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 December 2014

Monthly activities in December were focused on a number of follow-ups.

One of the main items was the preparation for ICANN of the budget proposal for the 2016 fiscal year for the GA in autumn 2015, to be organised during the ICANN 54 meeting.

The IANA Stewardship transition and the proposal made by ALAC remained a key focus at the end of the year.

The CROPP program and applications from EURALO were also an important focus, and were debated during the monthly call, as well as the candidature of JJ Subrenat for the Netmundial Coordination Council, which was accepted.

The EuroDIG planning process and the December 31deadline for the call for topic proposals remained high on the agenda. The EuroDIG Secretariat reminded all RALO members about the mailing list and reported on the creation of a newspaper that will round up news on Internet governance activities all over Europe on a monthly basis. Another item of EuroDIG news was the South-Eastern European Roundtable, to be organised during EuroDIG 2015.

The new application for EURALO membership from Russia and the due diligence procedure to be prepared by staff was discussed by RALO members. Other applicants may submit their applications soon as well. The importance of individual membership was also a feature of discussion this month.

 

 November 2014

Monthly activities in November were focused on a number of follow-ups and the preparation of the EuroDIG planning process, with the open call for proposals. The topic proposals for Sofia 2015 remained an important issue for discussion and promotion among RALO members.

The IANA Stewardship transition and the accountability issues at ICANN remained hot topics of discussion for RALOs in line with these issues, EURALO members participated in a meeting in Frankfurt focused on IANA Stewardship transition.

Another event was the Geneva Internet Conference, which featured the participation of several EURALO members.

During November, EURALO ALSes also discussed the EURALO GA that could be organised during the Dublin meeting in autumn 2015 and the request for the budget for the GA to be submitted to ICANN for the 2016 fiscal year. 


October 2014

Monthly activities in October were focused on a number of follow-ups and mainly on the ICANN 51 meeting, which took place in Los Angeles on October 11-17, 2014. The important topics discussed during the ICANN 51 were the IANA Stewardship transition and the follow-up to the ATLAS II recommendation. During the meeting of the Regional Leadership, the question of the engagement and participation of RALOs inside the EURALO was raised and debated. 

One of the important points of the feedback from participants to ICANN 51 in Los Angeles was the success of the Leadership Training program. It was underlined that the program was a useful look at capacity and management training that gave participants the opportunity to meet people from different constituencies.

The EuroDIG preparation process for Sofia 2015 and the upcoming call for proposals remained another focus of activities in October. The RALOs were informed that the compilation of proposals will be completed by the end of January 2015, with the final program of EuroDIG to be decided in April 2015.

 

September 2014

Monthly activities in September were focused on a number of follow-ups and the preparation of the next ICANN meeting, which will take place in October of this year in Los Angeles. The participation in the ICANN Academy at ICANN 51 was underlined. 

The follow-up of the implementation of the ATLAS II recommendations and closer cooperation between At-Large and the Board on the issue has entered its active phase. 

The interesting feedback from ICANN Studienkreis meeting was noted. Discussions took place concerning the intervention of Mr Fadi Chéhadé during the second day of the above-mentioned event and also covered the NetMundial Initiative meeting in Geneva.

September was also the month of the follow-up on the outcomes of the IGF and the participation of At-Large members in a number of workshops and side events.

It is important to underline that the first preparatory meeting of EuroDIG 2015, which will take place in Sofia, was organized.

The new ALAC Leadership, Alan Greenberg, was introduced to the community and EURALO offers to Alan its warm congratulations for this nomination.

The Action Plan for EURALO 2015 is now open for comments and will be presented during the month of November - December of this year. 

July - August 2014

Monthly activities in July and August were limited due to the summer break. At the same time, the events organized during this period were rich. The main concern was the follow-up to the ICANN 50 meeting and the ATLAS II Declaration implementation process. 

The importance of such events like the European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG) which will soon celebrate its 10th anniversary and which is the hub for new Internet Governance leaders- and the ICANN Studienkreis meeting, which was also organised in Sofia, Bulgaria, during July-August needs to be underlined.

The month of July was concentrated on the results from EuroDIG event, which took place in June in Berlin. The end of August was dedicated to the preparation of IGF meeting, which will take place in September in Istanbul, and the participation of EURALO ALSes in it.

June 2014

Monthly activities in June were focused on a number of important events in Europe in the field of Internet Governance.

One of them was the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG), organised in Berlin. Due to the success of the CROPP applications, five candidates represented EURALO in Berlin and engaged with potential future members of EURALO and other stakeholders around ICANN and EURALO roles and activities. They assumed outreach activities on behalf of EURALO.

ICANN 50 and EURALO GA were another important events. 80% of EURALO members attended the GA held during the ICANN 50 and participated in ICANN debates, as well as the ATLAS II Summit at ICANN 50.

During the EURALO GA a number of issues were discussed and presented to the members, including the targets achieved since the Lisbon GA in 2013, successful EURALO representation at different levels (ICANN Board, NomCom, At-Large Multistakeholder Award for Avri Doria) and the success with the main projects (EuroDIG and the ICANN Academy). The issue of better engagement of the EURALO ALSes was underlined and the need for a strategy on better outreach was discussed. The new Vice-President for Europe, Jean-Jacques Sahel, was presented to the stakeholders and stressed the need to reinforce the European Engagement Strategy. 

