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NB: This is a DRAFT; it is intended to be a framework for discussion
as proposed in the announcement of the DNSO process. Note that the
terminology and Section references refer to the amended ICANN bylaws.
APPLICATION TO BECOME THE DOMAIN NAME SUPPORT ORGANIZATION, (pursuant
to Art. VI, Section 3 (b) of the Bylaws of Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (the "Corporation")
Introduction
This application is made by the undersigned to become the Domain Name
Support Organization ("DNSO"), pursuant to Article VI, Section 3 (b)
of the Bylaws of the Corporation. The undersigned hereby commit to
fulfill the undertakings and policies set forth in this application.
This application is organized under the headings set forth in Article
VI, Section 3 (b) as follows:
I. Membership criteria for the DNSO, and for the Names Council to be
created pursuant to Article VI, Section 3 (a) (ii) of the Bylaws of
the Corporation.
II. Methods for developing substantive Internet policies and
selecting Board nominees
III. Open and transparent non-discriminatory processes
IV. Policies to ensure international and diverse participation
V. Policies for disclosure to the Corporation by members of or
participants in the DNSO of conflicts of interest or other financial
interests in matters within the scope of the DNSO
VI. Methods for funding the DNSO and providing funding for the
Corporation.
Discussion
I. MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA
A. MEMBERSHIP IN THE DNSO:
The qualifications for membership in the DNSO are set forth in
Appendix A to this application, entitled "QUALIFICATIONS FOR
MEMBERSHIP IN THE DOMAIN NAME SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION".
B. MEMBERSHIP IN THE CONSTITUENCIES:
Each member of the DNSO shall be either a member of the At Large
constituency or a member of one or more of the constituencies
described below. Qualifications for membership in each of the
constituencies are set forth in Appendix B to this application
entitled "QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE CONSTITUENCIES". DNSO
members who are not members of one of the constituencies 1-5 below
are automatically members of the At Large constituency.
The constituencies described herein are an initial set of
constituencies. The DNSO and the Names Council will develop fair
procedures for the creation, deletion, and merger of constituencies;
and adjustment of the representation of constituencies on the Names
Council.
The constituencies are:
1. Registries
2. Registrars
3. Infrastructure and connectivity providers
4. Businesses and other organizations
5. Organizations primarily concerned with the interests of trademark
owners
6. At Large
A member of the DNSO may be a member in more than one constituency if
it meets the qualifications for each constituency for which it
applies and pays the membership fees for each such constituency. No
member of any of the constituencies 1-5 may be a member of the At
Large constituency.
C. THE NAMES COUNCIL
There shall be a Names Council consisting of 21 members, elected from
time to time by the members of the DNSO, following the procedures set
forth below. The constituencies shall each have the right to be
represented by the following numbers of members of the Names Council:
1. Registries - 6
2. Registrars - 3
3. Infrastructure and connectivity providers - 3
4. Business and other organizations -3
5. Organizations primarily concerned with the interests of trademark
owners - 3
6. At Large - 3
In order to assure geographical diversity among members of the Names
Council, the members of the Names Council representing each
constituency must each be from different geographical regions, unless
there are more such representatives than there are regions. In this
latter case no region shall have more than one more representative
than any other region. The geographical regions shall be those set
forth in Article V, Section 6 of the Corporation's bylaws. In
particular, because the Registry constituency is represented by 6
members of the Names Council, and there are only 5 regions, not more
than 2 representatives of the Registry constituency may be from the
same geographical region.
D. APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN CONSTITUENCIES 1-5
After formation of the Names Council, applications for membership in
the constituencies 1-5 shall be submitted to the Names Council. The
Names Council shall have the right to approve or disapprove each
application. If an application is not approved, the applicant shall
have the right to appeal to the Fair Hearing Panel (described below).
E. ELECTION OF THE NAMES COUNCIL
Within four weeks of acceptance by ICANN of this application the
undersigned will self-select into constituencies, and elect members
of the Names Council.
Members of each constituency shall nominate individuals to represent
that constituency. Nominations within each constituency may be made
by any member of the constituency, provided, however, that each
member of a constituency may make no more than one nomination for a
Names Council member representing that constituency. An entity that
is a member of more than one constituency may make one nomination for
each constituency of which it is a member. Every nominee shall be
identified as representing a particular geographical region.
Elections for Names Council members shall be held once each year for
vacant seats. The term of office for each member of the Names
Council is three years, staggered so that each year one third of the
Names Council members shall be elected.
