Internet Democracy Project Resources page

Resources

Internet Democracy Project related materials
ICANN materials and papers
Other documents
Organizations

Internet Democracy Project related materials

Understanding WSIS: An Institutional Analysis of the UN World Summit on the Information Society--In this article (dated December 9 2003), Hans Klein (the editor of the Cyber-Federalist and an Associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Public Policy) offers "an institutional analysis of WSIS in particular and world summits in general." Among other things, Klein suggests that the WSIS forum has the potential "to bestow legitimacy on a proposal to alter the existing Internet governance regime," and that "the available implementation mechanisms are suited to put such a proposal into practice."

The Cyber-Federalist--The Project distributes an electronic newsletter that includes coverage of ICANN and its election of At-Large members.

Press release on upcoming Congressional hearings--In this document dated February 7, 2001, the Internet Democracy Project urged Congress to protect the interests of civil society (including free speech).in its upcoming hearings on domain name policy.

Letter from Cyber-rights groups to U.S. Commerce Department--A coalition of civil society groups and scholars issued this joint letter to the United States Department of Commerce (dated January 16, 2001) calling for hearings and additional public commentary before the Department acts on recent Internet domain name decisions that limit free expression. A press release on this subject is also available.

ICANN Members Forum Proposals and Background Materials--this collection of documents provides information on many key cyber-governance issues, including proposals to better organize Internet users.

Civil Society questionnaire--The Project recently issued a questionnaire regarding various pressing issues of Internet governance. All five of ICANN's At-Large Board members responded to these queries; their answers are listed below.

Civil Society statement--This document articulates a civil society perspective on ICANN and identifies issues for the upcoming At-Large elections. The statement itself is also available in Japanese (), German (Deutsch), and Chinese (), along with a list of signatories that includes many individuals and organizations from around the world.

Civil Society Internet Forum--Members of civil society organizations from around the globe have launched a new framework for the creation of a global Internet community. Additional information on this Forum is available from JCA-NET, which has a special Japanese language section () that includes a translation of the official announcement. The Forum's mission statement is also available in Korean ().

Internet governance forums--In October 2000, the Internet Democracy Project (IDP) sponsored a series of events (along with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to increase voter awareness regarding North American candidates running for ICANN's (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers') Board of Directors. An online video archive of the first two events and an audio recording of a later analysts' forum are available.

ICANN materials and papers

ICANN official site

ICANN Bylaws
- June 26 2003 version
- Unofficial Spanish (Español) translation of December 2002 version (in PDF format)
- October 31 2002 version
  - October 2 2002 proposed version

ICANN Final restructuring implementation report (October 2 2002)

Revised ICANN-U.S. Department of Commerce Memorandum of Understanding (September 2002)

ICANN restructuring Blueprint (Jun 2002)

Preliminary FY 2002-2003 budget

President's Report: ICANN – The Case for Reform (February 24 2002)--This paper, written by ICANN President M. Stuart Lynn, advocates the elimination of At-Large public elections and for national governments to select a third of ICANN's reconstituted Board.

ICANN .org final staff report (September 23 2002)
- Archived applicant responses to .org final report

Wait Listing Service litigation archive--Bret Fausett has created an archive of court papers concerning a recent lawsuit against ICANN over its approval of a Wait Listing Service backed by registry giant Verisign for expired domain names.

Auerbach v. ICANN lawsuit--The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is being sued by one of its publicly elected Board members, Karl Auerbach. Auerbach, who is being represented in this action by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, alleges that the domain management body has violated California laws, as well as its own rules, by restricting his access to ICANN corporate records.
- EFF archive of case documents
- ICANN archive of case documents
- July 29 2002 tentative ruling
- Auerbach's legal petition (in PDF format)
- ICANN verified answer (in PDF format)
- Auerbach reply brief
- Auerbach evidenciary objections
- Press release
  - EFF/Auerbach
    - July 29 2002
    - July 15 2002
    - March 18 2002
  - ICANN
    - July 29 2002
    - March 19 2002
- California Corporations Code
  - section 5231
  - section 6334
- ICANN Bylaws
- Coverage and analysis
  - BBC News Online
    - July 30 2002
    - March 20 2002
  - CNet News
  - WashingtonPost.com
  - Wired News
  - IDG News.
  - Heise Online (German/Deutsch)
  - Salon
  - Reuters
  - Newsbytes
  - ZDNet News
  - ICANN Watch

