Dozens of civil society organizations from all corners of the globe signed a statement submitted to ICANN’s Public Forum supporting the proposal to form a Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) from the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC).

Supporters of NCUC’s petition include non-commercial organizations such as Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, FreePress, European Digital Rights Initiative, ARTICLE 19, EPIC, Rits-Brazil, Alfa-Redi, Association for Progressive Communications, African Commons, Internet Society of Mauritius, UWI At-Large, ICT Consumers Association of Kenya, Knowledge Ecology International, Privacy International, Yale Law School Information Society Project, and dozens more – see a more complete list below.  Thank you all!

Once approved by the ICANN Board of Directors, the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group presents a tremendous opportunity to increase public participation at ICANN, especially from Non-Commercial participants who have been out-numbered in votes by the commercial constituencies 5-1 in the policy development process at ICANN.  As 1 of 4 equal Stakeholder Groups in the new-and-improved ICANN, non-commercial participants will stand a much chance of having their voices heard and concerns addressed when formulating Internet domain name policy.

Now we await feedback and guidance from the ICANN Board of Directors on the NCSG petition and we continue to work with others in the ICANN community to hone the proposal further.  

In a pathetic last-ditch effort to maintain political dominance at ICANN, the Intellectual Property Rights and Commercial Constituencies urged the board not to seat the non-commercial participants to the GNSO Policy Council based on nonsense claims, further demonstrating their desperation over losing power to non-commercial participants.

Any non-commercial organization or individual interested in participating in policy negotiations at ICANN is invited to join NCUC.  Here are the membership forms for organizations and individuals.

 See also the Internet Governance Project’s coverage of issue here.

 Supporters of NCUC’s Petition for a Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group Petition Include:

African Commons Project (South Africa)
AGEIA DENSI (Argentina)
AGEIA DENSI (Brasil)
Akiba Uhaki (Kenya)
Aktion Freiheit statt Angst (Germany)
Alfa-REDI (International)
APWKomitel – Association of Community Internet Center(Indonesia)
Appui Mutuel Pour le Développement (Belgium)
ARTICLE 19 (International)
Association for Progressive Communications (International)
Asociatia pentru Tehnologie si Internet (Romania)
Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (Argentina)
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication(BNNRC) (Bangladesh)
Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (UK)
Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC)(Canada)
Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training (Canada)
Center for Digital Democracy (USA)
Center for Technology and Society (CTS) at Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil)
Centre for Independent Journalism (Malaysia)
Centre for Internet and Society – Bangalore (India)
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)(International)
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility-Perú (CPSR-Perú) (Perú)
CPR2 (Bangladesh)
Electronic Frontier Finland (Finland)
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) (International)
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) (International)
Essential Action (USA)
European Digital Rights Initiative (EDRi) (Europe)
Foundation for Media Alternatives (Philippines)
Free Software Foundation Europe (Europe)
FreePress (USA)
Freedom for IP (USA)
Fundación Comunica (Uruguay)
ICT Consumers Association of Kenya (Kenya)
Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University (USA)
Information and Communications University (Korea)
Instituto Brasileiro de Direito da Informática (IBDI) (Brazil)
International Institute for Sustainable Development(Canada)
Internet Governance Project (International)
Internet Research and Innovation Institute (Lithuania)
Internet Society Mauritius (Mauritius)
Internews International (International)
IP Justice (International)
Knowledge Ecology International (International)
Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC)(International)
PeaceNet Korea (Korea)
Privacy Activism (USA)
Privacy International (International)
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (USA)
Public Knowledge (USA)
RITS – Information Network for Civil Society (Brazil)
SchoolNet Foundation (Bangladesh)
University of Aarhus (Denmark)
University of the West Indies At-Large Structure(International)
World Privacy Forum (USA)
Yale Law School Information Society Project (USA)

Individuals:
Dr Graham Dutfield, University of Leeds (UK)
Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director, APC
Daniel Dardailler, W3C and Web Foundation (France)
Divina Frau-Meigs, Professor, University Sorbonne Nouvelle (France)
William J. Drake, Centre for International Governance (Switzerland)
Bazlur Rahman, Member, Strategy Council, UN-Global Alliance for ICT and Development (Bangladesh)
Anna Fielder, Consumer Advocate (UK)
Andrea Naranjo, Anthropologist (Belgium)
Wolfgang Kleinwaechter (Germany)
Bahareh Afghahi (Iran)
Lisa Horner, Global Partners (UK)
Rudi Rusdiah (Indonesia)
Dr. Lisa McLaughlin, Associate Professor, Miami University-Ohio (USA)
Michael Gurstein, Ph.D., Director, Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training (Canada)
Hans Klein, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology (USA)
Claudia Padovani, University of Padova (University)
Dr Andrew A Adams, School of Systems Engineering, The University of Reading, (UK)
Alex Gakuru (Kenya)
David Farrar, Director, Curia Market Research Ltd, (New Zealand)
Rafik Dammak (Tunisia)
Christine Horz, YECREA rep., section Diaspora, Media and Migration (Germany)
Jaco L. Aizenman, Presidente, Registro de Activos Financieros – RAF (Costa Rica)
Prof. Hakikur Rahman, Post Doctoral Researcher, University of Minho (Portugal)
Lina ORNELAS, Member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) (Mexico)
Marco Toledo Bastos, University of São Paulo (Brazil)
Ledesma Piñeiro (Argentina)
Robin Gross, Attorney (USA)
Omar Kaminski (Brazil)
Jeff Chester (USA)
Virginia (Ginger) Paque, DiploFoundation (Venezuela)