Internet Users To Vote For ICANN Board Members

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August 01, 2000 (4:18 PM EDT)

Internet Users To Vote For ICANN Board Members

By Mary Mosquera,

Over 150,000 Internet users will be able to vote in a global election in October to choose five members to the board of the organization that administers the Internet, ICANN said Monday.

The election is designed to give non-commercial interests a voice in Internet policy-making.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, announced that it concluded its first at-large membership registration with more than 158,000 Internet users signed up worldwide between Feb. 25 - July 31. ICANN at-large members will select five members to the board of directors in October.

ICANN also released a slate of nominees from five geographical areas of the world.

ICANN's at-large membership program is intended to give Internet users from all over the globe a say in ICANN's policy-making structure for the Internet's domain name and numbering systems. ICANN is the worldwide group to whom the Commerce Department transferred Internet domain name and numbering functions.

The number of Internet users registering to be an at-large member far exceeded expectations, reaching more than 30 times the original estimate of 5,000 members, ICANN said. The unexpected number of applicants overwhelmed a system that was intended to deal with a fraction of the registrations.

Signing up to be at-large members were 93,782 from the Asia and Pacific region, including 38,931 from Japan and 33,670 from China; from Europe, 35,942, of which 20, 476 were from Germany; from North America, 21,596, including 19,501 from the United States; from Latin America and the Caribbean, 6,486; and from Africa, 787.

Many who tried to register were not able to do so near the end of the period, fueling criticism that the international organization was trying to limit popular participation. ICANN said at-large membership should be open to all who are interested in joining, but any postponement of the registration deadline would put off the election this year, ICANN said.

"This is only the beginning," said ICANN Chairman Esther Dyson. "We're delighted at the level of participation, though somewhat dismayed at the competitive atmosphere that sometimes emerged and the over-hyped expectations of ICANN's role."

ICANN nominated Lyman Chapin, chief scientist of BBN Technologies and a director of CommerceNet; Donald Langenberg, chancellor of the University System of Maryland; Lawrence Lessig, professor at Stanford Law School; and Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America.

"We hope these candidates will engage in lively and constructive debate about ICANN's activities and specific policies as it carries out its mission of supporting the Internet's growth as an open, robust and reliable medium for communications and commerce," Dyson said.

At-large members will be able to vote for one board member from the nominees for their geographic area. Five board members will be elected, one to represent each of the five regions of the world.

"Even though it is clear that some of those who registered were prompted to do so by outreach efforts that significantly overstated the scope and significance of ICANN's technical functions related to the domain name system, members of the ICANN Board and staff are gratified to see that there are a considerable number of Internet users who are willing to take the time and make the effort to participate in the ICANN process," said ICANN President and CEO Mike Roberts.

Following registration, at-large applicants will receive a letter containing a personal identification number (PIN), and must visit the at-large site to activate their membership and become eligible to vote. Voting will take place for 10 days beginning Oct. 1.