MAC Bulletin Board

This working document reflects the ongoing progress of queries and comments by members of the ICANN Membership Advisory Committee and other contributors.  It does not represent final conclusions or recommendations of the committee or its members; indeed, many members have suggested various conflicting alternative approaches for consideration.  Where possible, contributions are identified by author and date.  To contribute to the Membership Advisory Committee process, please subscribe to its public discussion list.  Or, post a comment corresponding to an individual discussion topic or question by clicking on the corresponding .  (View all such comments here.)

3.0  RELATIONSHIPS 

3.1  Will the "membership" have any legal status distinct from ICANN?  (Diane Cabell, Dec. 26)  Will the membership need to elect its own officers to supervise functions or shall registration, voting, etc. be handled by ICANN? 

 3.1.1- If the At Large Membership is not distinct from ICANN, which services should ICANN provide to its membership?  Which level of resources should be devoted to this? Will these resources derive from ICANN's general budget or should there be a separate (or at least specifically identified) funding mechanism? 
 
3.2  Are SOs to be "members", although presumably not having rights to vote for At Large directors (and how would that be controlled?)  Should the SOs be excluded from At Large membership?  (Greg Crew, Dec. 26) 

3.3  Is there a way or a need to prevent duplicate voting by SO members? How different should the At Large membership be from the SOs? Is the At Large membership sufficiently distinct from the DNSO or how do we make it distinct?  (Nii Quaynor, Dec. 27) 
 

3.3.1 If ICANN adopts registered membership is it permitted for an organization to be member of multiple SO's as well as member of AL? What might be reasons for not permitting multiple memberships and how is it enforced?  Are there restrictions on individuals associated with organizations registered as SOs or AL, if any? (Nii Quaynor, Jan. 12) 
3.4  Will at large members have a right to petition ICANN, either:
  - for or against an SO proposal or a Board decision
  - or in order to ask the Board or an SO to address some new issue?  (Daniel Kaplan, Dec. 29) 
 

3.0  RELATIONSHIPS 
 

3.1  Will the "membership" have any legal status distinct from ICANN?  Will the membership need to elect its own officers to supervise functions or shall registration, voting, etc. be handled by ICANN? 

• Possible approaches (Greg Crew, Jan. 5)
 
a. "Members" have no legal status in ICANN. ICANN merely opens the nomination and election of AL directors to any interested parties, presumably by on-line means only. There would be no registration of members, probably no fees would apply. In this case the use of the term "member" might have to be reviewed. Call them "unregistered members".

b. 'Members" are all legal members of ICANN, with rights (to be written in By-laws Art. II) to vote at general meetings on specified issues. They would have obligations - to register as members, probably to pay (an annual fee, or buy shares). They would have limited liability for ICANN debts. In this case, SOs should be members, without the right to vote for AL directors. Call them "registered members".
Administration costs of this option would be high, and need to be covered by membership fees or share purchases. Because of the wide disparity in economic means among members, it would be difficult to set fees at levels that were efficient to collect, and that seemed equitable to all members.

c. A combination of a. and b.; Registered members could join voluntarily on accepting membership conditions set by ICANN. They, along with SOs, would have membership rights and obligations. With the exception of SOs, members could vote for AL directors. At the same time, AL director elections could be open to the general on-line public (unregistered members) to vote.

3.1.1- If the At Large Membership is not distinct from ICANN, which services should ICANN provide to its membership?  Which level of resources should be devoted to this? Will these resources derive from ICANN's general budget or should there be a separate (or at least specifically identified) funding mechanism? 
 
For non-registered "members" I do not see any reason for ICANN to provide member services, other than posting information on a public web site, and providing a voting mechanism.  For registered members, ICANN will have to provide membership registration and billing services, and probably a mailing service to provide information and notices of business.  If registered members (other than SOs) and unregistered members wish to form members' associations, that is their affair, and should not require support from ICANN.  (Greg Crew, Jan. 5)

3.2  Are SOs to be "members", although presumably not having rights to vote for At Large directors (and how would that be controlled?)  Should the SOs be excluded from At Large membership? (Greg Crew, Dec. 26) 
 
• If ICANN adopts a full or partial registered membership, SOs will be members without the right to vote for AL directors. If members of SOs are prohibited from joining ICANN as registered members in their own right, an expensive registration and cross-checking mechanism will be required by both SOs and ICANN to police this, and the check could be readily by-passed. Similarly, I cannot see how to prevent members of SOs voting for AL directors as unregistered members. Additionally, we could not prevent employees of corporate members of SOs becoming registered or unregistered members of ICANN.  My conclusion from the above paragraph is that, while prohibiting SOs from participating in AL director elections, we should remain silent on the question of the rights of SO members in AL director elections.  (Greg Crew, Jan. 5)
 
3.3  Is there a way or a need to prevent duplicate voting by SO members? How different should the At Large membership be from the SOs? Is the At Large membership sufficiently distinct from the DNSO or how do we make it distinct?   (Nii Quaynor, Dec. 27) 
 
3.3.1 If ICANN adopts registered membership is it permitted for an organization to be member of multiple SO's as well as member of AL? What might be reasons for not permitting multiple memberships and how is it enforced?  Are there restrictions on individuals associated with organizations registered as SOs or AL, if any? (Nii Quaynor, Jan. 12) 
3.4  Will at large members have a right to petition ICANN, either:
  - for or against an SO proposal or a Board decision
  - or in order to ask the Board or an SO to address some new issue?  (Daniel Kaplan, Dec. 29) 

• Members elect directors to manage the affairs of ICANN on their behalf. If directors' policies are disliked, the membership can take action at the next elections. I do not support the concept of members petitioning ICANN against board decisions. Who, other than the board, would they appeal to?  (Greg Crew, Jan. 5)
 
• Note that members and others individually have the right to appeal ICANN decisions (By-law Art. III, Sect 4) (Greg Crew, Jan. 5)
 
• ICANN will consider requests for policy formulation from any quarter, but it will remain a board decision whether to act on the request and refer it to the SOs.  (Greg Crew, Jan. 5)

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