General information
- Information on ICANN election of At-large members
  - English version
  - Chinese ( ) version
  - Spanish (Español) version
  - French (Français) version
  - German (Deutsch) version
  - Japanese ( ) version
  - Korean ( ) version
  - Portuguese (Português) version

How to join ICANN
ICANN's Nominating Committee
Litigation page
Events Calendar

ICANN documents
- ICANN Bylaws

1998 "Green Paper" proposal for "Improvement of Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses"
1998 "White Paper" on Domain Name System policy
1998 Memorandum of Understanding
2002 Memorandum of Understanding
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure (UDRP)

Clean Sheet study materials
- At-Large Study Committee website
- draft implementation report (Feb. 2002)
- draft election guidelines (Feb. 2002)
- chart of ALSC proposed election timetables
- solicitation for possible At-Large Supporting Organizations (revised Feb. 15, 2002 deadline)
- ALSC Statement of Work after Nov. 2001 meeting
- At-Large Study Committee final report (Nov. 2001)
- ALSC Powerpoint presentation on final report
- At-Large Study Committee draft report:
  - English version
  - Chinese () version
  - French (Français) version (in PDF format)
- At-Large "Options Template"
- Announcement for Aug. 2001 meeting
- Announcement for June 2001 meeting
- May 30, 2001 ICC statement to At-Large Study Committee
- Notes from May 2001 meeting
- Review committee charter
- Staff recommendations
- Submitted studies
- Public comment forum

.name contract dispute
- announcement of Board approval
- explanation of Second Level Domain email forwarding system
- explanation for Global Name Registry's exclusive control of SLDs
- Abril i Abril objection
- GNR response
- analysis by ICANN General Counsel Louis Touton

UDRP decision search engine

Smiley vs. ICANN--In this lawsuit, David Smiley and Skyscraper Productions sued the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, NeuLevel and a number of other entities regarding the introduction of .biz. Among other things, the complaint targets the rollout system for .biz, which includes a special IP Claim Service that gives advance preferences to intellectual property holders. The plaintiffs claim that these procedures constitute an illegal "lottery enterprise" in that customers must pay money in hopes of winning the .biz name of their choice. Note that NeuLevel has already filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit against Amazon.com after the online book giant made similar accusations.
- Complaint
- Preliminary injunction motion
- ICANN brief

Sept. 2001 update on ccTLD agreements

Proposed .museum contract (Aug. 20, 2001)

Proposed new ICANN-Verisign Registry agreements:

.org
.com
.net

Oct. 19, 2001 Commerce Department letter regarding ICANN Nov. 2001 meeting

May 25, 2001 press release: ICANN-Verisign contracts signed

May 18, 2001 Commerce Department announcement on approval of ICANN-Verisign contracts

Mar. 31, 2001 letter from ICANN President on further revisions to Verisign contracts

Apr. 1, 2001 Verisign letter on further revisions to ICANN-Verisign contracts

New Top-Level Domain name homepage

Domain Name Support Organization (DNSO) Review Task Force preliminary report
- Version 2.0a (Jan. 28, 2001)
- Version 3.0 (Feb. 17, 2001)

ICANN Preliminary FY 2001-2002 Budget

Other Documents

Wer ist für das Internet verantwortlich_(Who is in Charge of the Internet_)--In this article (dated October 10 2003), Ronda Hauben of Heise Telepolis suggests that the Verisign's unilateral imposition of the SiteFinder domain name redirection system disproves the idea that no one controls the Internet. Rather, Hauben notes that there is now a fight over who does have control over the Internet and who should possess such power. This article is available in German (Deutsch) and English.

Will Network Solutions/Verisign Get Away With It Again_--In this opinion piece (dated September 22 2003), Karl Auerbach, a former elected director of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, questioned whether ICANN or the United States government would halt Verisign's SiteFinder system, which routes people who mistype various .com and .net names to a special section of the Verisign website (rather than receiving an error message). Among other things, Auerbach analyzes the legal history between the three entities and said it was unclear whether "ICANN has the power to compel Verisign to rescind Verisign's 'SiteFinder'." He further questioned whether "the US Department of Commerce, even if it might have the authority, has the will." Auerbach has since written a second article (dated October 16 2003) suggesting that Verisign "has followed a well-planned strategy" to create "thick techno-legal fog to hide what is in essence an attempt to hijack a major public asset."

