IP: Civil liberties groups launch e-democracy, ICANN project

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

BTW I agree with Declans comments DJF

> Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 11:43:36 -0400
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
>
> [The problem with ICANN, or at least one of the problems, is not that the 
> corporation has taken over "privatized" government functions. The problem 
> is that the functions are not privatized enough. With ICANN, you have an 
> inherently unhealthy situation: A private company that's under the thumb 
> of government regulators, without the open-government and due-process 
> protections you'd have if it were a true government agency. --Declan]
>
> *********
>
> Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 11:22:54 -0400
> To: declan () well com
> From: Barry Steinhardt <Barrys () aclu org>
> Subject: New Internet Democracy Project
>
> Declan,
>
>
> I thought you would be interested in this release announcing the creation 
> of the new Internet Democracy Project which is designed to marshal the 
> forces of non-governmental organizations to work on establishing civil 
> society principles for Internet governance bodies like ICANN.
>
> Barry Steinhardt
>
>
>
>
> Warning of Thorny Online Issues Ahead,
> Cyber-Rights Groups Form Internet Democracy Project
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Amy Weil, ACLU, (212) 549-2561 or 2666
> Thursday, July 6, 2000 Andrew Shen, EPIC, (202) 483-1140 / shen () epic org
>
> NEW YORK -- Seeking to strengthen civil society online, the American Civil 
> Liberties
> Union (ACLU), Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) and the
> Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) joined together today to 
> launch the
> Internet Democracy Project.
> "The goals of the Internet Democracy Project are to encourage participation by
> non-governmental organizations in Internet governance and to promote the 
> principles
> of a civil society," said Hans Klein Chair of CPSR.
> As the unique medium of the Internet develops, Klein noted, key governance
> decisions about central resources and operations are being made by
> quasi-governmental agencies, such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned 
> Names and
> Numbers, known as ICANN.
> ICANN is a new global organization originally chartered by the United States
> Government to administer the Internet addresses and the Domain Name System 
> which
> govern what a Internet site can be called and how it can be found.
> "There is real need to focus the attention of civil society on the seemingly
> technical issues that organizations like ICANN are addressing," said Barry
> Steinhardt Associate Director of the ACLU. "If our voices are not heard 
> while the
> governance structures are being created it may be too late," he added.
> Increasingly, ICANN has been setting policies on issues that will have a
> significant impact on the free expression and privacy rights of Internet 
> users for
> example by crafting policies that favor commercial interests over those of
> non-commercial speakers.
> As one of its first priorities, the Project will sponsor a forum on "Civil 
> Society
> and the ICANN Elections" on July 13 in Yokohama, Japan. Yokohama is the 
> site of the
> next ICANN board meeting and related meetings. The forum will feature 
> speakers from
> around the globe and will include discussion of principles by which the 
> Internet
> should be governed.
> In addition to its work on ICANN, the Internet Democracy Project will also 
> look at
> the impact of other Internet governance structure on civil society.
> "ICANN may be the most prominent organization in some corners of the 
> globe, but it
> is hardly the only group that will affect the future of the Internet," 
> said Marc
> Rotenberg, Executive Director of EPIC. "Our work will be broader and we will
> encourage the participation of the Public Voice at every opportunity," 
> continued
> Rotenberg.
> The Project's upcoming agenda will include:
> ^Õ Statement of Principles -- Developing support for a statement on "Civil 
> Society
> and ICANN Elections," which is to be discussed in Yokohama. The Internet 
> Democracy
> Project will continue to seek support for the statement that speaks to the 
> need for
> transparent and representative governance, a balanced approach for 
> intellectual
> property protection, the need to ensure minimal and equitable costs for domain
> registration, and other key issues for the management of ICANN.
> ^Õ Informational Clearinghouse -- The Internet Democracy Project will 
> promote public
> education about Internet governance and encourage public participation in 
> Internet
> policymaking. IDP will publish a newsletter, establish a web site
> (www.internetdemocracy.net), and produce a sourcebook on Internet 
> governance issues.
> ^Õ ICANN Election Resource -- The Project will serve as a non-partisan 
> educational
> resource for voters in the upcoming election of At Large members of the 
> Board of the
> ICANN. The Project will also foster dialogue among voters and ICANN's 
> current and
> potential Board members about important public policy issues. The Project 
> will ask
> the candidates to express their position on civil society issues and 
> widely publish
> their answers.
> The Internet Democracy Project is non-partisan and will neither support 
> nor oppose
> the election of any candidates.
> The Internet Democracy Project is online at www.internetdemocracyproject.org.
>
> -end-