ICANN raises on-line accountability - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - Company Operations

CommunicationsWeek International, Nov 15, 1999 by Sheridan Nye

The body responsible for managing the Internet domain name system plans a global on-line election for "at least" 5,000 ordinary Net users in a bid to answer critics that it Is not publicly accountable.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) this month won $200,000 in funding from philanthropy organization, the Markie Foundation, to recruit voters and run the election.

"Some people say we're going to be swamped; some say why would anyone want to be a member of ICANN?" said ICANN director, Greg Crew. "The view varies from optimistic to pessimistic."

ICANN was appointed by the U.S. administration in October last year to assume duties for managing domain name and root servers. But the non-profit organization almost immediately ran into criticism that its decision-making processes were opaque and that its directors were appointed without pubic consultation.

In response, ICANN aims to recruit an "at-large" membership to be "globally representative of the Internet user community." This membership will elect the first six members of an At Large Council, which in turn will elect three directors to the 19-member ICANN board. If this initial stage goes smoothly, on-line members will then select the final 12 Council members, who then vote for another six directors of the board. ICANN wants at least one Council member from each of North and South America, the Pacific Rim, Europe and Africa, directly elected by member citizens in those regions.

The remaining nine board members are elected by a similar council, representing ICANN's three Supporting Organizations (SOs) covering domain names, IP numbering and protocol issues. The last board member, the president, is elected by the other directors, and the White House wants the entire new board to have knees under the table by September 2000.

But ICANN's remit includes some of the hottest political potatoes in Internet governance--specifically, the competing interests of trade--mark holders and small businesses, and of multinationals and nation states--and commentators question whether it can reach consensus between such inherently conflicting positions.

Tony Rutkowski, principal of consultancy Next Generation Internet Associates, doubted that the desired minimum of 5,000 individuals will step forward "to do nothing more than elect someone who then in turn has the ability to vote for an ICANN Board member."