[ga] Recent BC Membership Decision

["David Hernand" <david@new.net>]

Members of the Names Council:

New.net feels compelled to elevate to the attention of the Names Council
certain recent actions of the Business Constituency to deny the efforts of
our company to participate in ICANN processes as a member of the Business
Constituency.  We bring this matter before the Names Council as a last
resort after making repeated unsuccessful attempts to resolve it first with
leadership of the Business Constituency.

Earlier this year, New.net applied for membership in the Business
Constituency.  As many of you know, New.net does not fall into the category
of an ICANN-accredited registry or registrar, an ISP or any of the other
constituencies within the DNSO, and yet we do operate a business that relies
on the Internet for its existence and counts among the vast majority of its
customers small and medium-sized enterprises that also rely on the Internet.
Accordingly, we thought it logical for us to join the Business Constituency.
We also thought that the Business Constituency would welcome our
participation given recent statements of its leadership regarding their
desire to broaden the Business Constituency's membership to include a larger
number of small business interests to balance its current domination by
large corporate interests.

After significant delay, our application was rejected by the Business
Constituency's "Credentials Committee," which informed us that New.net does
not meet the Business Constituency's charter redquirements because New.net
is a "registry/registrar."  We then asked the BC Secretariat how such
charter requirements comply with provisions in ICANN's Bylaws that expressly
prohibit constituencies from denying membership to a person or entity on the
basis that such person or entity also is a member of another ICANN
constituency.  We received the following explanation:

-----Original Message-----
From: BC secretariat [<mailto:secretariat@bizconst.org>]
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 1:58 AM

The BC charter does not exclude registries and registrars from membership
merely because of their participation in another constituency. The Charter
distinguishes providers of network connectivity/ transport, domain name and
other services that enable the development of electronic business, from
their customers. The BC is an independent voice for the customers of such
providers.  It is the potential divergence of interests, not the mere
participation in another ICANN constituency, that underlies the membership
criteria.

By any reasonable interpretation of this definition, a large portion of the
Business Constituency's current membership should be excluded: AOL, AT&T,
British Telecom, Clear Communications, Deutsche Telecom, Korea Telecom, MCI
Worldcom, Movicom, SITA (operator of the .aero registry), and Telefonica,
just to name the obvious.  Indeed, two of the three BC representatives to
the Names Council represent "providers of network connectivity/transport."

With all due respect to the ability of individual constituencies to devise
their own rules and operating procedures, we implore the Names Council to
intervene in what is obviously an egregious abuse of discretionary power. We
specifically request that the NC demand that the BC either (a) immediately
request the resignation of all BC members who meet the above criteria,
including the resignation from the NC of the representatives from AT&T and
Clear Communications; or (b) direct the BC to revise its rules within 30
days to more broadly encompass the business community and reconsider
New.net's application for membership.

Your timely attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

David Hernand
CEO
New.net




David M. Hernand
CEO
New.net
15260 Ventura Blvd., Ste. 2000
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 USA
Phone: 818-385-2004
Fax:   818-385-2010
david@new.net


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