lee, KWI 
Jikyung Kim, Korea Internet Forum, Korea 
Toshimaru Ogura, Nast, Japan 
Kyong-Hu Kwon, PIN 
Jon Whelan, Artenic.com 
Hyekyong Kim, Task Group for Labor Information 
Hui Jin Yang, Intellectual Property Left, Korea 
Tony Hill, Internet Society of Australia 
Hye-Young Kang, KRNIC, Korea 
Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, University Aarchus, Denmark 
Ching-Yi Liu,TANET, Taiwan 
Kwak Hyun, Ecojustice Organization, Korea 
Yoshinobu Hisadome, CACAnet 
Hans Klein, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, USA 
Iori Noda, 
Roberto Gaetano, DNSO/GA Chair, Italy 
Clement Dzidonu, International Institute for Information Technology, Ghana 
Dmitri Boushou, Rostelecom, Russia 
Dori Kornfeld, EPIC/ACM, USA 
Ant Brooks, Future Foundation 
Young Ok Park, Netpia, Korea 
Tang Guangliang, CASS 
Chan-Mo Chuivet, KISDI, Korea 
Johannes K. Chiang, NCCU/ROC, Taiwan 
Poplant Mandrino, Sucisu/DF 
Yutaka Ikeda, Japan 
Navoaki Yano, Japan 
George Park, Genuity 
Khoo Boon Hing, Speednames Singapore, Singapore 
Norbert Klein, Open Forum of Cambodia, Cambodia 
Seyoung Chun, Chunguan National University, Korea 
Ronald Wiplinger, Wang's Trace Taiwan 
K. S. Raju, Internet Communications India, India 
Lim Soyoun Rzdrik 
Mungkoo Kang, Seoul Net Forum, Korea 
Ha, Enn-ju, Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, Korea 
Lee Enn Yong, LACPK 
Choi, Jae Suok, KFEM 
SaetByal Lee, PSPD 
Kevin Patel, Neteka 
Mariusz Kondrat, ISOC Polska, Poland 
Paul Chon, Web Express 
Briand Lari, UC Santa Cruz, USA 
Sangsao Hur, Sungkonghoe University, Korea 
Pamala Stanley, 
Kim Heitman, Electronic Frontiers Australia, Australia 
Kim, Eunmee, Kookmin University Seoul, Korea 
Bill Washburn, Member At Large 
Florescu Gabriela ARMEDD, ICI, Romania 
Garret Sern, Educause, USA 
Christopher Chiu, American Civil Liberties Union, USA 
Slobodan Markovic, Internodium, Slobodan Markovic, Internodium, Yugoslavia 
Yangwoo Ko, Peacenet, Korea 
Jun Takizawa, Chuo University, Japan 
Chris Maroney, Afternic.com, USA 
Veni Markovski, Internet Society Bulgaria, Bulgaria 
Carlos Alvarez, Wamani Networks, Argentina 
Dannie Avelino, Institute for Popular Democracy, Philippines 
Judith Oppenheimer, ICB Inc., USA 
T. Byfield, independent, USA 
Hernani Dimantas, Privacidade-Brasil, Brazil 
Jens Wilkinson, The New Observer, Japan 
Herb Kanner, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, USA 
Nubuo Sakiyama, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Japan 
Masafumi Tatara, Japan 
Osami Nomura, JCA-Net, Japan 
Gil Gilmore, USA 
Sven-Erik Andersen 
Milton Mueller, Syracuse University, USA 
Nani Buntarian, Indonesian women's movement, Indonesia 
Makoto Teranaka, JCA-Net, Japan 
Paul Garrin, Name.Space International, USA 
Lin Pugh, Knowledge Sharing Program, The Netherlands 
Yasuko Muramatsu, JCA-Net, Japan 
Shinji Yamane, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Japan 
S M Nazer Hossain, ISDE, Bangladesh
 
 

User interest in ICANN is both broad and deep.  In light of this, ICANN should implement its earlier commitment for a balanced board.  All nine seats for user representatives on the ICANN board should be filled by open elections.