During the ATLAS II Summit at ICANN 50 there were many EURALO representatives. The ATLAS II Statement to the Multistakeholder Community was one of the successes of the Summit. 

May 2014

Monthly activities in May were focused on active preparation of the ATLAS II Summit, which will take place during the ICANN 50 in June of this year in London.

The main concern was the participation of EURALO ALSes in the Sub-Committee working groups and the preparation of the summit agenda. EURALO activities were focused on the preparation of the General Assembly, which will be organised during the ATLAS II Summit and the agenda points to be proposed as a part of the GA.  Agenda points have to be proposed by EURALO ALS and will be integrated in the agenda, to be discussed with ALSes representatives together with the Board Report and the EURALO strategy for 2014-2015.

The participation of the new ICANN Vice-President for Europe, Mr Jean-Jacques Sahel, in the EURALO GA was acknowledged and we would like to welcome Jean-Jacques.

The month of May also saw work devoted to ALAC Social Media Strategy and implementing its action points for ATLAS II.

Among other issues were the follow-up to CROPP procedure for Europe region, the upcoming EuroDIG event in June in Berlin and the participation of EURALO members in it, as well as the participation in the ICANN Working Group on Accountability and the preparation of the MoU to be proposed for signature between RIPE NCC and EURALO. 

April 2014

During the month of April, EURALO activities were actively focused on the follow-up to the post-ICANN Singapore achievements and the results of the selection of the candidate for Board 15.

Another point of discussion was the upcoming NetMundial event and the participation of EURALO members in it, together with EURALO concerns and priorities to be delivered and discussed during the aforementioned meeting. The follow-up to the NetMundial recommendation dominated EURALO activity at the end of the month.

The follow-up to the CROPP selection procedure and related logistical questions remained an important issue for the region.

The preparation of the ATLAS II Summit, which will take place in June in London, was another key focus of EURALO activities in April. The need for greater involvement by ALSes representatives in different Working Groups that were created to support the preparation of the Summit was highlighted.  

Other key focuses were the preparation of the final agenda and the participation of EURALO ALSes in EuroDIG for June of this year, as well as involvement in events, such as the EU MAPPING project meeting to take place in May 2014 in Rome. 

March 2014

Monthly activities in March were focused on the ICANN 49 meeting priorities and the new changes that were announced during this meeting, principally, the IANA transition and the transfer of key Internet technical functions decided by the US Government. The abovementioned priorities and the positions of EURALO members concerning these priorities were among the main discussion points in Singapore.

Among other key issues was the selection process of candidates for Board Seat 15, the regional consultation among member ALSes (with a high level of participation again), and the announcement of results with the appointment of Ms Rinalia Abdul Rahim as the next ICANN Board Director from At-Large, as selected by the At-Large Community. EURALO would like to offer Rinalia its warm congratulations!

Also of note was the approval of the CROPP submission candidates proposed by EURALO in February 2014, namely the two Armenian counterparts who were accepted as part of EURALO’s CROPP program.

Preparation for the ATLAS II Summit and the participation in EuroDIG in June this year remained important items on the agenda. Other actual EURALO challenges are: the outreach activities for ATLAS II which have to be designed and the preparation of EURALO’s next General Assembly which is planned to take place during ICANN 50 in London. 

February 2014

The month of February was mainly dedicated to commencing the implementation of items defined by the 2014 Action plan.

Monthly activities were concentrated on the preparation of the submission form for the CROPP programme for the agreed five candidates from Europe, which was carried out by the CROPP review team members.

Alongside the CROPP submission process, another important point was the participation of EURALO in the designing the budget for the 2015 fiscal year and the preparation of EURALO requests, which was completed on schedule. This point was of great importance in light of the uncertain future of the CROPP programme, which may be discontinued next year.

Another important item was the preparation process for the ATLAS II Summit, which will take place in Europe, London, in June 2014 and the improved participation of European ALSes in the Working Groups formed to prepare for the event.

The selection process of candidates for Board Seat 15 continued. Two European names presented as candidates for the above mandate are: Sébastien Bachollet and Jean-Jacques Subrenat.

The participation of ALSes in EuroDIG later this year was underlined, the first outline of the programme, together with a newly created wiki space is now available online –see:

http://www.eurodig.org/eurodig-2014/programme-overview

It is important to mention the official support EURALO brought to the International Action Day (The day we fight back), which took place on the 11th of February. 

January 2014

 2014 started with active engagement of EURALO members in a number of activities:

Among important preoccupations of members was the support to the International action day on 11 February, which was dedicated to the fight against mass surveillance. EURALO was asked by organisers to support this action. After consultation with members, it was decided to express official support on behalf of EURALO, as privacy remains one of the priorities and concerns of the European regional at At-large.

The new CROPP Program and the selection of five regional candidates remained one of the important points on EURALO’s agenda. The issues became of particular importance due to the close deadline for applications in February.

