ICANN GNSO Chair Joins the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) to Support Civil Society at ICANN

(24 August 2009)  The Chair of ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Avri Doria joined ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) to support civil society at ICANN in its struggle for a stakeholder group charter that is drafted in a bottom-up fashion and considers the needs of noncommercial users of the Internet.  Although not a card-carrying member of NCUC before now, Doria had been a long time supporter of civil society at ICANN with strong ties to noncommercial users and individual Internet users.  Doria had been appointed to serve three terms on the GNSO Council from ICANN’s Nominating Committee (first was a partial term) and she was elected to Chair the GNSO Council thrice.

Ms. Doria wrote an article explaining her move, “Why I Joined the NCUC” in which she discusses the ill-treatment given to civil society by ICANN in the charter drafting process:

“… The utter cynicism and disregard for ICANN bottom-up process and the importance of respecting public comments that was displayed by ICANN Policy Staff, and endorsed by the Board, in this sequence of events, and in fact in the whole sorry affair, left me with little choice but to support those who had followed the rules and the procedures and then been shafted.

As the chair of the GNSO council, I have attempted to faithfully and neutrally adhere to and enhance the rules and procedures as well as the spirit of bottom-up processes in ICANN. I feel compelled to support those who are being injured because the ICANN Policy Staff, endorsed by the Board, was transgressing against the rules and procedures as well as the spirit of ICANN.

So I joined the NCUC.”

Thank you, Avri Doria!  Thanks to people like you, NCUC’s membership has now reached 149 noncommercial members from 50 different nations, including 74 noncommercial organizations and 75 individuals.  This represents more than a 230% increase in membership since 2008.  

Any noncommercial organization or individual interested in Internet governance is encouraged to join NCUC and help protect the public interest at ICANN.