3.2.4 At-Large Membership

What is left as a vehicle for the public voice within the current conception and structure of ICANN is the existing At-Large Membership. The problem, however, is that the At-Large Membership barely exists.

The election in October 2000 for five At-Large directors was a qualified success, as discussed earlier in this report. But the creation of the At-Large Membership was an almost complete failure. As soon as ICANN established a membership, it destroyed it as well.

Indeed, in an important sense, ICANN did not establish an At-Large Membership at all. It established an electorate for the election it held. But it also hobbled that electorate in its ability to participate in the election, to interact with the candidates, or to self-organize into electoral interests.

There is undoubtedly a balance to be struck between the privacy interests of a member of ICANN and the unfettered access to membership lists that would facilitate the free flowing exchange of ideas among members of ICANN. Wherever the perfect balance point might be, ICANN was too strict in limiting the flow of information among members of the electorate and between the electorate and its candidates.

ICANN also made a far more serious mistake. Having invested several hundred thousand dollars in the recruitment, cultivation and development of an At-Large Membership that in the end grew-beyond all expectations-to as many as 75,000 people (and perhaps it would have been even more, if technical problems had not interfered with registration), ICANN then let that asset go to waste.

ICANN did little to promote the membership or to ensure that it would continue as a viable, interactive and participatory group of individuals interested in ICANN. ICANN did not officially recognize or provide space on its web site to the organizing efforts of the At-Large Membership, nor did ICANN staff attempt to provide a coordination interface for the ALM.

As a result, the collective energy of 75,000 At-Large Members has grown stale from neglect and has begun to dissipate entirely. Rather than building on a solid base of 75,000 members recruited for the election, and nurturing that membership by providing them a means for discourse and participation, the membership has instead been allowed functionally to "disband."

3.2.3 The Government Advisory Committee

3.2.5 Conclusion