The process of topics selection for EuroDIG 2014 was closely followed by members, the deadline for voting on submitted proposals closed on the 30th of January. The first planning meeting took place on the 31st January in Berlin attended by various members.

It is important to underline that the preparation of ATLAS II, scheduled to happen in June this year in London, and the selection of candidate for Board seat 15, were important issues for the region as well.

In January EURALO started to define regional priorities for its 2014 planning. 

December 2013

The month of December resulted in a number of activities. The follow-up of participation in ICANN 48 was one of the main agenda points of the month of December. EURALO members continued their participation in debates around Brazil Summit in April 2014 and the Multistakeholder Innovation Strategic Panels.

It is important to underline the success of the ICANN Academy Pilot project during ICANN 48, which was encouraged to become a regular event at ICANN’s AGM at the end of year.

A number of important events took place during the month of December; among them the meeting of High level Panel on Global Internet Cooperation & Governance Mechanisms, which took place in London, December 20. EURALO members closely followed this event.

Another important event was the second ICANN Brussels briefing meeting, attended by few EURALO ALSs, which partly focused on ICANN Engagement Strategy for Europe.

Among regional events, it is important to mention the first regional Azerbaijani Internet Governance Forum organised in Baku. 

The preparation of ATLAS II remained an important item on the December agenda. The preparation process continued to focus on strategic preparation and the analysis of survey data. It is necessary to mention that the next EURALO GA will take place during the ATLAS II in London, July 2014.

Also, the organisation of CROPP Program and the selection of EURALO representatives to CROPP Initiative were among agenda points in December.

Finally, the deadline for proposals of ideas for EuroDIG 2014 is set for December 31, 2013.

With best wishes for 2014, EURALO Secretariat!

November 2013

The main activities of the month of November were focused on the preparation of EURALO’s participation in the ICANN 48 meeting in Buenos Aires and the follow-up of this participation.

During ICANN 48, EURALO members actively participated, physically or remotely, in a number of discussions, namely:

- Montevideo Statement and Brazil Summit on Internet Governance

- Outreach activities and the ICANN Strategy for Europe

- Multistakeholder Innovation Strategic Panels

- ATLAS II planning discussions

- ICANN Academy Pilot project

- Board seat 15 selection process, etc.

EURALO leaders participated in ICANN 48 meeting organised between Mr Fadi Chehadé and At-large community.

The preparation of ATLAS II remained an important item of the month of November. ATLAS II will take place in July 2014 in London. The preparation process resulted in the analysis of the survey data launched among RALOs in October 2014. 

October 2013

In October the main focus was on a number of events in the field of Internet Governance.

EURALO members were closely following the results of the Montevideo meeting and considered the Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation issued by leaders on the 7th of October.

Another important announcement followed by EURALO members was the statement made by Mrs Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil, after the meeting with Mr Fadi Chehadé, to host of the International Summit on Internet Governance in April 2014.

A lot of attention was paid to the events such as Ukrainian IGF in which a number of EURALO ALSs participated physically or remotely, and the Internet Governance Forum 2013, which took place in Bali, Indonesia. EURALO was well represented at the Bali IGF. A number of EURALO members were organisers of the workshops and side events.

Such issues as the preparation of the ATLAS II and ICANN Academy Pilot Leadership Training Project were among important agenda points in October.

The ATLAS II preparation resulted in a launch of the survey among the different RALOs.

The call for proposals of topics for the important European event – EuroDIG 2014 – was launched during IGF in Bali. EuroDIG will take place in June 2014 in Berlin. 

September 2013

After the holiday break, EURALO activities were mainly concentrated on the preparation of the input of interested ALs for the following discussed issues: 

It has to be underlined that, as the selection of candidates for the Board Member Selection Process Committee and the BCEC has started, EURALO with other RALOs has an important role to play in the process. This was one of the concerns of the members of EURALO during the month of September.

September was an important month for the preparation of EURALO engagement in IGF 2013. EURALO had a great representation, with 7 people physically present and engaged in a number of activities in Bali.

The launch of the ATLAS II survey and the development of its quantitative part were among other important EURALO activities, as At-Large summit will take place in London. All members of EURALO played an important role by actively participating in the survey.

July and August 2013

This is a summary report of EURALO’s activities over the last months. EURALO was very active to organize and conduct its 6th General Assembly (GA) in line with the last EuroDIG in June in Lisbon (see our previous reports). So to say, EURALO came back to its roots where EURALO was founded in March 2007 in line with the then European ICANN meeting in the Portuguese capital. And our last 2013 GA was the first F2F meeting after Mexico in 2009 where a vast majority of our member ALSes could meet physically (more than 80%). An unquestionable highlight of our Lisbon GA was the participation of ICANN’s President and CEO Fadi Chehade together with Nigel Hickson, ICANN’s Vice-President Stakeholder Engagement for Europe. This offered an opportunity to discuss ICANN’s Strategic Planning for the next five years with community members.