July 2003 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on ICANN issues--A subcommittee of the United States Senate held a hearing on July 31 2003 to discuss current issues concerning the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. During the hearing, a number of participants criticized ICANN for its apparent lack of openness.
- In a statement, the chairman of the subcommittee, Senator Conrad Burns, said he was considering introducing legislation to improve ICANN accountability.
- A list of witnesses is available online as well as their written testimony:
  - Nancy J. Victory
  - Paul Twomey
  - Ari Balough
  - Alan Davidson
    - HTML format
    - PDF format
  - Paul Stahura
- The event attracted a fair amount of press coverage:
  - Heise Online (German/Deutsch)
  - IDG News Service
  - WashingtonPost.com
- Commentary is also available from former ICANN At-Large board member Karl Auerbach.
- Further discussion of this event is available from ICANN Watch.

¿ES POSIBLE UNA TUTELA PENAL PARA LOS NOMBRES DE DOMINIO_--This article includes a discussion of Spanish laws regarding Internet domain name registrations. This document is written in Spanish (Español).

EPIC WHOIS Privacy Issues Report--Written by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, this March 2003 paper "questions whether it makes sense to impose a rule that requires all domain registrants to make their WHOIS data globally, publicly accessible as is dictated by current WHOIS policies and practices." The report analyzes the privacy, free speech and fraud implications of WHOIS standards and goes on to make a number of recommendations, such as providing anonymous registration of domain names. The document is available online in PDF format.

Changing the way the net is run--In this opinion piece, the BBC's Bill Thompson argues that ICANN should be scrapped. He charges that ICANN "was a bad idea, and is a failed organisation with no real legitimacy. It is time to get rid of it." As a solution, Thompson suggests that "the technical htmlects of Icann's current function" should be separated "from the politically charged ones," and that "a new way to deal with each" should be found.

Success by Default--This report suggests, among other things, that several changes should be made in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to protect freedom of expression online. For example, the study recommends that the "standards for a finding of 'confusing similarity' to a trademark" should be clarified, and that "[d]omain names "that signal criticism, parody, or commentary upon products or companies ... should not be classified as 'confusing' unless they are used in ways that actively promote fraud, deception or confusion." Success by Default is based on information contained in a special UDRP case tracking database, both of which were created by the Convergence Center of Syracuse University.

The ICANN Brief--This report, written by Gijs Graafland, contends that many of problems in the Domain Name System are due to excessive influence from the United States and by big business. It also argues that ICANN has proven itself "to be incapable" of running the DNS, and has contributed to an artificial scarcity of domain names as well as a prejudiced conflict resolution system, among other things. As a partial solution, the paper suggests that "top level domains with the . (dot) as separator must be distributed by an auction. The revenues of this auction can be used for a new Global Marshall Plan." This Dutch-language document is in PDF format.

An Individual's Report: ICANN – The Case for Replacing its Management Team--Written by Danny Younger, the chairman of ICANN's DNSO (Domain Name Supporting Organization) General Assembly, this paper criticizes a proposal by ICANN President M. Stuart Lynn to abolish At-Large public elections. Instead, the document urges the creation of a "new structure" that will include "a strong At-Large component, a restructured DNSO, and a Board balanced in a manner that allows all constituent elements to feel that they are adequately represented at Board level." It also argues for Lynn to be dismissed "along with several others on the ICANN Staff."

Max Planck Institute UDRP study--This paper (released in January 2002) looks a sampling of decisions made pursuant to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. The report concludes, among other things, that "further consideration" is needed on a variety of UDRP issues, including "measures to be taken in order to safeguard the interests of free speech." This document is in PDF and Word format.

ICANN and Anti-trust--In this paper, law professors Michael Froomkin and Mark Lemley suggest that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers might be liable under various anti-trust laws. The authors mention several ICANN activities that could be found illegal under such strictures, including the creation of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the exclusion of alternative roots. The document is available in PDF format.

