Amidst much debate over the legitimacy of the Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) role in monitoring and regulating the development of the Internet, ICANN members now find themselves divided in their projections of the organization’s future. ICANN’s 19-member volunteer Board of Directors currently reign as the Internet kings and queens, controlling the induction of new Top Level Domains (TLDs), domain name registration processes, and many other aspects of the Net every-day users may take for granted. Formed in 1998, the committee has been recognized by the U.S. and governments worldwide as the consenting administration for technical management of the Internet. But many have asked, what gives them the right? Not deaf to the concerns of millions of Internet users worldwide, ICANN recently formed the At-Large Membership Study Committee (ALSC) to research methods in which the public can play a more influential role in ICANN decisions. There are now 9 ALSC members on ICANN’s Board of Directors, chosen by Internet users through a global election. The results of ALSC studies, however, seem to have disappointed many of ICANN’s directors. Whether they expected more from the study, or expected less criticism of ICANN’s current structure, the ALSC research has caused greater internal disputes that do not appear headed for a quick solution, mainly because ALSC members are now challenging the structure of ICANN itself. A letter to the ICANN Board citing results of a recent study asked “whether the tasks now assigned to ICANN could be handled better or equally well by an intergovernmental organization, thus potentially securing the legitimacy of the process, ensuring a degree of public participation through regular governmental mechanisms, as well as assuring the stability of the policy and decision-making system.” In response, long-time Board member and ICANN critic Karl Auerbach spoke against the ALSC proposals, claiming that every-day users are not as interested in ICANN policy as the committee would like to believe. “I think ICANN is dead as a public interest entity,“ Auerbach said. "It’s already a laughingstock." Although the ALSC agrees that its findings need to be explored and that Board meetings and public discussion must ensue, they are very aware of the urgency of the situation. As the ALSC letter to the ICANN board states, “the Internet is a system in rapid evolution, ICANN must be an organization open to change over time. We hope that a period of stability in its structures would make it possible for ICANN to contribute to the evolution of the Internet in different ways. “With some ICANN members seeking more democratic procedures through the involvement of Internet users in policy making, and others who have given up on the public as a source of valuable feedback, the organization faces critical decisions, which, whether the Internet users really are interested or not, will effect the way we all interact with the medium.
Sources: ICANN website, At-Large Membership Study Committee Report and homepage, “ICANN Board Member Blasts Governance Study”, by David McGuire; Newsbytes.com.