EURALO members in Lisbon discussed and defined some thematic priorities for our regional activities. Another key topic on the agenda was how to improve in-reach and involvement in ALAC consultation procedures and policy. Besides this, the Chair and Secretariat were re-elected (the latter Yuliya Morenets in a run-off voting round following the GA). Furthermore, the EURALO Board was re-elected with some incoming new members. For more details see https://community.icann.org/display/EURALO/EURALO+Elections%2C+Selections+and+Appointments+2013

EURALO with its ALAC members participated at the last ICANN meeting in July in Durban/South Africa. And as in previous years, various members participated in the European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG) in Meissen/Germany in August and at the last ICANN-Studienkreis meeting in Pisa/Italy in September – see http://www.euro-ssig.eu/ and http://icann-studienkreis.net/

As usual, there are no monthly calls held over the summer break in July and August. EURALO restarted its regular activities with its monthly call in September.

June 2013

All EURALO efforts in June were focused on the first F2F General Assembly (GA) after several years (2009) in Lisbon again. And in close cooperation with ICANN, EURALO organized a pre-event of EuroDIG on 19 June on the “ICANN Strategy for the next five years” where Fadi Chehade (ICANN President and CEO) and Nigel Hickson (VP Europe) were key speakers.

The EURALO GA was attended by 27 members providing a quorum of almost 90 per cent. Besides the GA regulars, EURALO’s leadership had to be reselected (Wolf Ludwig for the Chair and Yuliya Morenets as the new Secretariat – what made a run-off Online vote after the GA necessary).

The thematic focus of the assembly was on “how to improve participation and members involvement in regular EURALO work and regional advice to ALAC – ICANN?” There was a vivid discussion incl. definition of five thematic priorities for EURALO. For more details see the Lisbon GA meeting minutes:

https://community.icann.org/display/EURALO/2013+EURALO+General+Assembly+-+Summary+Minutes+EN

The GA was followed by an ICANN-EURALO Outreach reception for EuroDIG participants and the local community to attract new members from the host country. The following two days EURALO members attended the 2013 EuroDIG with a packed program – see:

http://www.eurodig.org/eurodig-2013/programme

From a strategic POV, EURALO became a key driver and org. pillar of the EuroDIG process by getting more and more involved in the regional European IGF.

May 2013

EURALO priorities in May were:

- final stage of preparations for Lisbon GA (draft agenda setting, preparation for EURALO officers selection, posting of a draft Board report and other businesses);

- EuroDIG 2013 preparation process (up-dates from Sandra and Wolf as EuroDIG Secretariat);

- discussion on next steps for ALS for individual members with Roberto and Veronica as contact points in their interim capacity, or to wait for any comments from other individual members);

- preparation to ICANN Academy pilot project in Buenos Aires (and presentation of draft curriculum in Durban – Sandra, Avri);

- participation at IGF-MAG consultation and other IG events in Geneva (Avri, Bill, Veronica, Wolfgang, Yuliya);

- participation at the Stockholm Internet Forum (Yrjo);

- participation at an international seminar in Moscow “Internet Governance after WCIT-12” (Olivier, Avri, Desiree, Oksana);

- on-going discussion of the problem with ICANN geographical regions (after Roberto's report on his trip to Armenia) and different ways to deal with this problem.

April 2013

EURALO activities in April concentrated on:

- participation at the ICANN 46 meeting in Beijing (among the most important topics which were discussed where: preparation for At-Large Summit (ATLAS 2) in summer 2014 in London, the role of ALAC officers and ALSs in communication between ALAC/ICANN and local Internet communities, internationalization of ICANN, budget aspects regarding new gTLD future);

- EuroDIG outreach (F2F meeting in Beijing in line with ICANN conference, agenda setting and mobilization) -

http://www.eurodig.org/eurodig-2013/programme

- follow-up for preparations of Lisbon GA https://community.icann.org/display/EURALO/EURALO+2013+General+Assembly+Workspace\\

- next steps on ICANN Academy (F2F meeting in Beijing, survey, presentation of new ICANN on-line Educational platform -

ICANN Online Education Platform and the role of the ICANN Academy WG - Open Discussion with Matthew Shears );

- national events (Finnish Internet Forum - www.internetforum.fi/ , Russian Internet Governance Forum - www.rigf.ru/en/ )

March 2013

EURALO priorities in March were:

  • Over the last weeks, EURALO was closely involved in the creation and launch of a Swiss IGF, the pilot event is foreseen for 19 April in Berne – see http://swiss-igf.ch/
  • Next preparation steps for the Lisbon GA: after registration formalities have been accomplished the draft agenda needs to be discussed and approved at the monthly call in April – improvement of communicative tools and understanding the role of ALSs in representing end users in ICANN);
  • Preparation for ICANN 46 meeting in Beijing (discussion, among other issues, the problem of suffrage and results of ICANN Academy survey);
  • There seems to be some progress with the creation of a home ALS for individual members (thanks to initiatives of Wolf and Siranush with support of Roberto and Veronica);
  • Further preparations for EuroDIG 2013.

February 2013

Our February activities focused on completion of the registration for the next Lisbon GA in June) and discussion of the first program outline of EuroDIG 2013 (Lisbon, 20-21 June). Registration for GA was completed by 17 February with 27 confirmed representatives of our ALSes (80% of all members). This is a good result being a challenge for a rather tough GA budget. That is why ICANN At-Large Staff needs to start with travel arrangements for registered participants ASAP.

