[ga] the IDNO bootstrapping process

[Joop Teernstra <terastra@terabytz.co.nz>]

(For your information) This open letter was sent to the ICANN Board members
yesterday.

Subject: the IDNO bootstrapping process

Dear ICANN Board members,

You will  be petitioned again to allow the DNSO its 8th constituency, the
constituency for Individual Domain Name Owners.
Following your general invitation after Singapore I have endeavoured to
bootstrap this constituency into being.

I am now happy to report that there is a workable structure  in place for
the representation of Individual Domain Name Owners.
There are active, competent and respectable founder-members to make sure
that the voice of the Individual Domain Name Owner is heard in the DNSO.
There is a well rounded Charter, there are well defined and member-approved
membership rules.http://www.idno.org/organiz.htm
There is a voting facility, that has been successfully used to elect first
a Membership Committee and then a Steering Comittee for the constituency.
The Steering Committee of twenty one elected members has taken over the
function of the initial bootstrap.
There is a public mailing list with lively activity, rich with public comment.

It is  inevitable that the  bootstrapper of a grass-roots constituency has
to make determinations and take certain decisions on his own.  
In order to avoid even the semblance of undemocratic process, I have
decided not to accept my nomination for this initial Steering Committee,
but make place for members less protectively involved in the creation of
the Association. Protection of the early organization against those who are
determined to make it fail its mission is an unenviable part of a
bootstrapping process.
However, in the election the members have been free to vote their approval
or disapproval for all, including the bootstrap. 
The result has been communicated to  ICANN staff for display on the ICANN
website.

Part of the IDNO's image has been defined by it's non-recognition so far.
There has been some polarization.
In spite of this, no qualified candidate who, in declaring support for our
mission statement, applied for acceptance into the IDNO has ever been
turned away from membership. 
Once recognition is achieved, the diverse perspectives and opinions of the
various people that make up the individual
holders of domain names throughout the world will determine the makeup of
the constituency.
Our main duty and challenge will be to represent the collective interests
and views of these persons. They are  the essence of our reason for existence.


I would like to point out that our independent and critical position  makes
us a necessary component of the mix of opinion on the Names Council and it
will help to give the NC the legitimacy that it currently seeks.

Thank you for your consideration.
You are invited to inform yourself further through our website.
http://www.idno.org


--Joop Teernstra LL.M.--  , bootstrap  of
the Cyberspace Association,
the constituency for Individual Domain Name Owners
http://www.idno.org