July 31, 2003
Assessing ICANN: Towards Civil Society Metrics to Evaluate the ICANN Experiment
Center for Democracy and Technology
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the unique organization responsible for coordinating certain key Internet resources, has devoted a significant part of its energy to change its structure and processes. A comprehensive framework for evaluating ICANN and its changes is however lacking. This paper examines a number of key documents surrounding ICANN that have put forward, explicitly or implicitly, benchmarks or goals for measuring ICANN's work. Recurring themes were identified in how prominent stakeholders have described and evaluated ICANN. Using these themes found the paper offers a set of ten "Civil Society Metrics" for use by everyone in evaluating ICANN from a public interest perspective.
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September 18, 2002
Enhancing Legitemacy in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers: Accountable and Transparent Governance Structures
Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
How should the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reform itself? As the organization begins a process of self-examination and reorganization, this report presents a set of Best Practices to guide the reform efforts. The report chooses three criteria (representation, participation, and accountability), and draws lessons from a number of detailed studies of other global institutions whose structure and organization resemble ICANN. From these case studies, the report suggests a number of steps ICANN could take to enhance its legitimacy. These include increasing the number of delegates from developing countries and civil society; introducing the concept of double majorities into ICANN's voting processes; enhancing transparency by making information publicly available on ICANN's web site; and several other measures that would allow ICANN to better fulfill its mission.
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November 2001
Report on the Global, On-line, Direct Elections for Five Seats Representing At-Large Members on the Board of Elections of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Carter Center Election Monitoring
This report details the electoral process by which the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) conducted an election for five seats on its Board of Directors representing at-large members. The report concludes that, due to serious technical and other problems, the elections were highly flawed. Nonetheless, the overall design structure of the electoral system satisfactorily established the conditions for an acceptable election, and provides valuable lessons for future application.
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June, 2001
Interim Report of the NGO and ICANN Study (NAIS)
At the root of concerns about ICANN's legitimacy are questions about how best to include the public voice. Yet a number of barriers--both practical and theoretical--make it difficult to establish governance structures for global democracy. This study, held in the wake of ICANN's first At-Large elections, considers some of these barriers, examines the results of the At-Large elections, and recommends steps that can be taken in the future to enhance public participation. In particular, the report suggests expanding the scope of ICANN's operations to include all relevant stakeholders from the non-profit, academic, and for-profit sectors.
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March, 2000
On the Internet, For the Internet - A Common Cause / Center for Democracy and Technology Report on the ICANN At-Large Elections
Produced shortly before the ICANN At-Large elections, this report identifies fundamental problems with the election plans. In addition, it suggests that the vast majority of the potential At-Large electorate does not even know of ICANN's existence.
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