The overarching theme for the 2013 EuroDIG is “Internet for society – how to serve the public interest?”. EuroDIG Secretariat (Sandra and Wolf) were asking for comments on the first program outline to be discussed at the 2nd Planning meeting in line with the IGF consultations (1 March) in Paris following the WSIS-10 meeting where a lot of EURALO members participate.

Some EURALO members also participated in Safer Internet Days (5 February). Sandra continues to work on the results of ICANN Academy survey. Another issue was raised by Avri and has to be discussed within EURALO before the upcoming ICANN meeting in Beijing. „At-Large suffrage request to RALOs“.

January 2013

Priorities for this month’s activity were preparations and member mobilisation for our 2013 GA and EuroDIG, as well as on-going discussion of postWCIT12 issues. In response to the chair’s circular mail and 1st reminder to the members list with announcement of the next F2F GA in line with EuroDIG 2013 in Lisbon, representatives of 15 ALSes confirmed their participation already. An enduring problem remains the lacking initiative of our individual members, who did not respond to the bylaws proposal, drafted by Wolf.

Until the deadline for submissions of topics for EuroDIG 2013 by 1st of January, the Secretariat received, reviewed, listed and compiled 55 proposals, which will be discussed by the open planning meeting on 29 January in Lisbon (with broad participation from community members, physically or remotely. See:http://www.eurodig.org/

EURALO is pleased to welcome two new member organizations / ALSes: dotHIV  from Germany certified by ALAC in January, and the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (UniBIT) based in Bulgaria (ALAC vote in process). One applicant has withdrawn unfortunately.

PostWCIT12 issues at webinar: 

https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/Post-WCIT+Webinar+2013-01-17

and Wolfgang Kleinwächter’s related article:

http://www.circleid.com/posts/20130103_internet_governance_outlook_2013/

February 2011

- Policy

The Board - GAC meeting is fast approaching at the end of the month, and several EURALO members will be physically present in Brussels as observers. It is the aim for those members to speak to both Board and GAC members, and comment on the process taking place, bringing direct input from At-Large and from EURALO to the meeting participants.

An open Skype Chat has been set-up to bring direct input from RALOs to the ALAC Chair, who also only has observer status. This will also allow for a discussion among At-Large members to take place simultaneously, with online remote listening facilities being supplied by ICANN. All ALS members wishing to be part of the Skype Chat should email the EURALO Chair, Wolf Ludwig, or Olivier Crépin-Leblond, EURALO Secretariat, in order to be "invited" into the Skype Chat.

- Process

This month has seen EURALO input in the ALAC Budget planning process for the FY12 Budget which was then passed on to ICANN Finance.

EURALO's input into the process can be found on: https://community.icann.org/display/alacpolicydev/At-Large+FY12+Budget+Development+Workspace+-+2011Image Removed

It consisted primarily of proposals for two projects:

  • A EURALO General Assembly (GA) in 2012: bringing all of the European At-Large Structures together, in conjunction with the next ICANN meeting in Europe (June 2012)
  • Regional Outreach and EURODIG 2012: representation of EURALO at this conference by at least 3 EURALO members

EURALO is eagerly awaiting feedback from ICANN finance on the outcome of its input.

- WT-C SWOT / At-Large Improvements process

Several EURALO members have studied the current SWOT tables which EURALO was asked to comment on; most were satisfied that no further information needed to be entered and that the information contained was already very comprehensive.

- Finance & Budget sub-committee

Rudi Vansnick was appointed as the second EURALO representative on the ALAC Finance and Budget sub-committee. He will bring a regional, non-ALAC point of view to the work performed by this committee.

January 2011

- Process

This month, EURALO returned to pursuing its internal process and structural improvements which it had suspended prior to the Cartagena meeting due to more prioritised issues such as the selection process for an At-Large Selected ICANN Board Director.

EURALO's conference call agendas for December 2010 and January 2011 were set-up to follow-up on the main items of discussion which had been suspended, namely:

It was decided that these issues will be given final approval by the EURALO Board at the General Assembly (GA) taking place in Belgrade, Serbia. It is worth noting that on the subject of individual membership in EURALO, Option B was favoured by call.

- Policy

EURALO's input was welcomed by the ALAC for its drafting of its statement on ICANN's Draft Strategic Plan. It re-iterated its support for:

  • a general assembly (GA) of all European ALSes to be funded and held in conjunction with a regional ICANN meeting
  • an At-Large Summit for all ALSes

- Cartagena Meeting

In December, the EURALO Chair and Secretary, as well as members of ALAC from the EURALO region attended the ICANN annual general meeting in Cartagena. It is both the Chair's and Secretary's view that this was possibly one of the most successful meetings we have had so far.

Sébastien Bachollet was selected as the Board Director for seat 15. Since he had been previously nominated to be an ALAC representative, by  the Nominating Committee, and in the view of not collecting several seats (maximising the participation by Europeans), he stood down from this post.

An alternative candidate, Jean-Jacques Subrenat, was presented by NomCom and he has accepted the position.

Finally, Olivier Crépin-Leblond, currently assuming EURALO's Secretariat, was selected at ALAC's new Chair for this year.

