LOS ANGELES - The ICANN meeting in Marina del Rey was the site of an historic event: the launch of a first organization to facilitate self-organization of the ICANN At Large members and foster democratic participation in the ICANN process. That new organization is the "Interim Coordinating Committee" (ICC) for the ICANN At Large membership.

The ICC will promote and facilitate user participation in ICANN by Internet users from around the globe.  The ICC is intended to help the membership develop a collective voice with which to speak out on issues.  Its web site is: http://www.ICANNmembers.org
 
Those launching the ICC have broad ties to the At Large membership. The organizers include four of the five newly-elected At Large Directors and five former Board candidates; in the recent 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).

A high priority issue for the At Large membership is the "Clean Sheet" study proposed by the Board at their July meeting in Yokohama.  At that time, the At Large Membership had not yet even been constituted.  Yet the study's mandate is to reconsider the very existence of the At Large membership -- a prospect that seems at odds with the remarkable success of the At Large elections in which some 158,000 users participated.  The ICC will be working with members to help articulate the member perspective on this study.

Another issue is the need to be able to communicate with the Membership.  Currently, the membership data and even access to the ICANN-Announce mailing list is not available to the membership. That makes it difficult to inform users of member activities.
 
Another issue for the ICC is the legal status of the ICANN membership.  At Large Members need to fully understand the rights and responsibilities should accompany membership.  The ICC will also have to define procedures for identifying consensus on issues relevant to users.

"The ICC is committed to constructive engagement with the existing Board," said Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, professor at the University of Aarhus. "ICANN processes have sometimes been contentious, but with this important step forward in the implementation of the At Large membership, there is a renewed willingness to work together for effective problem-solving."