huridocs-tech Cyber-Rights Groups Form Internet Democracy Project

This message was originally posted on the <politech> listserv.

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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

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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:

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.




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