November 2010

This month's EURALO conference call focused specifically on the the following subjects:

  • support for Evan Leibovitch's email (gTLD working group) that the joint ALAC-GAC-GNSO comments on Rec6 (The ineptly called "Morality and Public Order - MAPO/MOPO) have not been considered in the current (final) applicant guidebook (AGv4). This is widely seen by At Large as a major failure in the bottom-up process. As a result, an email was sent by Wolf Ludwig to support Evan Leibovitch's email. This subject is likely to be debated in Cartagena.
  • a call was made for more volunteers to get involved with the process of the Public Consultations for which ALAC will be preparing statements - volunteers welcome!
  • an update about the At-Large Board Director Selection Process, reminding ALSes that the vote would soon open, with a choice between the three candidates selected by the BCEC, since the EURALO petitions for Avri Doria and Jean-Jacques Subrenat were not followed by at least two other RALOs:
    • Sébastien Bachollet
    • Pierre Dandjinou
    • Alan Greenberg

All European At Large Structures will need to vote before 18:00 UTC on Thursday 25 November 2010, in time for Wolf Ludwig to cast his vote before the 23:59 UTC deadline in the voting process. All At Large Structures were urged to review the candidate community forum pages on the confluence WIKI to aid them in their choice of vote.

It is worth noting that the new voting schedule was agreed after a EURALO email to ALAC (see previous monthly report) to ask for a less tight schedule in order to allow enough time for ALSes to study the candidate's profiles and make their choice. ALAC convened and extraordinary meeting of the At Large Board Selection Design Team (ABSdt) which agreed by consensus to extend the originally scheduled deadlines. This successful textbook bottom-up process was triggered by the concern voiced by some ALSes in the October 2010 EURALO monthly conference call, and the new schedule is therefore seen to be an improvement on the original.

  • Kurt Pritz then kindly joined the EURALO monthly conference call to present ICANN’s Strategic Plan Development. Community members were able to discover this plan, and ask questions. Kurt voiced his wish to receive more comments from everyone prior to the ICANN Cartagena meeting.
  • With a very busy schedule in Cartagena, it was decided that the next EURALO monthly call will not take place during the ICANN meeting, but after it.
  • Other subjects such as bylaw modifications to include individual members, have been moved to the next EURALO monthly call.

October 2010

EURALO's monthly conference call agenda was set-up to follow-up on the main items decided at the General Assembly in September, namely:

  • EURALO Position on Community WG Report on Implementation of GNSO New gTLD Rec 6

But a more pressing subject was first Review mechanism for ALS involvement in the upcoming At-Large Board Director selection.

This subject ended up taking all of the time of the entire conference call since it became immediately apparent that it was the most important issue to be addressed immediately. With the meeting seriously over-running its allocated time, it was decided that a letter be written to Cheryl Langdon-Orr, the ALAC Chair, to summarize the concerns which EURALO has with the current election schedule.

Our concerns were namely that since EURALO wished to poll its members during the election process of an At Large Elected Board Director, the proposed timing was likely to be rushed and might not allow such a EURALO process (possible candidate petition, poll, and then possibly several rounds of election polling) to take place satisfactorily. EURALO recognises that ALSes, our volunteers, need time to make decisions if they need to consult their membership, and the current election process was seen to be slightly short to allow for the leeway required in such processes. Only if enough time is given to EURALO members can EURALO's Chair vote in the election process with full conviction that he has the support of ALSes - as a matter of credibility to our members.

The letter was written and sent to the EURALO discussion list for collecting feedback. It was then amended according to the feedback received, and sent by email to Cheryl Langdon-Orr, ALAC and a copy to the At-Large Board Selection design team (ABSdt). A response was awaited at the time of writing this monthly report.

EURALO Position on Community WG Report on Implementation of GNSO New gTLD Rec6

Whilst there was no time in the monthly EURALO conference call to treat this subject, several EURALO volunteers took part in an At Large conference call, where their input was taken into account. As a reminder, the At Large position was to support the GNSO New gTLD Rec6 report.

September 2010

 A EURALO General Assembly took place at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday 15 September 2010 from 18:00 - 20:00 local time. It was attended in person by representatives from 10 ALSes, and remotely by representative from two ALSes.
 ICANN Staff attended the meeting remotely.

 The GA took place immediately after a EURODIG meeting and therefore had the pleasure of the presence of several guests, including some from potential EURALO ALS applicants: Yuliya Morenets (Together Against Cybercrime, France), Oksana Prykhodko (European Media Platform, Ukraine) and Tetiana Popova (Ukrainian Internet Association). Many other guests were present too.

 Remote participation was possible by using the Webex System used throughout the IGF. Whilst it is acknowledged that technical intricacies made remote participation challenging (the interfacing of a face to face meeting with public address microphone system, with Webex, as well as an Adigo line is technically challenging), especially due to the fact that the room's acoustics were far from adequate, eventually most technical problems were overcome.

 The following action items stemmed out of the meeting:

   - ICANN Budget

 EURALO will submit a proposal to the ICANN budget process to ask for travel funding for the next EURALO meeting which will be held in conjunction with the ICANN European meeting.

