ICANN has changed its bylaws so recently elected members representing Internet users won't be able to vote on adding new domain.
The five newest members of the Internet's administrative body -- and the only ones representing individual Internet users -- won't be allowed to vote later this month on the crucial issue of which domains will be added to the network and who will run them.
In a little-noticed bylaw change, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' amended its rules so that the new board members would be seated at the conclusion of the board's annual meeting, 13 to 16 November in Marina del Ray, California. That's when the board is expected to approve the first new domains to supplement dot-com, dot-net and dot-org.
When five new board members were elected by business groups last year, however, they were sworn in prior to the annual meeting, and hence were allowed to vote on a key contract with domain name registration giant Network Solutions.
ICANN officials said the bylaws were changed to make the terms of board members consistent with the group's annual meeting in California. But ICANN critics are sceptical of the board's motives. Two of the five board members elected last month by Internet users around the world have been vocal detractors of the current board.
"The current board members are studying the gTLDs [generic top-level domains] carefully already," said ICANN Chairwoman Esther Dyson, one of five original board members who will be replaced at the meeting. "These are not decisions to be taken quickly on 16 November."
But some ICANN critics complained that by excluding the five at-large members, the public will not have a voice in one of ICANN's most important decisions. "It's clear that some of the new directors will be very vocal about a number of issues," said Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa professor specialising in Internet law. "To exclude them from [this meeting]... It's unfortunate at a minimum."
That is just one of many issues, however, that will cloud ICANN's board meeting later this month. Several critics continue to complain about the board's decision to keep four of the nine original board members -- appointed when ICANN was tapped in 1998 by the US government to take over management of the domain name system -- on for two more years to ensure there are no vacancies on the 19-member board.
A Michael Froomkin, a law professor at the University of Miami, and others have called for the four remaining board members to resign, saying they are violating ICANN's original rules and an agreement that it had with the US government.
But ICANN officials noted that the decision to hold over the four original members was made as part of a compromise at its board meeting in March with those who demanded that at-large board members be elected directly by Internet users, contrary to ICANN's original plan. As part of the deal, ICANN agreed to hold an election for five at-large members, and then study the process to decide how to proceed with the other four.
Some critics have suggested that the four original board members could be replaced by the candidates who came in second in last month's election, though few expect ICANN to agree to such a plan. At the very least, though, some hope it will put pressure on ICANN to hold another election to replace the four original board members.
Meanwhile, ICANN announced last week that four board members have recused themselves from voting on the new gTLDs, because they have relationships to some of those that have applied to operate new gTLDs. The members include Amadeu Abril i Abril, Rob Blokzijl, Greg Crew and Phil Davidson.
In addition, a Texas company said last week that it is suing ICANN, claiming the organisation has intimidated registrars against signing agreements with the company, which is preregistering names in anticipation of the creation of new gTLDs. RegLand, which filed the lawsuit on 24 October, claimed that ICANN officials had defamed the company and made disparaging comments that have hurt its business. ICANN officials had no comment.
