Civil Rights and Consumer Protection in ICANN's policies

In a public call to action released on 13 February 2006, Annette Muehlberg,
European member of At-large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and co-chair network
new media asked for public support in building up a regional structure to
represent individual’s interests and concerns.

The petition with the title “Help to strengthen Civil Rights and Consumer
Protection in ICANN’s policies! ” considers that:

“The question of how Internet Governance is shaped is one of the central
sociopolitical tasks of the coming years. It will be a matter of how
consumers and Internet users can become involved in the policy making of
ICANN.

There is, nevertheless, a civil society element in ICANN, the At-large
Advisory Committee (ALAC), composed to represent Internet users, five
regions in world each providing 3 representatives. At this point these
representatives are chosen by a nominating committee of ICANN. However,
the goal is that the current ALAC members build structures to foster
participation in their respective regions, and furthermore facilitate
the direct election of regional ALAC representatives.

This year, a European Regional At-Large Organisation (EU-RALO) will be
build, to facilitate the broadest possible participation of European
Internet users.

Current ICANN bylaws require organizational participants, who would like
to build up a regional structure, to represent individual’s interests
and concerns. These organizations (or groups of people working on
internet users’ issues) are, in ICANN’s terms, “At-Large Structures”
(ALSes) and they form the so called “Regional At-Large Organisation” (RALO).

To reach the status of what ICANN refers to as an “At-Large Structure”
(ALS), has a few simple requisites and a questionnaire to be filled.

There are already a few European organizations that have become ALSes,
however, yet they are not representative for the diversity of European
Internet oriented Human rights and consumer protection organizations.

With a Regional At-Large Organisation, we want to work issue oriented
and influence ICANN’s policies – with the profound knowledge of as many
as possible European internet related consumer protection and civil
rights organisations.

It would be helpful if you could use your individual and institutional
contacts in north, south, west and east Europe to solicit for an
inclusive civil society engagement and accrediting as At-large Structure.”

The public call to action is open to signatures. It has already received
support from several German EDRI-members.

Help to strengthen Civil Rights and Consumer Protection in ICANN’s policies!
(13.02.2006)
http://www.wecann.de/2006/help-to-strengthen-civil-rights-and-consumer-protection-in-icanns-policies/

Wiki for discussion of the best possible structure of a European Regional
At-Large Organisation
http://www.wecann.net/ralowiki

Form to fill in order to get accredited to ALAC
http://alac.icann.org/correspondence/structures-app.htm

Form to fill in order to get accredited to ALAC (in Spanish and Italian)
http://alac.icann.org/framework.htm

(Thanks to Annette Muehlberg, EDRI-member Netzwerk Neue Medien – Germany)