A note will be added to the EURALO budget, that printing material costs should be covered by ICANN.
 

  - Review of EURALO By-laws and needs for revision

There have recently been many enquires to members of the EURALO Board about individuals being able to join EURALO. So far, individual members do not hold voting rights, but have taken part in working groups and on the Board, on a case by case basis. A solution is sought so as to be able to grow the EURALO region membership.
 Evan Leibovitch very kindly gave a short remote presentation explaining the NARALO rules pertaining to unaffiliated members. We have named this "Option A".
 Another option is option B:

 OPTION A: Formally create a new membership category for unaffiliated members
 OPTION B: Create a new ALS within the current structure that serves as the home to unaffiliated members

The EURALO leadership will submit a proposal in writing for possible Bylaw changes to the regional members. In addition, The proposed changes will include provisions to include unaffiliated members and also review the term limits for Board members. They will also look into a possible alignment of all EURALO elections. These discussions will soon be opened within EURALO, with an outcome and decisions due to take place at the ICANN Cartagena Meeting in December 2010.
 

  - EURALO ALAC Election

 Sandra Hoferichter was unanimously endorsed by the EURALO members present in the meeting. Congratulations to Sandra!
 
 

 - EURALO Board Elections

 Yjrö Länsipuro was unanimously elected to the EURALO Board by the members of EURALO. Congratulations to Yjrö!
 

  - At Large elected Board Director Process

 In accordance with Article VI, Section 4 of the ICANN Bylaws http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm#VI , Sébastien Bachollet asked to be replaced in all the discussion and actions taking place in the ALAC in relation to the At-Large Board Director election. Olivier Crépin-Leblond volunteered to replace Sébastien in all the discussion and actions taking place in the ALAC in relation to the At-Large Board Director election.

August 2010

  • The EURALO Board is preparing for a virtual General Assembly (GA) to take place during the IGF in Vilnius, Lituania. This will be a GA taking place as a conference call, with local participants already in Vilnius participating in person in a meeting room. The time/date for this, is currently set to Wednesday 15 September 2010 from 17:00 - 19:30, with the exact venue still to be confirmed. All At Large Structure (ALS) leaders who will be going to Vilnius are encouraged to come and take an active part in the GA.
  • According to EURALO’s by-laws a General Assembly has to be convened once a year. EURALO was created in March 07 in Lisbon. Board elections were conducted in May 07, June 08 partly and March 09 (Mexico-City). With no possibility of having a GA during the ICANN Brussels meeting, and no likelihood of funding for a GA in Cartagena, a Vilnius GA was seen as a compromise solution for this year. A Draft Agenda has been put together, and will soon be posted to the EURALO Web site. Among the EURALO GA's agenda items, Evan Leibovitch (NARALO) has been invited to join the GA to explain NARALO's proposals to include individual members. This is an avenue which the EURALO Board is also considering - and it will be a main discussion point at the GA.

ELECTIONS

  • Yjrö Länsipuro has been voted to represent EURALO on the ICANN Nominating Committee 2011.
  • The nomination period for candidates to the ALAC seat is open and several candidates have been suggested so far.
  • Similarly, EURALO has also opened a nomination period for the At Large Board Director selection process. Whilst it is understood that all applicants for the At Large Board Director need to have filed a Statement of Interest (SOI) with the Board Candidate Evaluation Committee (BCEC), the EURALO nominations for petition are being prepared in advance in case some of the candidates are not selected by the BCEC. It is understood that the nominations would also have to echo nominations in other RALOs - the threshold being the support of at least three RALOs for a petition to be valid. The process is explained in the relevant At Large Board Director selection process Web pages. The end of the nomination period stands to be 6th September 2010.

Outreach Activities

  • It is hoped that our presence in Vilnius for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will be put to good use to strengthen the link to current ALSes present, as well as outreach to organizations wishing to join EURALO.

July 2010

  • Olivier was appointed for the remainder of the EURALO Secretariat position by consensus during the Brussels EURALO meeting, in replacement of Dessi. EURALO thanks Dessi for her great contribution during her term and wishes her well in her future endeavours, whilst hoping that she will still actively take part in EURALO work.

-The transition caused no monthly report to be filed in that period and the current report also catches up on news for June 2010.

  • Discussions on individual EURALO membership are still under way, with a consensus that individual membership should be implemented in EURALO but no clear way to do it yet.
  • A EURALO General Assembly (GA) will take place in September during the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Vilnius, Lithuania. This will be an "E-GA", that is, a GA taking place as a teleconference call, with EURALO participants already in Vilnius for the IGF, present physically in a meeting room. This is because EURALO has not been given any budget by ICANN for a GA, so all people who will be present physically will be there on their own budget. The IGF brings together many people from the At Large population so it is hoped that many ALSes will be present in Vilnius. The GA is likely to last three hours. Its details and agenda will be worked out in August.
  • There was good participation at the EURALO Showcase event in Brussels and we had many high quality speakers. Deputy Director-General, Information Society and Media Directorate-General of the European Commission Antti Peltomaki was the keynote speaker. We thank him and all of the other speakers for their participation. The event was a real success to raise awareness of EURALO and At Large. Although no immediate new ALS application have been received so far, we are hopeful that this will change in Vilnius.
  • Outreach is being focused on Eastern European, Southern European and Northern European areas to increase the number of ALSes in these regions. Gender balance is also emphasized - it is understood that EURALO needs more diversity.
  • European RALO in-reach was pursued, with a good regional response to the ALS survey: over 50% of ALSes responded. However, some ALSes did not participate. There is a concern that some European ALSes do not participate much once they have registered, and EURALO is trying to bring them back "in the loop". At last resort, a mechanism for "de-certification" might need to be examined. This will be discussed in further detail in the near future. The results of the survey have been published as a Powerpoint presentation which has been posted on the EURALO Web site.
  • Last, but not least, EURALO officially endorses the AFRALO Statement on the suggested Bylaw modifications to add an At-Large Board Director.