ICANN's "Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy"--Causes and (Partial) Cures--This law review article, written by Professor A. Michael Froomkin, argues that the UDRP "has a number of special features that resulted in an especially unjust set of outcomes," and that the "UDRP's procedural component needs reform." This document is in PDF format.

NAIS Final Report (Aug. 31, 2001)--Entitled ICANN, Legitimacy, and the Public Voice: Making Global Participation and Representation Work, this report suggests that ICANN should ensure that at least 9 of its 19 Board members are publicly elected, and to allow voters to register via email and the World Wide Web in conjunction with a postal returns system.

Fair.com_ An Examination of the Allegations of Sytemic Unfairness in the ICANN UDRP-- The report examines statistics based on over 3000 decisions under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. It concludes that the current system "may indeed be biased in favor of trademark holders" and "forum shopping has become an integral part of the UDRP." For example, the study notes that when arbitration providers choose the composition of a given arbitration panel, complainants win in over 83 percent of those cases (compared to 60 percent rather than the opposing sides pick the panelists). In addition, the report indicates providers that are most pro-complainant tend to be the most popular, and single-member panels tend to find in favor complainants far more often than three-member panels. In PDF format.

Geeks and Greeks--This document, written by Professor Jonathan Weinberg of Wayne State University, describes the evolution of ICANN and the organization's apparent difficulties in attaining legitimacy.

.us Country-Code top-level domain
- Solicitation by United States Department of Commerce
- July 20, 2001 letter from Rep. Markey
- Center for Democracy & Technology, AT&T et al. (Memorandum of Understanding)
- Consumer Project on Technology and Essential Information letter

U.S. Congressional .kids bill--Introduced in June 2001 by United States Congressmen John Shimkus and Ed Markey, H.R. 2417 would force the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to create a new "kid-friendly domain" first before any other domains can be introduced. A committee of the United States House of Representatives approved an amended version of a bill to create a kids subdivision within the .us country-code top-level domain. Among other things, the plan contains additional language to "prohibit hyperlinks in the new domain" that would take users to materials outside of .kids.us.
- Original June 2001 version of the bill
- Press release from Representative Shimkus
- Press release from Representative Markey
- Revised version of the bill (in PDF format).
- Statement from Representative Dingell concerning the committee's approval of the measure
- Press coverage
  - CNet News
  - Newsbytes

Second Sight--This opinion piece from Karlin Lillington, which ran in the British newspaper The Guardian, calls the chairmanship of ICANN the "poisoned chalice of the Internet" and says the organization has done an "appalling job," in part due to ICANN's undemocratic nature.

U.S. House hearing on Whois privacy--A subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives held hearings on July 12, 2001 to discuss whether greater privacy protections are necessary for personal information concerning domain name registrants. Further coverage is available from ZDNet News. Prepared testimony from witnesses and speakers is available online:
- Rep. Howard Berman
- Jason Catlett
- Rep. Howard Coble
- Lori Fena
- Stevan Mitchell
- Timothy Trainer

Tucows letter on Whois privacy amendments--In this open letter, domain name registrar Tucows suggests that all registrars should be required to have privacy policies, and there should be clear, extended bans against using registrant information for unsolicited mass-marketing purposes.

auDA Advisory Panel final report on .au policies (April 2001)--This document was written by a panel commissioned by the Australian Domain Name Authority (auDA) and recommends several changes in the way .au domain names are administered. Among other things, these experts suggested that registrants should be required to "good faith" to force these domain name holders to be bound by any Dispute Resolution Procedures adopted by auDA. In a special Addendum A, several panelists expressed concerns that new restrictions would skewed free speech rights to the benefit of large trademark holders.
- HTML format
- PDF format
- Addendum A

Stanbrook/Lockett analysis of ICANN-Verisign deal--In this article, two European barristers outline several major criticisms of the revised ICANN-Verisign agreements. Among other things, the authors said that proposed new charges for subdomains may bankrupt many web hosting companies, and that the statistics used to justify the agreements were merely "superficial."

