ICANN Launches At Large Membership Study — Carl Bildt to [...]

26 January 2001 (Marina del Rey, CA, USA) - The Internet Corporationfor Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced today that itwas commencing a comprehensive study of the structure of itsAt Large membership. The study will be conducted by an At LargeMembership Study Committee that will make recommendations toICANN's Board of Directors on how individuals can effectivelyparticipate in ICANN's policy development, deliberations andactions for technical coordination of the Internet.

Mr. Carl Bildt, the former Prime Ministerof Sweden and noted United Nations envoy, will serve as Chairof the nine member Study Committee. An international statesmanand information technology advisor, Bildt's current duties includeSpecial Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nationsto the Balkans, Member of Parliament of Sweden, and Advisor andBoard Member of several Internet and technology-related corporations.

"The Board's approval of the StudyCommittee and Carl Bildt's selection as Chair is a demonstrationof ICANN's commitment to finding an effective way for the perspectivesof individuals in every country to be heard and given due consideration,"said Vint Cerf, Chairman of the ICANN Board of Directors. "Weare extremely fortunate to have someone with Carl Bildt's internationalconsensus building experience to lead this critical effort."

The Committee, which is chartered to seekinput from all interested parties and to work toward a broadconsensus on ICANN's At Large membership, will use multiple mechanismsfor input, including public forums, mailing lists, and a publicwebsite. The Committee will encourage the participation of organizationsand individuals worldwide, including the development of independentstudies and analyses from across the global Internet's constituencies.

"ICANN's actions affect the wholeworld's Internet users, and I look forward to the challengingtask of forging a consensus on the best method for representingthis ever-growing constituency," said Bildt. "Thiswill be an international cooperative effort, and I am countingon the participation of a diversity of Internet stakeholdersthat have an interest in ICANN to help us deliver a workablesolution."

The Board invited Charles Costello andPindar Wong to serve as the Committee's Vice-Chairs. Costellois director of the Carter Center's Democracy Program, and servedas an outside monitor for ICANN's At Large elections held lastyear. Wong served as an ICANN Director and Vice Chairman of theBoard during 1999-2000. He also is an active Internet policyleader in the Asia Pacific Region, and Chairman of VeriFi (HongKong) Ltd., an Internet infrastructure consultancy. The remainingmembers of the committee will be announced at a later date.

ICANN also announced the appointment ofDenise Michel as the Committee's Executive Director. Ms. Michelhas extensive experience in both private and public sector technologypolicy development, having served previously on the staff ofthe U.S. National Science Foundation, the American ElectronicsAssociation and the U.S. Department of Commerce. From 1993-95,she was Sr. Technology Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce,Mr. Ronald Brown.

Following public comment, the Board also adopted a charter forthe study to ensure a consistent base of expectations on thescope and details of the study committee's work. ICANN has postedthe charter on its website at https://www.icann.org/committees/at-large-study/charter-22jan01.htm.

Contact

Denise Michel
+1 310 823 9358
michel@icann.org