March 2010

Discussed ALAC issues:

  • Participation in ALAC Statements prepared for the following consultations: Proposed Framework for the Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Plan and Budget - as discussed in Nairobi, Wolf posted a proposal and summary of activities, including the preparation of the EURALO Showcase; the General Assembly in Brussels and Outreach in Latvia in September.
  • Patrick worked with Carlton and Adam on the draft ALAC Statement on WHOIS Accuracy. In conclusion, the procedure was not transparent enough, but the outcome is good.
  • With regard to IDNs, there is not much we can say on that as Europeans, it is mostly related to non-latin scripts, and 3-letter character scripts (generally scripts that are not alphabetical). Only 4 ccTLDs are on the IDN fast track, which is not enough.
  • At-Large Board Selection process – there has been a briefing on the work of the ABSdt group and further information on the ABCEC. A WG has been created to communicate the importance of the process to the European ALSes and to engage them into the selection process.
  • Olivier has been forwarded to replace Dessi for the Brussels Meeting.

Outreach activities:

  • Preparations for the Brussels EURALO Showcase. A Brussels Showcase working group has been created to focus on the organization of the event.

March 2010

EURALO Report Nairobi

Since the ICANN meeting in Seoul EURALO conducted its regular monthly phone conferences (November 09 – February 10) with participation of its ALAC and some Board members. At the end of January EURALO participated at the ICANN Studienkreis meeting in Barcelona. Our ALAC members were actively involved in the development of the ALAC Board member selection process.
At the beginning of the year, EURALO defined priorities for its 2010 planning and outreach activities such as: Participation at the 3rd EuroDIG in Madrid (April), regional consultation for the ALAC Board member selection process, preparation of our next GA at ICANN’s next meeting in Brussels (June), participation at the next IGF in Latvia (September). We hope that these priorities will be supported and necessary budget allocations provided by ICANN.

February 2010

Discussed ALAC issues:

  • ALAC Statement on the New Consumers Constituency Petition and Charter - we have two EURALO ALS from the Consumers constituency, one from Greece and one from Slovenia. Unfortunately, after they become part of EURALO, they never participated in any EURALO activities.
  • Volunteer Review team member - EURALO have already passed two names – Christopher Wilkinson and Jeanette Hoffman. There has been a proposal that the ALAC Chair should be on the Board too.
  • NomCom selected ALAC member for EURALO – EURALO comes with two names – Lutz Donnerhacke and Sebastien Bachollet. More candidates are strongly encouraged, especially aiming at regional and gender diversity.
  • EURALO has been briefed on the development of the At-Large Selection Board Process
  • Preparation of Nairobi Meeting - EURALO is quite committed to participate to the Nairobi meeting, our ALAC representatives are asked to forward this to ALAC.

Outreach activities:

  • EURALO representatives participated at the IGF open consultations in Geneva. Olivier has been suggested as an expert from EURALO for the next EURODIG.

December 2009

Discussed ALAC issues:

  • WHOIS-Privacy services - the issue of WHOIS privacy will be discussed on a regional level in the coming months in order to develop an At-Large position on WHOIS.
  • *ICANN Strategic Plan 2010 - 2013 -* Sebastien's suggestion on one ALS per country should be included in EURALO's/ALAC's contribution to the Strategic Planning. All EURALO members participate in the survey linked to the strategic plan and send in comments to the list until mid-January.
  • *At-Large Director Process -* The issue will be discussed on the mailing list and further discussed during the January 2010 call. The discussion will continue on wiki workspace on the EURALO webpage where the different positions and arguments on the At-Large Director Selection process can be discussed.
  • Nairobi preparations-- Olivier Crepin-Leblond has been suggested as a good candidate due to his excellent work to be awarded with the travel funding, that the secretary of EURALO will not be able to use and participate for the Nairobi meeting.

EURALO issues:

  • EURALO will start discussing the participation of Individual Internet Users, taking as an example the constitution of the issue in NARALO founding documents. This discussion should lead to a decision and framing before the GA in Brussels.

Outreach activities:

  • Rudi Vansnick officially represented EURALO at the Consumer Rights Directive Forum in Brussels on the 8th of December. At-Large and EURALO Flyers has been distributed.
  • On 14th December Olivier Crepin-Leblond took part in the Nominet Government Consultation event at Apex City of London.

November 2009

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