U.S. House domain name restrictions hearing--On March 22, 2001, a subcommittee of the United States House of Representative held hearings to discuss such topics as massive Whois personal information databases and "sunrise provisions," which have been criticized as being detrimental to online privacy and a deterrent to free speech. A number of the participants' prepared statements have been posted:
- Elana Broitman
- Rep. Howard Coble
- Steven J. Metalitz
- Jeffrey J. Neuman
- Louis Touton

Fool Us Once Shame On You--This article (written by two scholars from the University of Illinois School of Law) suggests that the privatization of the Internet backbone was has led to an undemocratic procedures, anticompetitive behavior and "problems with the technical management of the technological structure of the Internet." The report further suggests that the privatization of the Domain Name System has led to similar problems, and offers some suggestions on how these difficulties may be avoided in the future. This document is presented in PDF format.

U.S. Senate domain name hearing--On February 14, 2001, a United States Senate subcommittee held a hearing on the activities of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). During this meeting, Senator Barbara Boxer attacked current registrar database policies, saying that they did not provide sufficient protection for the privacy of individual domain name holders against stalkers. Meanwhile, the subcommittee's chairman, Senator Conrad Burns, strongly hinted that Congress may hold more hearings to ensure proper oversight of ICANN. This session came after a House subcommittee hearing where several expert witnesses charged that ICANN was unfair when it tentatively approved only 7 new Top-Level Domains.
- The prepared statements of several witnesses have been posted online:
  - Karl Auerbach
  - Brian Cartmell
  - Roger Cochetti
  - Professor A. Michael Froomkin:
    - PDF version (with charts)
    - HTML version
  - Mike Roberts
- Press coverage of this event:
  - Associated Press
  - BBC News Online
  - Heise Online (German/Deutsch)
  - Interactive Week
  - Newsbytes
  - Reuters

U.S. House of Representatives domain name hearing--A subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives held a hearing about domain name policy on February 8, 2001. This session was held partly to address concerns by many leading experts that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was unfair when it tentatively approved a mere handful of new Top-Level Domains.
- The Internet Democracy Project issued a press release, urging Congress to protect the interests of civil society (including free speech).
- Several witnesses and speakers have made their prepared statements available online:
  - Rep. Ed Markey
  - Elana Broitman
  - Vint Cerf
  - Professor A. Michael Froomkin
  - Alan Davidson
  - Leah Gallegos
  - Ken Hansen
  - Lou Kerner
  - David Short
- There was considerable press coverage of the event:
  - Associated Press
  - Computer World
  - Heise (German/Deutsch)
  - IDG
  - Network World Fusion
  - Reuters
  - Washington Post
  - Wired
  - ZDNet
- An audio recording of this hearing is available via webcast.

Tauzin/Upton letter to ICANN--This letter, dated January 12, 2001, informs ICANN that a subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives is planning to hold hearings on domain name policy in February 2001. This move was apparently prompted by concerns that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was unfair when it tentatively approved a mere handful of new Top-Level Domains. This document was signed by Representative Billy Tauzin, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Representative Fred Upton, chairman of the Telecommunications subcommittee.

Markey/Capps letter to ICANN--This document, which was written by two ranking United States Congressmen and was issued in November 2000, calls on Federal officials to delay implementation of the recommendations the Department of Commerce receives from ICANN on additional TLDs until the Department and the public have adequate opportunity to thoroughly review the ICANN process.

Rough Justice--this study by Syracuse University's Convergence Center suggests that the interpretation of ICANN domain name dispute policies and forum-shopping clauses have created a system biased towards large trademark holders.

Wrong Turn in Cyberspace--this Duke Law Journal article, written by Professor A. Michael Froomkin, suggests that the United States Department of Commerce's use of ICANN to make rules regarding Internet domain names may be a violation of Federal law.

Touton Declaration in ESI v. ICANN--This declaration purportedly comes from ICANN General Counsel Louis Touton, and seems to suggest that ICANN is indeed a governmental entity.

ICANN At Large Membership Election Campaign in Japan--This document, written by Professor Toshimaru Ogura, reports on ICANN election activities in the Land of the Rising Sun and proposes several improvements on current procedures.

Domain Name Handbook--this publication contains background information on ICANN and the Domain Name System.

