FINAL STATEMENT

This wiki space was used for the development of the ALAC Statement on the eG8 Forum, initially drafted by LACRALO member Cintra Sooknanan.

The Final Statement sent to the Elysée Palace can be downloaded:

- In English

- In French

The original English Text was in English.

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Introduction

At-Large is the ICANN community representing Internet end users, other than the commercial or technical communities. ICANN works on the basis of a multi-stakeholder environment and a bottom-up decision making process.

The At-Large community selects the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) which has been an essential driving force, maintaining openness, ensuring accountability and transparency in ICANN's role in the naming and addressing of the Internet. This Statement was ratified by a vote of the ALAC on 24 May 2011.

 

The eG8 Forum

The ALAC takes note of the objectives of the Presidency of the Group of Eight (G8, French presidency) regarding the development of the Internet through the eG8 Forum, Paris, 24-25 May 2011.

We support some aspects of this initiative and wish to record our strong reservations regarding other aspects, notably the partial and biased participation in this event.

ALAC supports the G8 objectives to:

• Improve everyone's access to the Internet;
• Enable everyone to participate in global networks and promote respect for freedom of expression and opinion;
• Improve security of the Internet and protection of individuals; and
• Recommend examination of the Internet's economic and technical challenges.
  

We also recognize that several Internet organizations including ICANN, W3C, IAB and the Internet Society have been invited to be present in the eG8 Forum and that the outcome of the eG8 Forum may be submitted to the G8 Summit.

However, we are surprised and concerned that G8 governments, who have already committed themselves, in the WSIS and elsewhere, to the development of Internet policy placing all Internet stakeholders on an equal footing, omitted to ensure that all stakeholders, including representatives of end users and civil society, such as the ICANN At-Large community, among others, would be invited. On the contrary, we understand that participation has been weighted more heavily towards commercial interests through sponsorship requirements.

The G8 will only be able to fully comprehend and include the perspectives of all Internet stakeholders if Internet end users and consumers are effectively represented and able to participate in discussions such as the eG8 meeting this week.

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About At-Large

At-Large is the name for the community of individual Internet users who participate in the policy development work of ICANN. More than 120 At-Large Structures representing the views of individual Internet users are active throughout the world. To learn more about the community and its activities, as well as how to join and participate in building the future of the worldwide Domain Name System (DNS) and other unique identifiers which every single user of the Internet relies on with every online visit, please visit: www.atlarge.icann.org

About ICANN

ICANN’s mission is to ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet. ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers. ICANN doesn’t control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn’t deal with

access to the Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet’s naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet.

For more information please visit: www.icann.org.
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ICANN At-Large Contact

staff@atlarge.icann.org

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STATEMENT DEVELOPMENT

This wiki space is to be used for the development of the ALAC Statement on the eG8 Forum, initially drafted by LACRALO member Cintra Sooknanan. 

At-Large members are asked to submit their comments regarding the text below.  The deadline for comments for version 2 was Sunday, 22 May 2011, at 23:59 UTC.

For the French version of the below draft statement, please click here.

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ALAC Statement on the eG8 Forum -- VERSION 2

Introduction
The At Large is the ICANN community representing end users, other than the commercial or technical communities. ICANN works on the basis of a multi-stakeholder environment and a bottom-up decision making process.

The At Large community elects the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) which has been an essential driving force, maintaining openness, ensuring accountability and transparency in ICANN's role in the naming and addressing of the Internet.

The eG8 Forum

The ALAC takes note of the objectives of the Presidency of the Group of Eight (G8, French presidency) regarding the development of the Internet through the eG8 Forum, Paris, 23-24 May 2011

We support some aspects of this initiative and wish to record our strong reservations regarding other aspects, notably the partial and biassed participation in this event.

ALAC supports the G8 objectives to:

• Improve everyone's access to the Internet;
• Enable everyone to participate in global networks and promote respect for freedom of expression and opinion;
• Improve security of the Internet and protection of individuals; and
• Recommend examination of the Internet's economic and technical challenges.

We also recognise that several Internet organisations including ICANN, W3C, IAB and the Internet Society have been invited to be present in the eG8 Forum and that the outcome of the eG8 Forum may be submitted to the G8 Summit.

However, we are surprised and concerned that G8 governments, who have already committed themselves, in the WSIS and elsewhere, to the development of Internet policy placing all Internet stakeholders on an equal footing, omitted to ensure that all stakeholders, including representatives of end users and civil society, such as the ICANN At Large community, among others, would be invited. On the contrary, we understand that participation has been weighted more heavily towards commercial interests through sponsorship requirements.

The G8 will only be able to fully comprehend and include the perspectives of all Internet stakeholders if Internet end users and consumers are effectively represented and able to participate in discussions such as the eG8 meeting next week.

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ALAC Statement on the eG8 Forum -- VERSION 1

At-Large is the component of end-users, not business nor technical community within ICANN’s multi-stakeholder environment. At-Large is represented by the ALAC, which has been essential in driving development of the Internet by maintaining openness and ensuring accountability and transparency.

The ALAC lauds (?? applauds) the French Presidency’s objective of the G8 to:
   - Improve everyone's access to the Internet;
   - Enable everyone to participate in global networks (Internet?) and promote respect for freedom of expression and opinion;
   - Improve security of the Internet and protection of individuals; and
   - Recommend examination of the Internet's economic and technical challenges. [FNOTE1]

We recognise that several internet organizations (including ICANN, W3C, IAB and ISOC) have been invited to participate in the eG8 Forum (24-25 May, Paris) gathering the leaders of the Internet and acknowledge that the outcomes of this Forum will be submitted to the G8 itself for discussion.

Therefore, it is at odds with your objective and the equal-footing awarded to all Internet stakeholders, that the ALAC and other non-commercial actors (both of which promote and represent the end-users) were not invited to participate. This omission is particularly blatant, as participation of private sector appears to be tied to sponsorship.

We hope that the French Presidency will achieve success in its objectives but this will only be possible if it can understand and include the perspectives of all stakeholders, in particular that of the end-user being the Internet's consumer and driving force.

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[FNOTE1]
http://www.g20-g8.com/g8-g20/g8/english/-fiches/the-internet-new-challenges.420.html

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