Each member of the DNSO may cast one vote for one nominee for
membership in the Names Council from each of the constituencies.
The winning nominees from within each constituency shall be
determined as follows:
Within the group of nominees for each constituency, the nominees
shall be grouped according to their geographical identification, and
shall be ranked according to the votes received. Winners will be
selected by the following criteria: Nominees identified with regions
with the least number of current representatives for the constituency
will be considered as a group. Within this group, the nominee with
the most votes is selected, and is then considered a member of the
group of current representatives. This procedure is repeated until
there are no vacancies. Any ties shall be broken by random
processes.
[There are two choices on how to proceed if there is insufficient
geographical representation: leave seats empty if the geographical
distribution requirements are not met; or fill remaining empty seats
with candidates with the most votes, even though the geographical
requirements are not met.]
[The following two paragraphs are an earlier description of a
procedure.]
Within each group of nominees for each constituency, nominees from
the same geographical region as any incumbent member of the Names
Council with an uncompleted term of membership representing the same
constituency shall not be selected.
All remaining nominees shall be grouped according to geographical
region and, from each region, the eligible nominee (or, with respect
to the Registries' constituency, the two eligible nominees for not
more than one geographical region) with the most votes shall be
elected to fill the available vacant seats on the Names Council.
The term of office for members of the Names Council shall be three
years. However, for the first election the first third of the
nominees selected through the above process shall receive a three
year term, the second third shall receive a two year term, and the
remainder shall receive a one year term. In the event of a
resignation or other event that disturbs the even distribution of
terms a similar fair process of adjusting the terms of newly elected
members shall be used to regain an even distribution. If for any
reason fewer than the seats allocated to a constituency are filled,
the seats remain unfilled until the next election.
II. METHODS FOR DEVELOPING SUBSTANTIVE INTERNET POLICIES AND
SELECTING BOARD NOMINEES
The Names Council is delegated the task of determining policies
regarding TLDs, including operation, assignment and management of the
domain name system and other related subjects, and, in accordance
with Article VI, Section 3(a)(ii) of the Corporation's Bylaws, the
Names Council shall make recommendations on such subjects to the
Corporation's Board. The Names Council shall also have the power to
select the nominees of the DNSO to the Corporation's Board.
The Names Council shall seek input and review of its recommendations
and Board nominations from each of the constituencies. It is the
intent of the DNSO that, initially, there will be significant review
by the constituencies; over time, the constituencies may agree to
reduce the extent of review.
Decisions by the Names Council on recommendations and selection of
Board nominees shall be made by [majority] [two- thirds] vote.
The DNSO, the Names Council and each of the constituencies will
establish on-line methods of meeting and conducting ballots.
The DNSO will develop procedures for its deliberations. Applicable
IETF procedures will be examined as a possible model.
III. OPEN AND TRANSPARENT NON-DISCRIMINATORY PROCESSES
The processes of the Names Council (and the processes of each
constituency) shall be governed by the same provisions for open and
transparent non-discriminatory processes as those of the Board of the
Corporation. A general mechanism for review of conflicts and
grievances will be developed, and the Names Council shall appoint a
Fair Hearing Panel which will, among other responsibilities delegated
to it by the Names Council, hear appeals pursuant to Section I.D. of
this application.
Other such conflicts and grievances heard by this Fair Hearing Panel
might include those regarding dominance or control of any single
issue by means of membership in more than one constituency, other
methods of unfair domination by special interests, matters concerning
disputed membership in a constituency or the DNSO, disputes
concerning membership dues, either in the DNSO or in a constituency,
and so on.
IV. POLICIES TO ENSURE INTERNATIONAL AND DIVERSE PARTICIPATION
Because of the composition of the Names Council, there will
automatically be international and diverse participation.
V. POLICIES FOR DISCLOSURE TO THE CORPORATION BY MEMBERS OF OR
PARTICIPANTS IN THE DNSO OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST OR OTHER FINANCIAL
INTERESTS IN MATTERS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE DNSO.
These policies shall be the same as those for the Board of the
Corporation.
VI. METHODS FOR FUNDING THE DNSO AND PROVIDING FUNDING FOR THE
CORPORATION
The DNSO shall fund all costs of DNSO and Names Council membership
and other meetings and communications, and all administrative and
other costs associated with membership, from membership fees as
established from time to time. Membership fees shall be set at a
level sufficient to cover administrative and other costs associated
with membership, including the cost of verification of identity.