ICANN and U.S. Government contract renewal--In this press release, the United States Government announced that it would renew its contracts with ICANN regarding operation of the Internet Domain Name System. These contracts will now expire in the year 2001 at the earliest. This development came despite charges that ICANN is undemocratic, lacks public accountability, and has made policy decisions that hamper Internet free speech.

GAO report--the United States General Accounting Office issued a report on the legitimacy of ICANN. In the GAO's opinion, the United States government did have the proper authority to delegate responsibility over the Internet domain name system to ICANN. However, the report questions whether ICANN has the authority to create new top-level domains. This document is now available on the World Wide Web in PDF format.

All the World's a Stage--This series of web videos parodies the perceived dysfunctional nature of ICANN.
- Part I
- Part II
- Part III

Organizations

ICANN Watch--an effort by several noted legal scholars (including Professor A. Michael Froomkin) to increase public awareness of ICANN decisions.

Cavebear Blog--Karl Auerbach, one of 5 publicly elected ICANN Board members, a Los Angeles attorney, is also the proprietor of this webblog, which includes commentary on various domain name and Internet governance subjects.

ICANN-related sites in other languages:
- ICANN Studienkreis (German/Deutsch)

ICANN Channel (German/Deutsch)
Internet Governance Kenkyuukai (Japanese)

ICANN.Blog--Bret Fausett, a Los Angeles attorney, compiles a frequently-updated list of newsitems regarding many Internet domain name issues.

EPIC WHOIS privacy page--This webpage, created by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, contains information and links regarding WHOIS domain name registrant data.

UDRPlaw.net--This website contains information on various issues related to ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.

CPTech--The Consumer Project on Technology has compiled a detailed list of selected domain name disputes, along with various other background materials.

ICANN World--This website, formerly known as ICANN Times, provides coverage of Internet policy issues in a variety of countries.

JCA-NET--This Japanese non-profit Internet provider has created a special website to cover ICANN's proceedings, with a particular focus on events that are of interest to NGOs.
- Japanese translation of Yokohama Civil Society Statement

Interim Coordinating Committee--This organization has been created to "promote and facilitate user participation in ICANN by Internet users from around the globe. The ICC is intended to help the membership develop a collective voice with which to speak out on issues."

Bertelsmann Foundation--this organization, based in Germany, promotes ventures in the fields of education, culture and social policy, including Internet Policy and the administration of the domain name system. It has launched a "Democratic Internet" project to provide information about the formation of ICANN.

CPSR--Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility has a number of background materials on ICANN issues.

DNRC--The Domain Name Rights Coalition is a public interest group dedicated to educating individuals, non commercial entities, small businesses, and others about a variety of Internet governance issues.

WIA--The World Internetworking Alliance has created an online sourcebook on ICANN-related subjects.

APC--the Association for Progressive Communications has compiled a considerable amount of information on ICANN governance.

Noncommercial Domain Name Holders Constituency (NCDNHC) site--the NCDNHC represents non-commercial groups (including many non-government organizations) within ICANN.

GILC--the Global Internet Liberty Campaign is a coalition of over 50 cyberliberties groups from around the world dedicated to protecting human rights on the Information Superhighway.

Berkman Center--this division of Harvard University Law School has a special project on Open Governance of the Internet.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)--among other things, this division of the United States Department of Commerce formulates the policies of the U.S. government toward the Internet and its domain name structure

Common Cause--this public interest group (along with the Center for Democracy and Technology) issued a study in January 2000 of how "the worldwide Internet community can best be represented in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)."

ACM--The Association for Computing Machinery has created a bibliography of ICANN references.

IETF--The Internet Engineering Task Force is an open international group of network designers, operators, vendors, and scientists who help set technical standards for the Information Superhighway.

ITU--Originally founded in the 19th century, the International Telecommunication Union works to create uniformity in global telecom operations.

ETSI--In its own words, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute "is a non-profit making organization whose mission is to produce the telecommunications standards that will be used for decades to come throughout Europe and beyond."

Regional Network Registries--the following organizations are involved with the administration and registration of Internet Protocol (IP) numbers:
- Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC)
- RÈseaux IP EuropÈens Network Coordination Center (RIPENCC) - Europe, Middle East, North Africa
- American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) - North America, South America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.

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