The constituencies 1-5 shall fund all other expenditures and
contributions to ICANN.
The Names Council shall draw up a budget for each calendar year which
shall include receipts and all expenditures for which the DNSO is
responsible. These include the contributions payable to ICANN, the
administrative costs for DNSO and other expenditures for membership
meetings, conferences and hearings. The budget shall include a
provision for reasonable reserves, not to exceed [xx]% of the
previous year's budget.
Members of the Names Council shall serve without compensation,
provided, however, that members of the Names Council may be
reimbursed by the DNSO for out of pocket expenses incurred in
connection with their function if the expense is objectively
necessary, and if the member seeking reimbursement can document the
expense and show plausibly that the member could not perform the
member's duties as a member of the Names Council without such
reimbursement.
Members of the DNSO shall provide funding as follows:
A. Each member must pay annual dues in an amount equivalent to US$xx
[$50-$100].
Membership fees can only be changed by resolution of the entire
membership by affirmative vote of at least 80% of the membership
[eligible to vote] [voting on the resolution]. The membership may
not vote to reduce membership fees without a substantiated showing
that expenses of the DNSO can be met by the reduced fees.
B. Pursuant to the Corporation's Bylaws Art. VI, Sec.3(b)(vi) and
Art XI, Sec.4(b), fees and charges imposed by the Corporation shall
be passed along by the DNSO to the parties receiving the services or
benefits provided by the Corporation. Any other amounts in the DNSO
budget that are not covered by the membership fees referred to in A.
above shall be paid by each constituency in an amount proportional to
its number of representative members on the Names Council.
C. Payments required to be made can only be changed by an
affirmative vote of at least 80% of the Names Council, and only after
the Names Council has consulted with all the constituences regarding
the change. [The change must be approved by the ICANN Board.]
D. Each year's budget must be submitted by the Names Council to each
of the constituencies for approval. If the constituencies do not
unanimously approve the budget, it shall be submitted to the entire
DNSO membership for approval. Approval by the DNSO membership shall
be decided by a simple majority vote of [the members voting] [all
eligible voters]. If the membership does not approve the budget, the
budget shall be submitted to the Board of the Corporation which shall
have the power to determine the budget.
E. Any surplus from membership fees in a fiscal year shall be
carried forward to the next year's budget.
F. The Names Council shall appoint, by vote of at least 50% of the
Council, one of its members to be the Treasurer of the DNSO, who
shall have administrative control over receipts and expenditures. If
the Treasurer finds that receipts or expenditures are significantly
different from the budgeted amounts, the Treasurer shall propose an
amended budget, which shall be subject to adoption and approval in
the same manner as the original budget.
APPENDIX A
QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE DOMAIN NAME SUPPORTING
ORGANIZATION (pursuant to Art. VI, Section 2 of the Bylaws of
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (the
"Corporation"))
The following are the qualifications for participation by any entity
or organization for membership in the Domain Name Supporting
Organization ("DNSO"), as described in Article VI, Section 2 of the
Bylaws of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (the
"Corporation"):
Any entity or individual person with a legitimate interest in the
Internet is eligible to be a member of the DNSO.
APPENDIX B
QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE CONSTITUENCIES
The following are the qualifications for participation by any entity
or organization for membership in the constituencies, as described in
Article I of this application:
1) Any entity or organization that is either
a) A name registry (defined as an entity with write authority to a
zone referenced by a TLD),
b) Or a registrar of generic/global or country-code top- level
domains ("TLDs") (defined as an entity with a direct contractual
relationship with a registry to register names within a TLD zone),
c) Or a network operator or service provider (defined as a legal
person operating a name server for clients and offering Internet
connectivity to third parties),
d) Or other business or organizations (defined as any legally
constituted organization with a legitimate interest in Domain Name
issues),
e) Or an organization representing trademark interests, defined as
entities primarily concerned with trademarks or defending business
against counterfeiting.
2) Associations of organizations qualified to participate in the
constituencies may also become members, as may associations of
associations (umbrella associations) whose members meet the
conditions for participation in the constituencies. Associations and
umbrella associations must, however, be legally recognized entities
with substantial numbers of members. The Names Council will decide
any questionable cases.
-- Kent Crispin, PAB Chair "Do good, and you'll be kent@songbird.com lonesome." -- Mark Twain